Founder and chief executive officer of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Chioma Ude, has assured participants that this year’s edition starting next Sunday in Tinapa, Calabar, Cross River State will be worth their while.
“I’m offering a lot. We have Relativity, a big studio from LA coming on board and saying we want to be part of you; we want African content and we have come to the continent. We have chosen three festivals to run with; we have Durban, Burkina Faso and we are choosing AFRIFF because you guys are structured and we believe we can run things through you.
“We also have MIPCOM [a TV and entertainment market, a content forum for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content] coming on board this year. There are also the young students that I love so much. They are going to come for training and the best 10 will be selected to train in America to further polish them. Apart from the training for young students, there are also the master classes,” she discloses.
The programme will also feature daily sessions where issues ranging from distribution, financing, international co-productions and marketing amongst others will be thoroughly discussed.
There will also film screenings during the day at the Marina Resort and at night at Tinapa on a giant outdoor screen organisers just acquired. Networking sessions and parties are not left out of the menu. Ex-governor Donald Duke and his wife will be hosting a party for participants during the festival.
Now in its fourth year and established as one of the leading film festivals on the continent, getting money to organise the festival has not been a piece of cake. “Looking for funds is always very hard but I will say that this year has been phenomenal in us having goodwill. People coming on board and saying , your vision being to improve the young film lovers, the young film producers, making them have a different experience, it ties in with what we want to do as a company so I will support you in this.
“I believe we are on a path to better things and it all happened from structure; having a structure. I can’t own the film festival and think I can run it by myself; I can’t. AFRIFF is not about me, many minds came together, working actively to make things happen. Whenever you run things solely, it will all be your mind, your business; it doesn’t grow bigger than you.
“I never rest during the festival but last year I sat down during the closing ceremony because we brought in a company to handle that. We didn’t handle it ourselves and going forward, we will be bringing in a company to handle that. It’s a lot of work but like I said when you open up to people and you don’t make it a money making venture, it will work. The money will come sometimes down the road.”
