Lagos endorses EKOIFF 2016

Lagos State Government has endorsed the yearly Eko International Film Festival (EKOIFF), billed to place the State and Nigeria on the calendar of international film festivals across the world. The six-day event, which holds from October 24 to 29 would showcase plethora of narrative, documentary, short and long feature films.

While the short films lasting 10 minutes are only open to student participants, organisers disclosed such students must include proof of studentship from accredited university or college and that all films should be submitted on DVD for screening.

As is one of the largest film festivals in Africa and the longest-running independent one in Lagos, the 2016 event with theme as ‘Product Placement in Films’ would feature special presentations, master class, retrospectives, workshops, pitch panels, networking events, independent film screenings aside Gala Night/Awards reception and closing ceremony.

Speaking on the event, the President/Founder, Hope O. Opara, said, the festival’s theme would be one of the major issues to be discussed at the master class session.
According to him, participants will come from film industry, especially film directors, producers and professionals. He disclosed that the master class would help filmmakers leverage on company brands around the film industry.

“Master classes offer filmmakers, directors and stakeholders in the industry opportunity to share experiences and garner knowledge that would help improve on their productions, apart from providing avenue for mingling and making new contacts,” he said.

Explaining how the festival would impact on the Nigerian film industry, Opara noted the festival seeks to raise standards in the Nigerian film industry and also improve quality of our local production.

Stressing that the festival has a huge following within and outside the country, EKOIFF president/founder revealed that a total of 4873 films have been submitted into the festival’s network. According to him, the films came from over 115 countries across the globe with USA topping the list with over 618 films, while India followed with 404 films.

Highlighting some of the benefits of the event, he said, “EKOIFF will promote the country’s economy and Lagos State tourism potential. It will put Lagos and Nigeria on the world map, as international centre for Arts and global Film market, aside creating opportunities for filmmakers across the globe to exchange ideas, promote culture of different continents and leverage on co-productions and distribution. Stakeholders that are not filmmakers would see the festival as avenue to sell or buy content that would improve their services,” he said.