ESIFF honours creatives, promotes local movie production

Edo State International Film Festival (ESIFF) 2022 with its diverse film presentations climaxed recently with award ceremony that saw different filmmakers, producers, actors and major stakeholders in the movie industry smile home with varying gifts and prizes.

Held at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub, Benin City, Edo State, the festival featured over 1,500 films from 94 countries, 200 movie screenings, master classes and training.

Facilitated by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, the festival partnered the Swiss Agency for Development Corporation and the German Government (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) SKYE programme, to make the platform a potpourri of cultures and avenue for actors and stakeholders in the industry to minge and network.

Opening the four-day event, the Managing Director, Edo State Skills Development Agency (EDOJOBS), Mrs Ukinebo Dare, who doubled as convener and co-chairman of the fiesta enjoined filmmakers and producers to use the facilities in the Victor Uwaifo creative hub for their movies.

She said: “ The hub has world-class equipment for quality production of movies and documentaries of any kind.

The facilities are of international standard and will give you the best quality in your film and documentary productions.”

With the top three selected from the 15 categories earmarked, the ‘Best Feature Film (overall) won $10,000; the ‘Best film shot in Edo State’ went home with’ $5,000, while the ‘Best Indigenous Film’ got $5,000, as well.

Presenting the prizes, the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, noted that his state has the most creative people in Africa and in the world.

According to him, the talents the state government is currently celebrating have emerged from a long and strong heritage of creativity, adding that the award is to appreciate their talents and the creativity of their works and how they have chosen to tell our local stories.

In addition to the fiesta, there was a special segment tagged, ‘Heartbeat Of Our Time,’ created to honour and celebrate indigenes of the state who have shaped and are still shaping the creative industry in the country and across the globe.

The segment celebrated creatives at the grassroots, especially those that have impacted on the youths, showcased the diverse cultures of the Edo people and are still making waves in the creative industry.

Handing out awards to the four winners of the ‘Rural Photography Competition’ commissioned by the GIZ Skills Development for Youth Employment (SKYE) programme and EDOJOBS, the Programme Head, Tobias Wolfgarten, said: “Beyond the festival, GIZ SKYE will be offering entrepreneurship training to the winners apart from exhibiting their works to raise fund that will go directly to the winners.”

The segment featured 24 entries and the four participants that came tops smiled home with N150,000; N100,000; N75,000; and N50,000 respectively.

In addition to the event, GIZ SKYE launched the Edo State Academy, an e-Learning platform, to help youths in the state scale up their soft skills. The colourful event witnessed doses of dance, spoken word, comedy and other theatrics.