AFTER three days of intense engagements and feasting on documentary films, the 15th iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival comes to an end today, Sunday, March 24, with its last plenary — the usually steaming Art Stampede. organised by the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA.
Starting at 5pm, the Stampede, the quarterly “Artists Parliament,” which is in its 33rd year, having been launched June 2, 1991, has been a most consistent feature of the yearly iREP, since its inception in 2010. It is usually the platform through which the directors of iREP, who are both professional filmmakers and art and culture activists, attempt to set agenda for the Nigeria. and African film and media industry.
On the menu today is the theme, “State of the Screen in a Time of Social-Cultural-Political Trauma”, which the CORA directorate says, will feature a reflection on the prospects of Nigerian movie and television industry to continue to remain relevant to the needs of the society, by being more socially conscious and and morally committed to the cause of servicing the interest of the society and; nation building.
To be moderated by the writer and renowned art and culture journalist, Molara Wood, leading discussion at the Stampede are leaders of thought in the media and culture space, who have remained consistent in their contribution to discussions around the fortune and fate of the Nigerian media space, especially the movie and television production space. They include Francis Onwochei, the actor, producer, and film activist; Charles Novia, the director, media manager, and Nollywood activist, who rankled the movie scene a few years ago with his seminal book Nollywood ‘Till November’;, which reveals the “dirty” undercurrent of corporate patronage of the film industry; Dr Anuli Agina, an academic, who teaches at the Nollywood Centre at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, nd recently convened a conference on the leading role of women in the movie industry. The fourth speaker, Bunmi Ajakaiye, a much younger practitioner is a scriptwriter, editor, and director, whose station as the image maker of the Screenwriters Guild, will open a window into how the scriptwriters operate, especially as they’re always the butt of attacks by critics when contemplating the content of Nollywood.
The Stampede seems deliberately schemed to piggyback on the festival’s first plenary session held on Friday, Day 2 of the festival, which discoursed the rampage of “disinformation and misinformation”, and malformation that have come to define public discourse. Said the CORA Programme directorate, the Stampede, “is to set agenda for how the film could be an interventionist agency in shaping or redirecting the orientation of te media to a more purposeful culture of public engagements with issues that are crucial to the survival of then human community.”
Profiles of Speakers
MOLARA WOOD (Moderator)
WRITER, journalist and editor based in Lagos, Nigeria, Molara is the author of INDIGO, a collection of short stories. She won the inaugural John La Rose Memorial Short Story Competition, and received a Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for her fiction. Widely published internationally, she has served on the judging panels of several awards including: the Zuma International Film Festival, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and the Quramo Writers Prize. Described as ‘one of the eminent voices in the Arts in Nigeria,’ and with credits across film, literature and visual art, she served as Arts & Culture Editor of NEXT Newspaper, and was for many years an Arts columnist for The Guardian. She continues to write on books and the arts for publications including the BBC and The Irish Times.
Speakers
DR ANULI AGINA
CURRENTLY a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Nigerian Screen Worlds, a subset of the African Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies Project funded by the ERC at SOAS, University of London, her background is in media and communication studies with a focus on Nigerian film and culture, which she has been researching since 2009 at the Pan-Atlantic University (PAU), Lagos, where she co-convenes several conferences and roundtables on Nigerian film with scholars and filmmakers on an annual basis. In 2015, she obtained a PhD in Nigerian film from the University of Westminster, where she co-organised African film conferences for three years. Her research interests include representations of the past and conflict in film, which her PhD explored, reception studies, media effects, cinema-going cultures in Nigeria and Ghana, film and social change, and the variety of screens through which audiences engage with African film. She was a recipient of the African Film Fellowship at the University of Cape Town in 2016. Thereafter, she co-edited African Film Cultures in 2017 and published the first article fully devoted to contemporary cinema-going in Lagos in 2019.
CHARLES OSA NOVIA
COMMONLY known as Charles Novia, is a film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, social commentator and essayist. Novia is known for groundbreaking films in Nollywood such as Missing Angel (2004), Caught in The Middle (2007) and Alan Poza (2013) amongst 40 others in his career. In 2014, he was chosen as part of the Nigerian team to screen Nollywood films in Best Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also known as a passionate promoter and defender of the integrity of the Nollywood industry and its contents, Charles a few years ago launched the first TEENAGE Television channel in Africa broadcasting 24 hours daily, Teen Africa Television on DSTV 315 and Gotv 91. TATV is building the largest ecosystem of Teenagers in the continent. His book Nollywood Till November, a daring expose and an eye-opener on the undercurrents of the dingy relationship between corporate Nige-ria and practitioners in the movie industry. Also known for daring productions that sometimes unnerves and unsettle conventions, his other works include: The Pastor and Harlot; and The Bridesmaid, among others. He is a regular commentator on the state of Nollywood.
BUNMI AJAKAIYE
MANAGING Director/CEO of A Good Story Films Ltd, a production company that serves as a catalyst for change and an advocate for the power of storytelling, with commitment to quality, innovation, and impactful narratives. Currently serving as the PRO of the Screenwriters Guild of Nigeria, Bunmi Ajakaiye’s influence extends beyond her own projects. She is actively contributing to the growth and development of the industry, nurturing emerging talents, and championing the power of storytelling for social impact. She has. illuminated the Nigerian film industry for the past decade. Her extensive and diversified portfolio includes renowned works as a writer and director, such as “Skinny Girl In Transit, ” “EVE, ” “Therapy, ” “Sugar Rush, ” “Up North, ” “The Black Book, ” “Glamour Girls, ” “MY wife and i, ” “Smart Money Women, ” among numerous others. Her exceptional storytelling ability, marked by consistency and creativity, has earned her a well-deserved place among the most sought-after film-makers in Nigeria. Further Reading: https://www.bellanaija.com/2022/03/women-of-guinness-bunmi-ajakaiye/
FRANCIS ONWOCHEI
ACTOR, Producer, film activist, Onwochei began his creative journey as an actor in 1984 at the National Arts Theatre in Lagos. He honed his skills with renowned companies like Anansa Playhouse & Prof JP Clark’s PEC Repertory Theatre and later joined the National Troupe of Nigeria under Prof. Bayo Oduneye. After earning a degree in Surveying, he obtained Post Graduate educational certifications in Film Aesthetics from the London International Film School, Project Management at DW Television Training College in Berlin, and Directing at the New York Film School. He is an active member of key associations in the industry, including the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), and the Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN). He has held leadership roles, notably as chairman of the professional ethics and discipline committee in the Directors’ Guild of Nigeria, DGN & AMP. Francis has presented compelling papers on Nigeria’s creative sector around the globe. His contributions have been recognized through awards, such as the Nollywood Distinguished Veterans Award and Fellow of The Arts bestowed upon him in 2018.
