L-R: Balogun, Ude and Mohamammed
Akeem Lasisi
The African International Film Festival
inspired new hopes for the movie sector on the continent when it held in
Lagos last week. Apart from screening about 150 films and rewarding
film-makers who won various categories in the AFRIFF Globe Awards, it
drew more than the attention of stakeholders that included the Federal
Government, Lagos State Government and corporate bodies, all who renewed
their promises to further empower the industry.
While the feast peaked at the Globe
Awards, where stars that included Omotola Jalaade-Ekeinde, Kate Henshaw,
Mahmood Ali-Balogun and Ramsey Noah rose to celebrate with AFRIFF
Founder, Chioma Ude, the fervour sparked at the opening night, where the
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, led other
players to project a better future for the sector, was memorable.
At the opening event held at Genesis
Cinema, Victoria Island, Lagos, the minister, alongside other
dignitaries that included Senitor Godswill Akpabio, the Commissioner for
Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, and the
Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Igwe, expressed commitment
to the development of the movie industry on the continent.
Before the commencement of the screening of I am not a Witch,
the film that opened the festival, Mohammed saluted Nigerian filmmakers
for the pioneering role they are playing in leading Africa to greatness
in the screen business.
He hailed Ude for not only promoting
works from far and near, but also for including the training of youths
in AFRIFF programmes.
Mohammed said, “Standing here and gazing
at this great gathering, I can feel the confluence of passion and
creativity and the promises and possibilities that the future holds for
the global movie industry. The object of our gathering tonight, the
platform on which we celebrate African and international film-makers, is
one of the great stories of Nollywood, for AFRIFF was birthed because
there is Nollywood.”
On the efforts that the Federal
Government is making to advance the sector, the minister stressed that
it was pushing for a single-digit interest on loans for infrastructural
developments for the industry, and supporting the building of 100
community cinemas to be evenly spread across the country.
‘’We are also close to having a world-class pre- and post-production facility using the current NTA
infrastructure with a few additions,” he noted, adding that, with the
advent of the digital switch-over in television broadcasting, the
Federal Government was ensuring that the set-top boxes were enabled to
allow the 24 million TV households in Nigeria to buy movies with and
without the need of data.
Ayorinde also commended AFRIFF for sustaining its dream to be part of changing the story of film-making.
He noted that the Lagos State Government
was not only providing an enabling environment for arts and culture to
thrive, it also believed in the sector’s capacity to contribute
meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the state and the
nation in general.
On his part, the managing director of
Access Bank, which is a major supporter of AFRIFF, congratulated Ude and
her team for the success they recorded.
Igwe noted that a major project, in
which Access and AFRIFF were collaborating, would soon be unveiled, with
a promise that it would be of benefit to all and sundry in the sector.
Wulu (Mali), Felicite (Senegal) and Nigeria’s Hakkunde,
produced by Oluseyi Asurf, were some of the big winners at the Globe
Award. Their N250,000 cheques, each, were presented by Access Bank.
Ghana’s Lydia Forson was named Best Actress for her role in Keteke while Ibrahim Koma received the Best Actor Globe for his role in Wulu.
The Best Feature Film Globe, and the N500,000 prize money, went to the opening night film, I am Not a Witch (Zambia/UK), produced by Juliette Grandmont and Emily Morgan.
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