Turning Trash Into Gold: Tasimuka Eyes Global Screens

By Mpundu Valerie | Harare

What began as a 28-day filmmaking challenge has grown into a story of resilience, recycling and ambition, with Tasimuka now seeking an international audience.

Produced by Taurai Kawara under the Harare Sustainable City Initiative (HSCI), the short film premiered on July 28 and follows a family whose fortunes change dramatically after the loss of its main source of income. The film chronicles one family’s fall and rise, reliving moments of joy, pain, and agony as they navigate loss, abuse, and survival. Once a happy, well-to-do family, their lives changed when the sole breadwinner lost his job and turned to abuse as a coping mechanism. His wife and children: Tasimuka, Tafara, Zviko and Tongai bore the brunt.

The violence escalated. The father eventually left the family following incidents of abuse. Evicted, they were forced into one room. As pressure mounted, Zviko fled home, believed to be seeking greener pastures in South Africa. In truth, she ended up on the streets, living rough and abusing drugs and other substances.

With rent unpaid and options running out, Mai Tasimuka and her family were introduced to recycling by a friend. What began as survival became an enterprise. From recycling, they earned enough to buy a stand and build two rooms. At HSCI’s ICT center, the family’s world opened up. Tasimuka applied in response to an advert and was accepted to exhibit in Switzerland.

There, she used recycled denim and waste material to create art and fashion. Commissioned by directors Ronnie Mubayisa and Cliff Chivhanga, Tasimuka was well-received at its premiere. "We were deliberating on a name and 'Tasimuka' had the much-needed impact," says the production team. "We needed to reach a broader audience, hence the film," the team adds. "It’s a short film, but we want to take it into a feature film."

The production team is planning to take Tasimuka beyond Zimbabwe, with a proposed tour beginning in Sweden in October, followed by Switzerland, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The filmmakers are also targeting 2027 for development of the story into a feature film. The cast includes Charity Dlodlo as Mai Tasimuka, Bongie Mthethwa as Tasimuka, Anthony Tongani as the estranged father and Sakarombe as the landlord, supported by an ensemble cast.

While Tasimuka is built around one family's struggles, its message reaches beyond the characters. It brings together issues of domestic abuse, homelessness, substance abuse, recycling, entrepreneurship and the creative economy. More importantly, the film presents waste not simply as a problem to be removed, but as a potential resource that can be transformed into livelihoods, art and opportunity.

For its creators, the journey from a 28-day production deadline to an international exhibition ambition is itself part of the Tasimuka story a story about turning difficult circumstances into possibilities.

Tasimuka short film