THIS year’s Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), also known as the Festival of the Dhow Countries, will feature more than 3,000 films from across the globe, according to organisers.

The festival, Zanzibar's most significant cultural event that will be held on Aug. 1-4, will attract filmmakers from 100 countries, including China, Tanzania, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Poland, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, the United States, and African countries, said Joseph Mwale, chief executive officer of the ZIFF.

Mwale told a news conference held Tuesday in the port city of Dar es Salaam that the film festival, which aims to develop and promote film and other cultural industries as catalysts for regional socioeconomic growth, will attract over 200,000 visitors worldwide.

Activities, including film screenings and competitions, workshops, art, and exhibitions, will be held during the film festival, according to Mwale.

ZIFF is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania and one of the largest cultural events in East Africa.  ZIFF is a non-governmental organization established in 1997 to develop and promote film and other cultural industries as catalysts for regional social and economic growth.

The annual multidisciplinary arts and cultural festival is ZIFF’s major activity; the festival is an all-arts affair, with 8 days of local and international discussion panels, workshops, 10 days of screenings of the best local and international cinema and evenings of musical concerts including a Gala each evening. All festival programs are a culmination of the realization of the capacity of film to fuse together the best of each art-form, offering a wide range of Entertainment, Educating and Networking options for world audiences