Inside a SHUNAFFoZ Winner’s Creative Process

When Nchimunya Banda accepted the SHUNAFFoZ award for Best Short Film, the moment represented more than personal recognition. Her film, The Ground Remembers, had travelled from a small Zambian production team to an international festival audience, carrying a quiet story about memory, land and a family facing change.

For Australian filmmakers, the film’s achievement offers a useful reminder that powerful cinema does not depend on a large budget. A strong point of view, carefully observed characters and an honest relationship with place can connect across borders, from Lusaka to Melbourne, Sydney or a regional town in New South Wales.

In this conversation, Banda discusses research, collaboration, visual language and the practical decisions behind her award-winning work. Her approach also reveals how emerging filmmakers can develop a project for festivals such as the Shungu Namutitima International Film Festival of Zambia while remaining attentive to audiences, cultural context and distribution.

Finding the Story Beneath the Story

Banda says the first idea for The Ground Remembers came from listening to conversations within her extended family. Relatives spoke about a piece of land that had changed hands several times, yet each generation continued to attach its own memories to it. Rather than treating the subject as a political argument, she focused on the emotional tension between inheritance and belonging.

“I wanted the audience to feel that the land had a memory,” Banda explains. “The film is about people, but the landscape carries the things they cannot say directly.”

Her development process began with notebooks rather than a screenplay. She recorded phrases, gestures and family rituals, then identified the central conflict. This slow observation helped her avoid forcing the story into a conventional plot structure. The result is a character-led film in which silence, repetition and small domestic actions carry as much meaning as dialogue.

For Australian creators, that method may be especially valuable when developing stories connected to local identity. A film set in a farming community outside Adelaide, a multicultural neighbourhood in Western Sydney or a remote Northern Territory settlement needs details that feel lived-in rather than decorative. Research and listening can reveal those details before the camera arrives.

Turning Research Into Screen Language

Once the story was clear, Banda began translating its themes into images. She chose long takes for scenes involving family disagreements, allowing the discomfort to remain in the room. In contrast, moments of remembered childhood were fragmented through close-ups of soil, fabric and hands preparing food.

The visual style was shaped by practical limits. The production had a small crew, limited lighting equipment and a tight schedule. Instead of treating those constraints as obstacles, Banda built them into the creative plan. Natural light became part of the film’s texture, while a restricted number of locations made the characters’ changing relationships more visible.

“Every limitation asked us to become more specific,” she says. “If we could not show a large world, we had to make one room feel important.”

That principle translates well to the Australian independent film sector, where a short film may be made over a weekend with borrowed equipment and volunteer crew. It also suits the expectations of programmers at festivals in Brisbane, Perth and Hobart, who often look for a distinctive voice rather than expensive production design. A controlled visual concept can make modest resources appear deliberate.

Building Trust With Performers

Banda worked with experienced actors alongside people who had never performed on camera. Rehearsals were structured around conversation instead of immediate line readings. The cast discussed what each character feared, what they wanted to protect and which memories they would never express openly.

This approach created a shared emotional vocabulary. Performers were given room to adjust words and movements, although the scene objectives remained fixed. Banda says the director’s role was to protect the core of the story while allowing the actors to discover how their characters might behave in a specific moment.

The film’s most affecting scene emerged during this process. A mother and daughter sit outside at dawn, saying very little while preparing to leave their home. The scene was originally written as a confrontation, but the actors found greater force in restrained gestures and interrupted sentences.

That sensitivity is important when working with stories involving family, displacement or cultural memory. Australian productions engaging with First Nations communities, migrant histories or regional identity also benefit from consultation and consent throughout development, rather than relying on research completed only for a funding application.

Navigating Culture, Responsibility and Censorship

A filmmaker working across borders must consider how a story will be understood in different cultural and regulatory environments. Banda says she did not remove difficult material from The Ground Remembers, but she examined whether every scene was necessary and whether its treatment respected the people represented.

Her relationship with VIP helped her think about the difference between responsible editing and fear-driven self-censorship. The organisation’s perspective is explored in censorship guidance, particularly for filmmakers trying to protect the integrity of a project while understanding local requirements.

“I ask whether a change makes the film clearer or simply makes it safer,” Banda says. “Those are not always the same thing.”

The issue has a clear Australian parallel. A project intended for cinema, television, SBS, ABC or an online platform may encounter different classification expectations, audience sensitivities and editorial standards. A filmmaker should understand those conditions early, while still allowing the creative team to address complex subjects with maturity. Clear communication with producers, community advisers and performers can prevent avoidable conflict during post-production.

Preparing a Film for Festival Audiences

Banda began considering festival strategy before the final edit. She identified the film’s strongest emotional proposition and used it to shape the synopsis, director’s statement and press materials. Rather than describing every plot point, the synopsis established the central character, the dilemma and the film’s atmosphere.

For creators submitting to SHUNAFFoZ or Australian festivals, this supporting material can determine whether a programmer understands the project quickly. A practical guide to writing a strong film synopsis can help filmmakers present the story with precision without turning the submission into a sales pitch.

Banda also recommends preparing clean subtitles, high-resolution stills and accurate credits before the deadline. Her team checked every translation several times, recognising that a small wording error could alter the meaning of an important scene. Festival programmers need confidence that the submitted film is technically ready and that the production team can respond professionally.

She regards the award as part of a longer conversation rather than a final destination. A festival screening can lead to partnerships, educational events, online distribution or invitations to develop a feature. Australian filmmakers may also find that a successful festival run helps strengthen applications to Screen Australia, state agencies or local film development programmes.

Extending the Life of an Award-Winning Film

After SHUNAFFoZ, Banda began discussing community screenings and digital release options. She wanted the film to reach people who might never attend an international festival, while preserving the atmosphere created in a cinema. This meant considering subtitles, file quality, audience access and the order in which different release opportunities should occur.

She is cautious about assuming that online availability automatically creates an audience. A release needs context: a filmmaker discussion, a short educational resource, a festival partnership or a carefully written description. Understanding digital viewing habits can also help producers think about how audiences discover screen content and what encourages them to stay with a short film.

The same principle applies in Australia, where audiences may be spread across major cities and regional communities. A film screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival might later benefit from a regional tour, a screening at a community arts centre in Darwin or a curated online event for viewers in Tasmania. Distribution planning should reflect that geography instead of assuming every viewer has the same access to cinemas and cultural venues.

Banda’s final advice is direct: protect the emotional reason the film was made. Industry language, submission forms and marketing requirements are necessary, but they should support the work rather than replace its purpose. “The award tells you that people saw something in the film,” she says. “Your responsibility is to keep making the next honest thing.”

Explore the work of Vilole Images Productions, follow SHUNAFFoZ opportunities and develop your own film with care from first idea to final export. Whether your story begins in Lusaka, Sydney, regional Queensland or elsewhere, a thoughtful creative process can give it the clarity and reach to travel.