By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK The popular 6th annual Wild Cinema Festival opens next Thursday with a gala evening at the National Theatre of Namibia. This was announced by the director of the festival, Imgardt Schreiber, during a press conference last week. “It will be a formal gala opening for invited guests to enjoy a futuristic African movie,” Schreiber said. The main venue for most film showings during the festival will be the Zoo Park with a marathon programme for Katutura at the UN Plaza. “I can announce that we have been invited to attend a similar film festival to the Namibian one in Germany. Through this we hope to strengthen relations between our two countries. Furthermore, for the first time film awards will also be made this year, by courtesy of the Namibian Film Commission,” she said of the festival, which is primarily sponsored by the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre. Schreiber announced that the City of Windhoek has now also become a partner in the festival. “Last year some 4ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 people attended the festival, and we hope that number will increase this year despite the fact that we are now charging N$10 per film,” said Schreiber, who criticized the local business fraternity for not really supporting the film festival. “Local business has unfortunately not yet woken up to the importance of the film festival. It’s time the fraternity woke up because there is money to be made from a business perspective. We are in the process of inculcating interest by business for the festival,” she said. A total of 11 Namibian-produced films will be screened during the festival, which runs for two weeks.