Edo to host international film festival in Benin

Edo State Skills Development Agency (EdoJobs) in collaboration with Real Time International Film Festival (RTF), is set to host the 7th edition of the Real Time International Film Festival in Benin City. It is expected to attract over 500 stakeholders in the industry.

The Managing Director of Edojobs, Ukinebo Dare, said hosting the film festival is aimed at repositioning the state as a choice location for film and television productions.

According to her, over 500 national and international filmmakers, producers, directors, actors, among other stakeholders in the industry will attend the festival, which will be held at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub and Sound Stage (VUCHSS), Kada Cinemas, and Edo Film Village simultaneously.

“This partnership seeks to attract the entire film industry to Edo State to expose budding talents in the creative sector to the most important stakeholders and veterans in Nollywood and provide them with the opportunity to participate and compete favorably in Nollywood filmmaking industry,” she said.

Meanwhile, standup comedian, actor, skit maker and content creator, Ehime Favour, aka MC Yannist, one of Nigerian youngest comedians is making waves today because he refused to sit in despair, consider the option of migration, drug trafficking, money ritual and other social vices.

A few years after graduating from Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, the 31-year-old MC Yannist, whose parents are from Ile-Ekpoma and Ile-Irrua in Esan West and Esan South councils of Edo State, says he has no reason to regret as a young comedian. According to him, the most priceless impetus to remain afloat are patience, consistency and focus in order to win.

The civil engineering graduate has not only made it into the celebrity wing of the entertainment industry, but is an employer of labour, while most of his contemporaries who graduated with honours have been forced to the streets in search of jobs.

“While those I graduated with are still hunting for jobs, I’m already employing people to assist in promoting my brand”, MC Yannist said, adding: “There was no need to go look for a white-collar job after my graduation when my talent, which I started fanning as an undergraduate was already paying off”.