Royal father, two others get Zuma Film Festival awards

Associating the event to the qualities of the Zuma Rock and honey who’s Hausa word is ‘Zuma’, he said, “the festival is not just an attraction to stakeholders in the industry but is also sweet to all who participate in it.’ He commended the leadership of the NFC for sustaining it thus far and hopes […]

Associating the event to the qualities of the Zuma Rock and honey who’s Hausa word is ‘Zuma’, he said, “the festival is not just an attraction to stakeholders in the industry but is also sweet to all who participate in it.’

He commended the leadership of the NFC for sustaining it thus far and hopes that this year’s edition will be better than previous ones.

Speaking on the choice for this year’s theme, ‘The Human Story: Connecting people’, the Managing Director, NFC Afolabi Adesanya said, it was carefully chosen to identify with the nation’s present dynamics and project the potency of film to grapple with it.

Three recipients, Oba Olusonya Dosunmu, Mane Cisneos Manrique, and Prof. Jonathan Haynes received Lifetime achievement awards.

At Monday’s lecture entitled, ‘The filmmaker as a social realist and cultural advocate’ guest speaker, Prof. Ahmed Yerima and other speakers emphasized the fact that filmmakers should have at the back of their minds that their works must have social relevance and not rest at being an entertainment piece.

The four-day event featured film screenings from masters like Tunde Kelani, Lancelot Imasuen, Sebari Diette-Spiff and from the younger generation with the likes of Mak Kusare and Kenneth Gyang.

Works include short films, documentary, animation and feature from Nigerian and foreign producers and directors. Some of the contenders are ‘Playground’ (animation), ‘Ma’ami’ (feature), ‘48’ (feature) and ‘Red Line’ (documentary). There were also entries from Italy and Spain as all entries were judged by a panel made up of Prof. Duro Oni, Prof. Jonathan Haynes, Sam Dede, Anouk Batard and Molara Wood.

On day three participants were involved in a colloquium film and video archiving workshop with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM). Issues discussed included ‘Infrastructural Requirements for the Nigerian Film Industry’ and ‘Developing a truly Nigerian Film Funding Paradigm’.

Day three saw participants and discussants dialogue on ‘Co-production opportunities and Market Integration in Africa: Exploring new frontiers for African Cinema with Prof. Jude Akudinobi and ‘Articulating an appropriate Incentive regime for Nigeria’s film destination strategy’ with the Federal Inland Revenue Services.

At the closing ceremony last Wednesday evening, Tunde Kelani’s 2011 piece, ‘Maami’ stole the show with three wins of the eleven categories. It won the awards for ‘Best Actress’ (Funke Akindele),  Best Director (Tunde Kelani) and Best Nigerian film.

Others were Best Actor, Yemi Blaq for ‘Impostor’; Best Script Mahmoud Ali Balogun for ‘Tango with me’; Best Student Film ‘Naked Truth’ directed by Idi Nasiru; Best Foreign Short Film ‘Un mal golpe’ – ‘A bad hit’ (Spain); Best Film in Box Office, ‘Return of Jenifa’ and Best Distributor, Blue Pictures.

NEXIM, SMEDAN, NBC and the Spanish Embassy also received ‘Life Honors Awards’ for supporting the NFC and the Nigerian film industry.

The general perception of this year’s outing as Mr. Itse Babafemi an annual visitor to the film festival put it is that “even though this year’s event seemed a little low keyed and last the bubbly and festive nature of the previous editions, it seemed the most impactful on the regular Nigerian Nollywood fan.”

According to him, the contenders and winners of the different categories were entries that the bulk of Nigerians related with. “Story narrated in ‘Maami’ is one that literarily every Nigerian identifies with and learns one or two things from. Many mothers even when there are fathers actually play dual parental roles in the lives of their children as father and mother. Children of such mothers cling to them. The fact that there was a favourite football club in it all made it all the more at home with us. The actress, Funke added the icing on the cake and gave it the essential tonic we Nollywood fans look forward to in Nigerian movies.”