Nollywood in focus at Abuja Filmfest
Founder and Festival Director of the
annual Abuja International Film Festival (AIFF) Fidelis Duker has announced the
festival’s secretariat preparedness to host the 9th edition of the
festival scheduled for the Silverbird Galleria in Abuja as from September 25 to
28. Duker, one time President of the Director’s Guild of Nigeria (DGN) and
Chief Executive Officer of FAD productions who has single-handedly staged what
is easily the premiere independently run film festival in Nigeria, from
inception ‘without any institutional support either from government or the
private sector’ disclosed that the team at AIFF is prepared to host the world
for three days in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. He Spoke to Shaibu Husseini
We
are good to go
We are very much ready for the 9th edition of the
festival. Its instructive to mention that our preparedness is very simplistic
as we don't bite more than we can chew. This has been the focal point of our
preparation. So in short I can confirm we are prepared to host the world even
with our challenge. It must be said that every year of AIFF comes with a new
flavour. This year we are celebrating. Nollywood at 20 and the phenomenon which
has received knocks, and condemnation from different quarters needs to be
celebrated and part of the plan is a Retrospective Segment where films like
Living in Bondage, Ti Oluwa Nile, Unforgiven Sin, Rattle Snake, Silent Night,
Circle of Doom will be screened. Also we have introduced an industry focus
segment and this year KANNYWOOD, producers of Hausa films are our focus during
the festival. These are a few of the new elements to expect this year.
We
shall also ‘talk’ Nollywood
Another introduction at the festival this year is a mini
Nollywood summit, which we intend to institute as a biennial event to address
issues in the motion picture industry in Nigeria. I think we need to keep
talking about how to get things working here and as we do so we need to
celebrate this global phenomenon which I call the new wave of Nigerian cinema
and which interestingly has grown beyond the initiators. It is important we
keep history for the children of this generation and generations yet unborn. A
child born in 1992 may have not seen Living in Bondage, so there is need to
flashback and holistically look at the present and future. The essence is to
remember all those who have contributed to this exportable brand.
AIFF
has not received a dime from FCT administration
As a film festival we have never had institutional support
but we are optimistic that the promise made last year by the Minister of State
for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide will be fulfilled. The Minister was special
guest at our festival last year and she promised that the FCT administration
was going to partner us in ensuring that it becomes a major film and tourism
event. At the moment we have not received a dime but we are confident some form
of support will be extended. I must say that we have funded the film festival
in 8 years from personal funds and we seem used to it but it is not the best.
As we approach our 10th edition next year we are hoping that apart from
government, corporate Nigeria must also support the festival as its done in
other climes so the festival can grow as big as the Cannes, Sundance, Vernice
amongst others. So in summary I will give d FCT a benefit of doubt because I
know that Oloye Akinjide is passionate about film and the film festival.
Don’t
be deceived by the names of supporters on our event brochure
I repeat with
emphasis that there is no form of institutional support from any government
agencies. What we have done for Abuja in 9 years, I don't think any public
relations company has done. We have placed the FCT and Nigeria on the global
landscape of film. As I speak to you AIFF remains one of the most prestigious
festival from Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa and interestingly the longest
running and most consistent. The minister who I repeat has the interest of the
film festival at heart had promised last year that the AIFF will be one of the
projects of d FCT ministry and it will be given all forms of support but sadly
two weeks to the event we haven't seen any but we are still optimistic.
Festivals elsewhere succeed because of institutional funding but sadly we do
not have such till now. What we would have expected is to have us in the FCT
budget because if properly supported Abuja film festival becomes a cultural
export and you can imagine how much revenue that can accrue to the FCT. Apart
from the FCT, what about government agencies in the ministry of information,
the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA),
the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) , the Nigerian Broadcasting
Commission (NBC) and others. Apart from the censors board and NBC who have
tried to lend one form of support or the other annually to us none of these
other agencies have supported us, even the NFC. The NFC as constituted to say
the least is bent on destroying the motion picture industry and I make bold to
say it. I even have a feeling because of the Zuma film festival which they
organize and which I do not even see as a competitor, the NFC are out to kill
all other film festivals as its only a few film festivals like AIFF still
surviving and it is rather unfortunate. The present management whose function
is developmental has unfortunately not been performing their statutory
function, which is sad. Nollywood today is at its lowest ebb, so can't NFC
commission some low budget high quality films to revamp the sector rather than
waste millions of tax payers money in attending film festivals abroad with
empty stand, no films to show, not even in the market or short film corner. I
don't want to deviate but if I am the head of the NFC, I will change the
landscape of film in Nigeria.
Nollywood
came as a result of the success of Living in Bondage
I have heard the argument of Nollywood being more than 20
years but I make bold to say that the phenomenon we all call Nollywood was at
the instance of Living in Bondage (LIB). I know that there were films that were
made before LIB but it was LIB that brought global attention to Nigeria. It was
LIB that brought out the creative and enterpreneural spirit of several young
men and women who all contributed in creating what is now called an industry.
It was after LIB that some of the professionals realized that it was possible
to make films on lesser formats and so they joined in. So LIB was the deciding
moment for Nollywood. But we must commend the Yoruba film practitioners for
sustaining and keeping the industry till the coming of LIB’.
I
am in all this to contribute my quota
I don’t make money from organizing AIFF and I have never
made money. I am in it because of my determination to contribute my own little
quota to the development of an industry that made me and had provided the
platform for me to be where I am today. I must say we had a 10year road map at
the inception of the festival in 2003. The idea was to start small and
grow the festival to an international brand, which is our focus and we are not yet
there but like they say a journey of a thousand mile starts with one step and
we are still moving with a determined focus to succeed. We are encouraged by
the support we have received so far from the media, practitioners and festival
enthusiast to keep keeping on even though we would not forget that we run a
television and movie production business. We have been on TV consistently for
10 years in over 17 terrestrial and TV stations producing programmes like
Eldorado and Girls Next Door. Next
year will make it 20years since I made my first film Ese Atijo so it has gotten
to a point in my career where I must start encouraging and building a new set
of filmmakers But that is not say I won't go behind the camera again because my
last film was Senseless which I directed 5 years ago but I have funded 3 other
films since then.
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