Athens to host Nollywood Travel Film Festival

The city of Athens, Greece, will host the 2022 edition of the Nollywood Travel Film Festival (NTFF).

The NTFF, which is Nigeria’s biggest and foremost travel film festival, hosts screenings of Nollywood films in cities around the world.

This edition holds from May 27 to 29, 2022. To be held under the theme: Experience Nollywood, NTFF is an initiative that seeks to promote films by Nigerians living across the globe to new and existing global audiences with the aim of creating new market places for Nigerian cinema.

NTFF founder, Mykel Parish, who disclosed that the NTFF team has had successful meetings with the Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Nimi Akinkugbe, and senior Embassy Officials towards the hosting of the festival, said the NTFF was gearing up for the festival. “We are gearing up for the festival in Athens and we are excited to share the Nollywood journey with the world and to use the platform of NTFF to change the African narrative through film and to foster relationships with developed countries,” Parish said, adding that the festival, which also takes the form of ‘film tourism’ will feature film screenings and panel discussions around the theme. ‘’We are partnering the guilds and association such as Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) and Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) and we have support of the Nigerian Mission in Greece. The mission in Greece are mobilising diplomatic support for the festival. Their focus this year is culture and our festival is going to hold during the African cultural week,” he said. The NTFF has so far held in cities including, Berlin, New York, Glasgow, Helsinki, Peru, Toronto and Amsterdam.

Hot Docs Executive Director, Heather Conway Transitions To Advisory Role
HOT Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market has announced that Heather Conway will be transitioning from her position as co-president and executive director as of May 13, 2022, to a new advisory role on strategic planning for the rapidly growing organisation. Long-time president, Chris McDonald, will assume the sole leadership of the organisation. Hot Docs employees Erin Lau, managing director, and Paul Lewis, conference director of World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, have been named as interim co-executive directors and will be supporting Chris as part of the leadership team.

Conway joined the organisation in November 2021. In her time as co-president and executive director, she made significant improvements to the organisation’s structure to increase effectiveness and further solidify its foundation for future growth. As an advisor on strategic planning, Conway will provide input and insight into Hot Docs’ upcoming five-year strategic plan being developed in summer 2022. Most recently, a managing director at Hot Docs, Erin Lau oversaw the organisation’s strategic planning projects, community partnerships, festival development, and overall risk assessment and mitigation. She comes from a strong project management background within the arts and non-profit sector.

Conference director for World Congress of Science and Factual Producers (WCSFP) since 2018, Paul Lewis is a television executive and consultant with more than three decades of broadcasting and production experience. Prior to his role with WCSFP, he was president of Strategic Growth at Great Pacific Media — an award-winning production company with a strong reputation for storytelling and ratings success. Mr. Lewis will continue in his role as WCSFP conference director, while assuming new responsibilities as interim co-executive director of Hot Docs. A not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing and celebrating the art of documentary, Hot Docs will hold its 29th edition from April 28 to May 8, 2022 in cinemas across Toronto as well as offering selection of festival films online to audiences throughout Canada.

Festival De Cannes Announces Official Selection
EIGHTEEN films have been selected to feature in the competitive section of the Cannes International Film Festival, which begins in Cannes, South of France from May 17 to May 28. The organisers had announced the film by Michel Hasanavicious ‘Z (Comme Z) as the opening film of the 10-day long festival, regarded as one of the big five festivals in the world. The films in official competition are Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Les Amandiers, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne’s Tori and Lokita, Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon, Arnaud Desplechin’s Frere Et Sceur, Lukas Dhont’s Close, James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Kore-Eda Hirokazu’s Broker, and Mario Martone’s Nostalgia.

Others are RMN by Cristian Mungiu, Triangle Sadnedness by Ruben Ostlund, Haeojil Gyeolsim (Decision to Leave) by Park Chan-Wook, Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt), Leila’s Brothers (Saeed Roustaee), Boy From Heaven (Tarik Saleh), Zhena Chaikovskogo by Kirill Serebrenniko and EO by Jerzy Skolimowsky.

A total of 11 films will feature in the Uncertain Regards section, while five films including Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and Nicola Bedos’ Masquerade will feature out of competition. Films were also announced for other sections of the Cannes Film Festival such as Cannes premiere and midnight screenings.