By Anote Ajeluorou
Now in its second edition,
the Victor Okhai-led In-Short International Film Festival 2012 has announced
entries for participants wishing to compete and showcase their short films from
across the globe. While the entry closes late September, the festival will be
held in Lagos from October 11-13 at Silverbird Galleria, Nigeria Film
Corporation office, Lagos and The City Mall, Onikan, Lagos.
There will also be workshops and seminars to teach film
techniques to interested participants and the public.
Okhai, who is also the president of International Institute
of Film and Broadcast Academy, Lagos, stated recently that the festival was a
developmental platform to discover and project hidden talents among young
filmmakers from across the world. Working in partnership with the German
Cultural Institute, Goethe Institut, Okhai restated the desire of the festival
to provide a platform for experimental films, animation, documentary, long
musical videos (like R. Kelly’s In the Closet or Michael Jackson’s Thriller), fiction films and mid-range movies for TV, which
can find a platform of expression in the In-Short festival.
He stated, “What we are is uniquely and positively
different”, and said the future of Nigerian moviemaking tradition did not lie
with the current crop of filmmakers, who popularised the sector, but with a new
generation of filmmakers yet to be given the opportunity to express themselves.
He added, “The pioneers have tried; they have sustained the industry but it
needs to be taken to the future.
“The future of Nollywood is for those not in the core of Nollywood at the moment. There are no opportunities for them
yet. The real sponsors won’t look at the new generation of moviemakers because
they don’t know them enough to give them a chance at financial leverage. A lot
of these talents abound; most of their works are musical videos and commercials
in international TV channels, corporate films shot for corporate bodies. What they
are doing can compete with what their peers are doing globally. These talents
range from bankers, lawyers and other professionals. What they need is the
platform being offered by In-Short International Film Festival so they can
express themselves better. They need events such as this for self-expression.
“The festival is a platform where young people with great
ideas can showcase talent. Short films are easier to make; most famous
filmmakers started from short films; they are like call cards. If you go to
You-Tube or Vimeo, you will appreciate talents in short films. At a festival
like In-Short, people will come and discover young talents in short films and
possibly give them a chance”.
Apart from showcasing talents, participants stand a chance
to compete with filmmakers from across the globe in several categories. In last
year’s first edition, Nigeria’s Folasakin Wajomo won in the Best Screen
category with Not Today (10
minutes/fiction); Best Sound went to Mohammed Musulimi’s 500 Dollars (8 minutes/fiction); Best Editing also went to
Nigeria’s Tope Ogun’s Yong Smoker
(10 minutes/fiction); Best International Short Film went to Kenya’s Ziporrah
Nyanyuri’s Zebu and the Photo Fish
(13 minutes/fiction).
Other winners were Best Actor in Nigeria’s Benedict Aromeh’s
Director in Direc-toh (30
minutes/documentary), Best Actress in Chika Anadu’s Ava in AVA (9 minutes/fiction), Best Documentary went to Bimbo
Ogunsanya’s Unique Fingers (14
minutes), Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Film went to Imoh Umoren’s
All Sorts of Trouble (22
minutes/fiction).
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