Journalist and filmmaker Farai Sevenzo was born in Zimbabwe and trained as a writer/director of fiction films in England. He is credited as a screenwriter, actor and director on several films. Although the movies were his first love, he found himself drifting to journalism because it allowed him to cover the whole of Africa in half the time and a tenth of the money.

Farai at work in Liberia

He began his journalism career as a producer/presenter for the BBC World Service and became hooked on talking to rebels and Prime Ministers, on reporting the wars and the crises, and on Africa’s struggle for rights.

He returned to filmmaking in the documentary format by making films on his home country Zimbabwe’s changing fortunes, and the struggle for human rights. He has made films in Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, Gabon on topics as diverse as AIDS, child soldiers, gun violence, polio, political violence and human rights.

Farai is a regular contributor to Channel 4 News, BBC’s African Opinion and CNN, and continues to collaborate with African filmmakers across the world. He is a father of two teenagers and works between London and Africa.