Professor Martin Mhando, a Tanzanian born and resident, is currently Chair of the Zenj Arts Initiative Foundation, and a director with Jicho Communicative Ltd, a film production and training company registered in Zanzibar, Tanzania. He was also a research fellow in the School of Media, Communication and Culture at Murdoch University in Western Australia as well as being Associate Editor of the Journal of African Cinemas, published by Intellect, UK, which he co-found in 2009. He is a filmmaker with award-winning feature and documentary film credits. He was also CEO and Festival Director of the Zanzibar international Film Festival (ZIFF) for 15 years, only stepping down in 2023.

 

His film collection includes works with co-producers from diverse countries during the Tanzania socialist period including China, USSR, Romania (where he trained in film), the Scandinavian countries, USA and Canada and the African continent. Working with the Frontline States media fraternity has allowed his own collection to be worth reflecting on. During his tenure as Production Manager of the Tanzania Film Company 1980-1988 he oversaw the fastest growth of film production and distribution in Tanzania before the collapse of the film industry in the 1990s. 

 

His other accomplishments include being recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award (ZIFF 2012) as well as a recipient of Zeze Award in 2006, as acknowledgement of his contribution to the arts in Tanzania.

 

His areas of interest include the theory and praxis of documentary, and Third Cinema. His 2000 feature-length film, Maangamizi: The Ancient One, is the first African film (South of the Sahara) selected in the Best Foreign Film category and was winner of the Paul Robeson Award at Newark Film Festival in 2004. He also directed Lyarn Ngarn, a poignant documentary chronicling Indigenous leader Patrick Dodson's three-decade quest for reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and immigrants. Narrated by Pete Postlethwaite and shared by Dodson and the emotive contributions of songman Archie Roach, "Liyarn Ngarn" aims to, foster reconciliation, and honor the lives lost due to past injustices.

 

Martin returned to Tanzania in 2014 after 25 years in Australia as an academic at Flinders University of South Australia (2993-1997) and Murdoch University Western Australia (1998-2014) as Associate Professor in Media Studies. He intended to join the Bongo Movies film industry, Tanzania’s fast and furious Swahili language film industry.  In 2015 he was awarded a 50 film contract by Azam Media to produce feature films over a period of 5 years aiming to improve the stories and quality of films produced under the Bongo movies banner.