Duker… Nollywood ambassador at driver’s seat of AFRIFESTNET

FORMER President of the Director Guild of Nigeria (DGN) and founder of the nine years running yearly Abuja International Film Festival (AIFF) Fidelis Duker has been appointed President of the African Film Festival Network (AFRIFESTNET), a continental body for film festival organisers.

Duker’s appointment followed a vote of no confidence passed by members of AFRIFEST on their pioneer President Kwame Owosu. Although, Owosu from Ghana is believed to have resigned as President prior to the meeting where the decision to oust him was taken, members said the decision to ‘sack’ Owosu and to elevate Duker from his position as Vice President to that of President followed the inability of Owosu to direct the affairs of the continental body since he got the mandate to lead the network almost two years ago.

Members complained that Owosso took a back seat after the maiden congress of the network held in Accra in 2011. ‘Nothing has been heard about the network since then and Owosso himself just switched off on everyone’ a member from Morocco lamented. A motion to remove Owosso and to have Duke succeed him was raised at a recent emergency meeting and members say they unanimously adopted the motion and endorsed the decision to have Duke succeed Owosso. Duke will call the shots until when a fresh election would be conducted to either re-elect Duke and his team or elect a new leadership for the body.

Observers see Duke’s elevation as a plus for Hollywood. The directing force behind some of the sectors critically acclaimed offerings like Senseless and Monica Lewinsky is perhaps the first practitioner in recent history to hold a very influential continental position. This is why they consider Duke’s appointment an opportunity for Hollywood to assert its position as a leading motion picture production force in the continent. They also think that Hollywood, which Duke has no doubt contributed in growing, should exploit the opportunity of being at the head of an influential organisation like AFRIFEST to secure a good share of voice in the continental festival and film circuit. Observers strongly believe that getting involved in international politics is one sure step to take especially if players intend for the industry to be reckoned with outside of Nigeria.

Indeed it has widely being argued that Hollywood needs to begin to play the international politics of filmmaking if it intends to be taken seriously outside Nigeria. While other developing film societies like Kenya and South Africa whose infrastructure and film industries are now perfectly used to handle large scale outside productions, are finding spots to perch on internationally, Hollywood and its practitioners are so locked down in local politics including intra and inter guild and association squabbles. Hollywood as an observer remarked has continued to play the number game while countries that have made themselves visible in international for a are the ones benefiting from major international funding, production and distribution opportunities. Even the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), an agency of government set up to develop the industry has been so withdrawn from developments in the industry that it has allowed some of its functions including that of galvanising the industry to be performed by a Senior Special Assistant to the President. Just this Saturday in Lagos, President Goodluck Jonathan had to rely on his office on strategy and documentation to organise a salutary dinner for the iconic Hollywood. It was unsure if the NFC had any input in that dinner that was well attended. The NFC in the estimation of informed observers has lost control of an industry it is supposed to regulate. Even the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and several other associations and guilds that should lead the way and make its presence felt at international film meets are still unsure of how they intend to commemorate 20 years of the existence of commercial movie production in Nigeria. The AMP failed to commemorate the event in September 2012, the month the phenomenal Living in Bondage was released 20 years ago and a time the AMP has now formally landmarked to be the start period for an industry that is today called Nollywood. There are indeed no signs that it is even ready to roll out red carpets for any of the events it had promoted will be used to commemorate 20 years of Nollywood as there are no specific dates for the programme of commemoration which the leadership of AMP say will climax in June 2013. Yet the AMP would claim sole right to the event and would not allow any other person or group reflect on the existence of the self styled industry. Observers wonder whether there will be any need to hold any other commemorative event after that lavish dinner by the President attended by three governors including Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state. It appears that the dinner the President held with the practitioners last week will be the only event that will be held around the Nollywood at 20 commemorations.  ‘’Anything after it will be an anti-climax’’ a member of AMP said.

But the story of Nollywood still needs to be told by the practitioners themselves. The AMP and other associations and guild still need to take the Nollywood story out. They need to attend festivals and movie meets and they need to also seek opportunities at those meets to tell the true Nollywood story. The just held biennial Festival of Pan African Cinema in Ouagadougou otherwise called FESPACO closed on March 3 in Burkina Faso and not a single head of the so many associations in Nollywood showed up in FESPACO. Yet there were so many forums opened to them to tell the Nollywood story from the point of view of the practitioners. If Nollywood was absent in FESPACO, it was also absent at the 63rd edition of the Berlin International film Festival which closed on February 18, When other less developed film societies like Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Congo and Senegal were scrambling to get a share of the international film voice through their participation of high profile film events like the Berlinale, Nollywood and its practitioners were at home celebrating 20 years of producing movies in large quantities.  The ten-day long festival closed and there was not a single official of any of the so many guilds or association in attendance. Even officials of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) who, at least since Afolabi Adesanya became Managing Director of the agency a little near eight year ago, usually put up appearances on behalf of the industry were absent this year. Their absence may not be unconnected with lack of funds but even then Nollywood would have been represented at Berlinale. They have always argued that there is no use attending festivals because Nigeria doesn’t have any film showing in or out of competition, but observers say that argument is lame as Berlinale, reputed to be one of the most important cinema showcases in the world offers more than just the platform to showcase films. The festival attended by hordes of national and international practitioners have provided moviegoers the opportunity to network and exchange ideas. Some industries have even secured international funding from organisations that seek projects around the world to fund. For instance, the meeting of the World Cinema Fund held during Berlinale and it was held in association with the Federal Foundation for Culture and in cooperation with the Goethe Institut, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Deutsche Welle / DW Academy, the Foreign Ministry and German producers. The World Cinema Fund works to develop and support cinema in regions with a weak film infrastructure, while fostering cultural diversity in German cinemas. The fund supports films that could not be made without additional funding: films that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, that tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots. The fund has an annual budget of approximately 400,000 EUR and supports exclusively the production and distribution of feature films and feature-length documentaries from regions like Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa. These kinds of funds will continue to elude Nollywood, as long as it does not exploit the opportunities presented to exploit the funds.

If Nollywood was absent at the Berlinale, Ghana was not. Akosua Adoma Owusu gave Ghana something to cheer about at the Berlinale and officials of the Ghana Film Commission sat through the World Cinema Fund meeting. Owusu’s 26 minutes short film Kwaku Ananse featured in the short film corner. The movie recounts a tale from Ghana about how the spider wants and collects all bits of wisdom but ultimately the vessel breaks. The story centres around a young woman who had to face up to her father’s polygamous life but in the end encounters herself. But Owusu’s film didn’t get the short film prize. She lost it to Jean-Bernard Marlin’s The Runaway, which was awarded the Golden Bear. However it was Child’s Pose by Callin Peter Netzer that got the Berlinale top prize—The Golden Bear. It was adjudged the best film of the Berlinale.

Nigeria has not been lucky to have its entry considered at Berlinale and indeed in other first rate festivals around the world. The organisers have often complained that entries are usually sent late and even when they are sent a bulk of them beg for post -production redemption. It is the same reason that the organisers of the FESPACO have always advanced for not accepting works from Nollywood. The issue of quality aside, the organizers of FESPACO have always insisted that all entries for its main competition must be on celluloid or should be blown up to that standard. It is the reason why no entry from a core Nollywood practitioner has made the FESPACO officials selection list within the last three decades. But with the advancement in digitization of the film industry, festival organizers may be compelled to accept entries in the format that Nollywood practitioners work on. Observers expect that now that Nigerian movie practitioners are beginning to make films on superior digital format, they should be in Berlin at the next edition in February 2014 even if on the fringes. Festivalgoer’s have been asking a lot about ‘Nollywood’’ and its offering. The cinema of India was in Berlinale so they expect that Nollywood which placed second after India in the UNESCO 2005 survey of movie producing societies in the world should find a space in Berlin next year to exhibit its best offerings.

Meanwhile the Senegalese director Alain Gomis has won the Golden Stallion prize for best film at the FESPACO. Gomis film titled Tey (Today) starring Saul Williams and Aissa Maiga which examined the relationship between the living and the dead was adjudged the best film of the biennial festival out of over 20 other films including Nigeria’s Newton Aduaka’s One Man Show that were entered for the main competition. It will be the first time that a Senegalese film will receive the FESPACO top prize.  The FESPACO jury described the film as one  “cinematic grace”. Gomis dedicated the prize to his home country Senegalese and its citizens. He said he felt proud to win the top prize. Gomis paid glowing tributes to his colleagues in Senegal who battle to make films under very difficult conditions. ‘’This is for all Senegalese especially those that have over the last few years struggled, toiled and persevered to make films in difficult conditions. I congratulate them and dedicate this award to them for keeping the flame alive” Gomis said. Saul Williams who featured as the lead actor in They received the prize for best male lead. The other prize winners include Yema by Algerian Djamila Sahraoui, (Silver Stallion), and La Pirogue (The Dugout) by Senegalese Moussa Touré (Bronze Stallion). The award for Best First Feature Film went to Les Enfants De Toumaron by Harri Krisna and Sharvan Anenden from Mauritius. The film exposes the life of four youngsters and their fight for survival. Nadia El Fani got the award for Best documentary for the film Meme Pas Mal while the award for Best Short Film went to Les Souliers de l’Aid by Anis Lasoued from Tunisia. Promoted as a platform that allows filmmakers to network and catch up on the latest trends in African cinema, FESPACO berthed in 1969 to contribute to the expansion and development of African Cinema as a means of expression and awareness raising. But observers say that what should undeniably be an integral piece of the African film industry has favoured Franco-phone African filmmakers more than it has helped those from Anglophone Africa. Filmmakers from Anglophone Africa have complained severally about alienation by the organizers who are majorly from Francophone Africa. They feel that the organizers have created ‘unnecessary borders’ and are now even contemplating on berthing a festival that will protect their interest.  If that happens, the whole idea of FESPACO being a neutral space and the crossroads of Africa and her cinema would have been defeated.