This year’s Abuja International Film Festival, opened with a world premier and launch of five Nollywood movies, Invasion 1897 and four others on bio-fortication at the Silverbird Cinema, Abuja.
The movie, Invasion 1897, a Lancelott Oduwa Imausuen film, is a 100 minutes genre shot in Nigeria that tells the story of the British invasion of the Benin Empire in 1897, reflecting the loot of the Benin Empire and subsequent harvest of artefacts and slavery of Africans under the guise of Christianity.
The four other movies stressed on Vitamin A Cassava: The Yellow Cassava – a Zeb Ejiro film; Dada Oni Paki – a Fidelis Duker film; Ebiyemi – a Chico Ejiro film and Sakani – an Obi Osotule film, all came in the four major languages of English, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa.
The Vitamin A Cassava movies under the joint efforts of Smile Africa Network and HarvestPlus Nigeria, were produced by Zeb Ejiro.
The movies are advocacy films aimed at creating adequate awareness for the Federal Government’s new policy on the benefits of cassava flour, to address the issue of malnutrition among children under the age of five in some parts of the country.
In an interview with journalists, the founder of the annual festival, Fidelis Duker, said that the successful running of the event in an unbroken period of eleven years has made the event a pivotal moment in the history of cinema in Nigeria, adding that the festival is the first completely international film festival in Nigeria to have held eleven uninterrupted and successive editions in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa.
According to Duker, about 200 films were submitted for the festival this year out of which 55 cutting edge films were screened while 34 were up for the awards this year.
This he said has added two new categories for music score and student films for aspiring film makers in film schools for the festival, which for him, is a pointer to the growth and global acceptance of the film festival.
He said: ‘‘My observation in the last 11 years of running the Abuja international film festival is that what we believe to be true in our society can perhaps be a myth in another and vice versa. We will see that Nigeria is a part of the world and the world part of Nigeria.
‘‘It may teach us that there is fulfillment in emptiness and emptiness within fulfillment. It is then that we see that our neighbour is not our enemy but a friend, a companion in our journey of life and that patience is essential. This outlook on life is a necessity for a society that is going through a trying time on insurgent attacks and terrorism. The films of this festival contain the key to making that change,’’ he stressed. According to the producer of Invasion 1897, Mr.Lancelott Imasuen, his major challenge in producing the film came from funding which he overcame by sheer of commitment and hard work. Lancelot expressed delight for the success attained with the launch in both Nigeria and abroad and urged the government and private sector to create the enabling environment for the industry to thrive. ‘‘At the beginning of producing this movie, funding became a challenge to me but today, I give God all the glory that the dream has finally become a reality. I am happy the world has started seeing it. I was actually worries about what my colleagues and people would say but their reactions today have boosted my morale. This is the first time it is showing in Nigeria, it has shown in UK and some other parts of the world few days back. I am so overwhelmed by the turn out of people. The film was a four year journey with lots of challenges in the process but the good news is that we overcame our problems. I think, what my colleagues must do is to ensure that their work meet international standards because that was what guided me in this production. But for us to succeed, government and the private sector must appreciate the contribution of this industry and create the enabling environment for us to grow the industry to where it should be’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to deserving Nollywood stars and movie producers.
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