Chioniso Tsikisayi’s ‘Bureau De Change’ Set for Global Premiere at Silicon Valley African Film Festival

Award-winning Bulawayo creative Chioniso Tsikisayi is taking Zimbabwean storytelling to the global stage with her latest experimental short film Bureau De Change, which will screen at the 16th Annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) in San Jose, California.

Running from October 9 to 12 at the Historic Hoover Theater, the festival celebrates “Africa through African lenses,” showcasing around 100 films from more than 30 African countries.

For Tsikisayi, who is a poet, novelist, playwright, and filmmaker, the selection marks a career milestone. It positions her among Africa’s leading contemporary voices in art and film, while spotlighting Bulawayo’s growing creative influence.

“This means I’ve earned my seat at the table,” Tsikisayi said. “In the context of Bulawayo, it’s like marking a class register; how is the world to know we exist if we don’t show up? So this is me marking the register – I’m present.”

Her short film Bureau De Change is an experimental fusion of spoken word and visual narrative. The work reimagines Africa’s quest for renewal through the metaphor of a continent seeking a new hairstylist. It explores poetry as a “universal exchange booth,” where perspectives and emotions are traded as shared currency.

The project follows her earlier poetic short, Queue for a Dream, which explored similar themes of identity, transformation, and cultural dialogue. While Queue for a Dream was performed entirely in Shona and focused on Zimbabwe, Bureau De Change widens the lens to the African continent, incorporating English, French, and Swahili to reflect Africa’s linguistic diversity.

“QFAD is case-specific to Zimbabwe,” Tsikisayi explained. “Bureau is specific to Africa as a whole, mimicking the multi-currency mindset we live in.”

Her artistic approach challenges conventional storytelling, merging sound, silence, rhythm, and imagery to create a meditative experience. Tsikisayi describes her work as “a space for reflection and shared experience,” representing a Pan-African form of creative expression.

Zimbabwe will also be represented at SVAFF by Another Chooseday (a narrative short by Courage Tariro Matanda) and Nyanga (a narrative feature by Eddie Ndhlovu and Jakov Dakovic). Together, these entries highlight the diversity and depth of Zimbabwean cinema.

While Tsikisayi is thrilled by the global recognition, she acknowledged the financial barriers many independent African filmmakers face. “There’s a bittersweetness in knowing your work will be shared with new audiences across borders when you cannot physically be there,” she said. Her film will also screen at the Poetry Africa Film Festival in Durban during the same week.

This international spotlight adds to Tsikisayi’s growing list of achievements. Her earlier film Queue for a Dream was selected for the NGO International Film Festival in Australia. She is also a recipient of the Bulawayo Arts Award and the Canopus Award for Interstellar Writing.

“I’m a versatile artist, and each skill helps improve the others,” she said, noting how poetry, playwriting, and filmmaking inform her creative process.

Looking ahead, Tsikisayi hopes to expand her impact through larger-scale projects, including feature films and limited series inspired by platforms such as Mzansi Magic and Africa Magic. “I need whoever is paying attention to say ‘Let’s bet on her,’ because I’m 100% worth the investment,” she said.

With Bureau De Change, Tsikisayi continues to redefine Zimbabwean storytelling for the global audience, blending poetry and cinema into a powerful cultural dialogue. For her, each project is both an artistic statement and an act of representation — proof that Bulawayo’s creative voice is present, vibrant, and ready to be heard.