This is a study of the production, content, distribution, and reception of different religious films in Zimbabwe, with an emphasis on the audience’s initial reception of the films. Informants’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of these selected films are analyzed primarily by using qualitative methods to understand better the interplay between film and religion in Zimbabwe. The films studied in this research are The Jesus Film (1979) created by Campus Crusade for Christ and indigenous, short Jesus films created locally in Zimbabwe in 2012. In order to answer the central research questions of this study, two main approaches are employed: the first is a holistic approach to the analysis of these films. The primary question within this approach is: in what ways do the production, content, and distribution of The Jesus Film and indigenous, short Jesus films affect the reception of the films among informants in Zimbabwe today? The second approach specifically addresses the interchange between the audience members’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of the films. There are two central research questions within this approach. First, in what ways may pre-existing perceptions of Jesus shape informants’ responses to and interpretations of Jesus as he is portrayed in The Jesus Film and in indigenous, short Jesus films in Zimbabwe today? Secondly, how might the viewing of these films affect those perceptions of Jesus? Based upon the careful analysis of the original data that emerges from the field work of this research, the conclusion provides a series of answers to these questions, revealing new insights into the interplay of film and religion in Zimbabwe.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Mayareligiosity is portrayed and expressed in visual media in the form of series and films. The study also aims to investigate why Mayareligiosity is portrayed and expressed in that way and to discuss what reasons may be behind this. Based on the study´s purpose, the following questions have been formulated:  1.       How is mayareligiosity portrayed in these films and series? 2.       Why is mayareligiosity portrayed in this way?   The empirical material for this candidate's thesis consists of three visual media in the form of two films, The Fountain (2006) and Apocalypto (2006), and a series, Maya and the Three (2021). Based on previous research, background and postcolonial theory, the films, and series’ portrayal of Mayareligiosity is presented, analyzed, and discussed. It was possible to find several similarities between the portrayals in the visual media and there were also some differences. A division that was made was based on from what perspective the Mayareligion was portrayed, from the inside or from the outside. Discussion about how the perspective affects the portrayal and what this means followed. The foundations of how and why Mayareligion is portrayed the way it is can be found in post-colonial theorizing. It is based in a colonial history with power relations between colonizers and colonized and power relations around historiography. It is expressed through orientalism, binarism and subaltern groups. The discussion shows how a film industry built on Christian foundations and in Christian contexts leaves traces in films and their actions, partly in post-colonial perspectives.