THE 2022 edition holds March 17 -20 in hybrid (On site/ Virtual) format.
Dotting on the theme, UNFILTERED: African Stories. Stories from Africa, the festival is designed to dig deeper into the iREP traditional thematic preoccupation, Africa n’Self-Conversation — an ideological thrust
Featuring over 70 films from Nigeria, rest of Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia, the festival will also feature the usual robust conversations and panel discussions that the 12-year old festival is renowned, as well as training and mentoring sessions.
It is held in collaboration with the Africa World Documentary Film Festival, AWDFF, the US-based festival masterminded by Professor ‘Niyi Coker Jnr., currently head of School of Theatre and Media Studies at the San Diego State University, San Diego, US.
Executive Director and co-Founder of the festival, Femi Odugbemi, himself a preeminent storyteller, content creator and documentary expert, says that the festival’s 12th edition intends to strengthen its training programme for young filmmakers.
In his social media handle today, Odugbemi, who is currently in Johannesburg, South Africa on a Netflix-facilitated mentorship programme for young filmmakers states: “…every year we have convened filmmaking and storytelling training for emerging filmmakers. It is an important commitment we made to growing the documentary filmmaking culture in Nollywood. Documentary is a fine art form demanding that the storyteller be adept at the tools of filmmaking, as well as be passionate, compelling and nuanced in visual narratives.”
He announced that in continuing the tradition, the Festival directorate has selected Ema Edosio-Deelen, an “exciting young filmmaker and storyteller, whose work I admire.”
Adds Odugbemi, “Ema Edosio-Deelen is an award-winning filmmaker whose work in fiction and non-fiction is everything excellent. She will be teaching Basic Documentary Filmmaking at IREP2022. It’s a great opportunity for someone out there to get better and do better…and it is free.”
Encouraging would be participants to register at: www.irepfilmfestival.com, Odugbemi states further, “Documentary is a fine art form demanding that the storyteller be adept at the tools of filmmaking, as well as be passionate, compelling and nuanced in visual narratives.”
He continues, “We are pleased with the work many alumni of IREP workshops are doing already. Huge thanks to our many facilitators over the years who have shared their knowledge and expertise pro bono.”
He states further, “It’s 12years since the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos began and every year we have convened filmmaking and storytelling training for emerging filmmakers. It is an important commitment we made to growing the documentary filmmaking culture in Nollywood.”
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Profile Ema Edosio-Deelen:
DIRECTOR/cinematographer whose feature comedy “Kasala!” (2018) – set in the slums of Lagos – traveled the global film festival circuit, Emamodeviefe Edosio (shortly known as Ema) started her career in filmmaking as an autodidact by shadowing cinematographers in Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry.
“Her stunning visuals and poetic feel for light and atmosphere soon enabled her to make a strong impact in the Nigerian film industry. After several years as a freelance cinematographer, Ema obtained admission to the New York Film Academy (NYFA) and the Motion Pictures Institute of Michigan in the United States, where she majored in Cinematography and Directing.
“Since then she has worked, amongst others, as a video broadcast journalist for the BBC Africa and Deutsche Welle Germany covering breaking stories across Nigeria, and also a TV director for Nigerian TV networks like Ebony Life TV and Ndani TV. In November 2014, she was granted the Film and Television Director of the Year award by Ebonylife TV.
“Her recent film “Kasala!” which is currently on Netflix, has been screened in 30 international film festivals and has won 9 international awards.”
