When Nigerian, international filmmakers converged for Zuma

The 9th edition of the Zuma Film Festival was an event full of lectures, training sessions and day long film screenings, an absolute must attend for all film lovers. Jabi Lake Mall in Abuja was venue for the weeklong event, with a number high level foreign government officials and diplomats, film distributors, marketers, art exhibitors, […]

The 9th edition of the Zuma Film Festival was an event full of lectures, training sessions and day long film screenings, an absolute must attend for all film lovers.

Jabi Lake Mall in Abuja was venue for the weeklong event, with a number high level foreign government officials and diplomats, film distributors, marketers, art exhibitors, film and television content developers, alongside with some prolific Nigerians in the film industry, in attendance.

The 2018 edition of the festival was themed, ‘Archiving for Creativity’ which the chairman of the festival organizing committee and MD, Nigerian Film Corporation, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, said, “intends to reignite the consciousness in filmmakers and other stakeholders on the important role of film and audio visual archiving of creative works for its posterity values.”

The festival began with an emerging talent workshop, in collaboration with Arsenal Film Institute of Berlin and the University of Frankfurt featuring an array of international experienced cinematographers and archivists from Nigeria around the globe. The guests were later entertained with a boat show, light-up night and screening of the opening film, ‘4:13’ and ‘Mirabel’ to close the events of the day and usher in day two that included a continuation of the workshop and a tour of national park.

The first forum of day three, ‘Film Business and Finance’ was chaired by Sen. Suleiman Adokwe, with Mrs. Hope Yongo of Nexim Bank serving as the keynote speaker. The panelists all brought their expertise to the discussion, which was made up of Mr. Anas Yazid, Mr. Kene Mkparu, Abdullahi Maikano, Arnold Jackson and filmmaker, Paul Papel.

Another discussion followed immediately after titled Women in Film, discussing African women telling their stories. Deaconess Grace Gekpe was the special guest of honour while Moji Makanjuola, Edima Otuokon, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim and Kocbelle Guemini were panelists. A Spanish film was screened later in the evening while cocktails were served by the lakeside.

The activities of the days to follow continued, with more panel discussions, workshops, trainings and day to night film screenings with entertainment in between. Day four featured a Google Policy Makers Training, touching on one of the most prevalent issues of today; fake news and hate speech in the society. This was followed by a panel discussion of promoting safety across online platforms.

But day six proved to be perhaps one of the most interesting with a session by Michael Novak on ‘Digital Innovation from Netflix to Amazon – The Evolving Formats for Storytelling’, then on Afrofuturism, poetry/spoken words by Ekene Atusjubah and a panel discussion with Kenneth Gyang, Chike Nwoffiah and a host of others as well.

The final day of the festivities was moved to the International Conference Centre where the NFC held their annual film lecture themed; Film Archiving as a Tool for Diplomacy with the chairman of the lecture being none other than Prof. Andrew Okilagwe and renowned and celebrated Prof. Ibrahim Gambari as the keynote speaker. During his lecture, Prof. Gambari gave some nuggets of wisdom that could go a long way in revolutionizing Nigeria’s film industry.

“Nigeria has never been more divided than now. All hands must be on deck to rescue Nigeria from our present challenges. The elites must rise up to the occasion. The production of films can serve as diplomatic tools to promote both the image of Nigeria and as a major income earner.”

As ZUFF came to a close, it did so in style, with an awards night to honour all the film industry persons present and with a red carpet, a dinner, honours given to all those deserving and final goodbyes as well. Overall, many were quite disappointed to see the weeklong event end. But there’s still next year to look forward to.