‘Nigerian movies need more exposure’
What is the Emmy Academy about? We are chattered with the mandate to recognise excellence in international television. I am basically in charge of taking in all the submissions, processing them and working with all the entrants and making sure all the entries go through the rounds of judging. I am also in charge of […]
What is the Emmy Academy about?
We are chattered with the mandate to recognise excellence in international television. I am basically in charge of taking in all the submissions, processing them and working with all the entrants and making sure all the entries go through the rounds of judging. I am also in charge of working with the jurors who are brought on to actually judge the programme because the academy does no judging whatsoever. Internally, there is no pre-selection of any of the programmes, it is the panel of judges who judge everything.
What do you know about Nigerian movies?
I can say that basically, we received very, very few African submissions at the Academy because the biggest thing with the Emmy Awards competition is that you have to send in your entries to be able to compete. It is like a lottery. Right now, we do not have many entries from Nigeria or from Western Africa which means that Nigerian programmes are not being seen by the international panel of judges like the other programmes that have been entered.
Against this backdrop, why is it that the Academy now decided to have the semi-final here?
It is something we have always been trying to work towards. In order to hold a semi-final judging event, a member of our organisation has to sponsor it. They are in charge of inviting the judges, putting together the event and a representative from the Academy, such as me, travels to that location to ensure that all aspects of the competition are kept the same no matter where programmes are being judged in the world. So in that case, it has been a great opportunity that Nigeria Video and Film Censors Board (NFVCB) as a member of the Academy has gone ahead and sponsored the semi-final round of judging because it allows the Academy to come to Nigeria and come to the ground level to encourage entries and participation through the Academy and through the awards.
Apart from the fact that this will broaden the horizon of the Nigerian film industry, what in your opinion are the other pluses for the nation?
The biggest thing about entering television programmes into the competition is that they get to be seen by the international judges who are all extremely seasoned professionals in the landscape of television. So let’s say Nigeria enters a programme, it could be seen by a judge in Japan, Argentina, Canada or any other place around the world that has not been exposed to Nigerian programming prior to now. So it allows Nigerian programming into the international arena.
What are the criteria for choosing the judges?
All judges have to have a certain amount of experience in the international judging field. As we are doing a semi-final round of judging, these criteria are even stricter. One of the programmes which they have viewed will end up being nominated for the award. It will move on to the final round and compete directly for the Emmy awards. This means it is very important that all judges have multiple experiences at a high level.
Do you think new media is taking over television as it is?
I wouldn’t say it is taking over. I would say it is more of merging. Year after year, we receive more and more entries in four or three digital categories. I think because more and more people are exploring it as a medium through which they can present their projects. I don’t think it will become the sole platform, I think that at some point, television will become the internet and vice versa. I feel like a lot of it is already at this point.