THE just held 8th edition of the Abuja international Film festival recorded a number of first, but chief among the first it recorded was the fact that it was the first time that the organizers struck a true partnership with the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory. The festival has held for seven years in Abuja without any commitment'moral or even financial from the FCT administration. But this year was different. In fulfillment of an earlier pledge the FCT administration made to support the festival, the Minister of State for the FCT Chief Olajumoke Akinjide led a powerful team from the FCT to declare the festival open and to pledge the administrations readiness to partner with the organizers of the AIFF to position the festival as the festival of note in Nigeria and Africa. Held with the theme The Future of Nollywood: Convergence of Media Platforms the Minister commended the organizers for the passion and determination with which they have driven the vision of the festival'that of providing a platform for the celebration of the best of films and filmmakers. Chief Akinjide expressed the hope that the AIFF 2011 will provide a platform for the emergence of mutually beneficial relationships among different media platforms. She pledged the Ministry's support and partnership for initiatives such as the AIFF that aims at engendering development and growth of the arts, tourism and cultural landscape of Abuja. 'As supervisory ministry in-charge of the federal capital it is our desired interest to see to the success of initiatives like the Abuja international film festival. It is our desire to develop the Abuja international film festival to world class as it will also serve as a tourist destination in future as is the case with globally acclaimed festivals like the Cannes in France, Sundance in the US, Venice in Italy amongst several others' she saidThe organizers got similar assurance of support from the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) and the National Film Corporation. However while commenting on the theme of the 8th edition, the Managing Director of the NFC noted that the media has in recent times become an integral part of human life and endeavor. Therefore it has become necessary as he argued for the diverse kinds of media platform to work in tandem with each other towards achieving their objectives, which has always been to inform, educate and entertain. The Director General of the NFVCB Emeka Mba agrees with Adesanya but he submits that the digital media convergence makes content owner the king in the equation. However preparing the Nigerian owners of the content to prepare for the brilliant emerging future he says, is what the National Film and Video Censors Board is partnering with Abuja Film Festival organizers to find anchor. 'Having been pivotal in the efforts to use the platform of the Abuja Film Festival to present a quality and vibrant content market within Nigeria and across Africa, the NFVCB sees the possibility, indeed, inevitability of achieving this dream faster through the festival market, particularly as the Broadcast part of the digital national platform gears towards full blown digital compliance. The challenge of meeting up with the demands of this need is undoubtedly enormous. Content creation has become a legitimate brand testimony about Nigeria' he said. But Mba thinks that such a strategic partnership calls for needful creative and business virtues such as global best practices in content quality, competitiveness, and adherence to the dynamics of product economics. Mba therefore pledged the readiness of the NFVCB to, in a close association with the initiators of the festival, realize how critical the need to develop a choice market that recognizes creativity and rewards sacrifice is both for Nigeria and for Nollywood.Over 86 films from across the globe comprising 56 feature, 15 documentaries and 14 short films were reviewed for this year's festival. However only 15 of such films were by Nigerian filmmakers and the figure, which is quite on the low side, reflects the current state of the industry. Indeed filmmakers here have been battling to overcome considerable challenges, not least of which is finding the money to make movies. Unfortunately in Nigeria, even as the festival director Fidelis Duker remarked 'industry organizations like the Film Corporation, Government and the National Film and Video Censors Board do not have the funds to assist the filmmakers'. In spite of that challenge, Duker applauded the Nigerian entries noting that the Nigerian entries submitted have improved in quality. 'We are excited by the rise in the auteur-driven films, and that some filmmakers have started looking at the international market with a view of exploiting the cinema exhibition platforms' Duker, one time President of the Director's Guild of Nigeria (DGN) said. On the choice of the theme of the festival, Duker maintained that the theme was chosen because of realization that media convergence allows mass media audiences to interact with and even generate mass media content. With media convergence as Duker argued, 'audiences can now control when, where and how they access and relate to information of all kinds of which film is being narrowed to'. The festival director also commented about the entire programming of the festival: 'we are privileged to receive and watch more than our fair share of films on every topic, from all over the globe. We are also proud of the international films line-up, many of which have won top international awards. We strive to select films that are socially relevant to the African experience, and will interest our diverse audiences. Our programme also reflects this diversity. There's music, sports, revolution, human rights, humour, current news, scams and scandals, among other things'.Ten awards and three special recognition awards were handed out at an impressive closing ceremony, which held at the Silverbird galleria, Abuja. The Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Raji Fashola, his Rivers and Bayelsa counterpart Rotimi Amaechi and Timipre Silva received special recognition plaques for their contribution to the development of the film industry. All three governors have supported the hosting of a number of filmic events and have each made substantial contributions to the growth of the motion picture industry.. Governor Fashola for instance is working on establishing a film city in Lagos and has also directed that a full-fledged film and cinematography department be established at the state owned Lagos state University. The filmmakers were also not left out in the award presentation. The Korean film An Unwanted Guest received the best feature film award for foreign films while the Malaysian film got the crest for the best short foreign film. Omo Gomina, the feature film by Lasun Ray and Murphy Ray got the best Nigerian feature film crest while the short film, documentary and the animation award went to Uzoamaka by Willis Ikedum, Africa the rising sun and a Chinese animation The King of Mi Lu Deer, respectively. The award for the outstanding male act when to Korean actor Hwang Seon Hwan who was lead in the Korean film An Uninvited Guest while the Chinese actress Zhou Xun ' Li Mi got the award for her input in Conjecture. The best director's crest was won by Saghwa Lee who called the shots on the Korean film An Uninvited Guest while the Grand Jury Prize went to An Uninvited Guest. The film was obviously the best of the festival.
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