WAP, Ejiro, others get film grant

Nollywood, one of the three components of the N3 billion Presidential Intervention Fund for the Nigerian movie industry. So far, 67 practitioners have benefitted from the ‘Capacity Building Fund.’ A statement by Paul Nwabuikwu, special adviser to the minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the 32 film projects […]

Nollywood, one of the three components of the N3 billion Presidential Intervention Fund for the Nigerian movie industry. So far, 67 practitioners have benefitted from the ‘Capacity Building Fund.’
A statement by Paul Nwabuikwu, special adviser to the minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the 32 film projects from these companies were selected out of the 38 which applied for the Film Production Fund (FPF)after the first batch of interviews concluded last week.
“About 253 applications were received from production companies.  The FPF is a N700 million instrument which allocates grants to production companies and independent producers for the making of commercially viable films at any stage of production,” the statement said.
These, he said, include, pre-production (scripting, budgeting, location, cast and crew),production (shooting, film set),post-production (editing, sound, and graphics), and marketing/distribution/exhibition (selling the movie to audiences).

“The FPF contributes to commercially viable film projects with grants of up to N10 million even though a small number of film projects may be considered for higher grants. In making these grants the initiative supports the further development of the Nollywood film industry and filmmaking talent,” the statement noted.
It said eligible formats include feature films, documentaries, animation, short films, TV formats, adding that movies may be in English or in indigenous languages, movie projects must have national and international appeal to qualify.
Earlier, about 67 practitioners, comprising members of the Arewa Filmmakers Association and the Directors Guild of Nigeria among others, had been awarded various grants to undertake training courses in Nigeria, the UK, and the USA under the second component of the Presidential Initiative, the two-part Capacity Building Fund.
The training part of the Capacity Building Fund is valued at N150 million and is dedicated to training and skills acquisition for Nigerian movie practitioners in all competencies along the entire value chain of the movie industry, including scriptwriting, directing, production and production design, special effects, lighting, sound, HD techniques, acting, cinematography, make-up and editing.
Some of the beneficiaries are Ayiba Communications, November Productions, Azurfa Film Production Company, Karami Multimedia, Ramat Productions and Haszain Global Resources among others.