To shine more light on cultural collaboration and sell Nigerian actors to the rest of the world, the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) will, for the first time, stage the AGN International Festival in the United States.
Planned for Double Tree by Hilton, Miami Airport and Convention Centre, Miami, Florida, the event is to bring more global attention to Nigerian actors and showcase them to the world.
Over 70 Nollywood stars are expected to grace the occasion and participate in tours at the Telemundo Studio, undertake masterclasses on cyber acting, and others.
The organisers expressed optimism that the festival will be a great opportunity to build relationships with international filmmakers, and producers as well as promote Nigerian arts, culture, and some of Nigeria’s biggest brands.
The Chairperson, Organising Committee for the festival, Alex Okoroji, said the festival is a celebration of the brightest Nigerian film and television actors, and it will feature a wide range of events, including a red carpet gala and awards, film screenings, panel discussions, city tours, workshops and seminars, where actors, filmmakers, and other creative professionals who will network and learn from each other, as well as, meet and engage with their fans and supporters in the diaspora.
She described actors as cultural ambassadors of Nigeria, who are daily using their talents and skills to contribute immensely to growing Nollywood as an industry, and the Nigerian economy at large.
“Despite the challenges that actors face globally, we recognise that Nollywood is a global cultural force with a huge impact on the African diaspora, and we believe that Nollywood has a lot to offer the world, thanks to the storytellers, who continue to create magical performances on screen.
“We are thrilled to be taking the Festival to Miami, which is a city with a vibrant cultural scene, and a large population of Nigerian and African immigrants. We believe that the festival will be a great opportunity to showcase Nigerian talents to a global audience and promote cultural understanding, fostering the bilateral ties between Nigeria and the United States of America
Speaking on the reason behind the festival in a foreign land, AGN President, Emeka Rollas, said: “The guild wants to move closer, create more collaboration for international casting directors to see the profile of our actors. Some of our actors who relocated to the US cannot appear in any big foreign movie because they didn’t create a good profile that land them support so, we are taking this fight over there.
“In the last 25 years, film festivals that had been produced by either Nigerians or foreign collaborators more-or-less showcase the business side of the industry; showing the producers, executive producers without expressing the extent to which international collaborators can hire Nollywood actors. A Nollywood actor act in Nigeria with a mentality that he’s just surviving in the business, whereas, actors in other parts of the world see it as a career. They land one job and may not work for one year because the money they get from that job can help them.
The festival will hold from November 9, 2023, to November 11, 2023.
