Engagement, Collaboration Will Aid Northern Film Industry – Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the Nigerian film industry have said consistent engagement and collaboration would aid the development of the film industry in northern Nigeria.

They spoke at the third edition of the Northern Film Summit organised by the Kaduna International Film Festival (KADIFF) in partnership with the Korean Culture Center Nigeria (KCCN) in Abuja on Friday.

Among the many issues plaguing the industry, such as the absence of funding to inadequate film technology and distribution platforms, the near-immediate challenge is the absence of northern filmmakers in arenas that can foster the networking and partnership required to address their challenges.

Convener of the summit and founder, KADIFF, Israel Audu Kashim, said northern film practitioners were not utilising opportunities like festivals and summits available to them to boost the industry.

“They hardly attend free-entry festivals like KADIFF, where trainings on various film capacities that can impact their careers are available. Neither do they attend summits as this one, where there get to network and meet with people who can help them, and are here to discuss on ways of collaboration. Sometimes, even the inability to communicate hinders them from getting the necessary support. They might be calling someone for a particular thing, or to defend a submitted proposal/application, but because they are not outspoken, or are limited to Hausa Language, they tend to lose that opportunity,” he said.

Rather than continued lament, Kashim said the solution was in continuous engagement of people, until things get better.

“Just as we are hosting this summit post our festival in August, we will continue to follow up and engage them. We cannot go to meet them one-on-one and ask them to come for film festivals and summits. That’s not what we do. Rather, we will continue to engage them through the various industry guilds and film associations like MOPPAN, so they can see the need to participate in events as these,” he said.

Appreciating the support of its partner, the KCCN, Kashim said the collaboration had been positive, with the potential of yielding to virtual film exchanges.

“Korea has advanced in terms of their film technology, like VFX sound tech. We can tap from this knowledge,” he said.