As the world was gripped by the Oscars fever, Dar es Salaam was holding the Sinema Zetu International Film Festival (SZIFF) 2019 on Saturday, a major leap forward for Tanzania's fledgling movie industry known simply as Swahiliwood.

In the running were 267 films from 20 countries — hosts Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa; Iran, Afghanistan, India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea; Estonia, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Germany — in two groups: Swahili Panorama (for series, short films, documentaries and feature films produced or fully dubbed in Swahili) and World Cinema (film from all other countries, in any language with English subtitles.)

The surprise winners of the festival were two unknown pre-teens from a children’s centre, who edged out a host of big-name Swahiliwood stars in the Best Actor and Best Actress (Swahili Panorama) categories.

Flora Kihombo and Rashid Msigala, aged 11 and 10 respectively, from the TAG Lwanga Student Centre for Underprivileged Children in Iringa region, Tanzania, were awarded for their outstanding performances in Kesho, a film on sibling rivalry and a family’s struggles to survive after being abandoned by their father.

Flora Kihombo won Best Actress, beating one of East Africa's most famous socialites, Wema Sepetu (last year's winner), Blandina Chagula and Yvonne Cherry, all of whom are established screen stars in Tanzania and the region.

Rashid Msigala beat last year's winner Salum Ahmed to the Best Actor award, while Leena Alam and Myra Vishwakarma were joint winners of the Best Actress (World Cinema) category for their roles in Letter to the President and PIHU, from Afghanistan and India respectively.

Launched last year to showcase cultural diversity, the SZIFF was created to serve as a marketing platform for Swahiliwood productions, just the more established annual Zanzibar International Film Festival, which is also an annual event.

Films are still produced on very tight schedules withshoestring budgets using hand-held camcorders, and mass-released in DVD format.

Only a few high quality feature films have been released in cinemas, notable among them being Bongoland (2003), a film about a Tanzania immigrant to the US and Ni Noma, released in June 2016.

In 2001, a Tanzanian movie, Maangamizi: The Ancient One was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.