Biola Adenuga, Ahmed Sarari off to Abuja for Zuma filmfest

Managing Director of Pencils Film and Television Institute (PEFTI) Biola Adenuga and President of the Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN) Ahmed Sarari will be in Abuja as members of the jury of the 2020 edition of Nigeria’s premier film festival Zuma International Film Festival (ZUFF), which is scheduled to hold as from December 1 through to the 7. Biola and Sarari are members of a six-man jury Committee of ZUFF 2020 chaired by the film Scholar and Critic Shaibu Husseini.

Other members of the committee are notable Nollywood filmmaker Ifeanyi Azodo, former President of Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) Osezuwa Stephen-Imobhio, and Sharon Ngcobo of the Durban Film Office. The committee is expected to select films entered for the festival for recognition and award. Secretary of the Jury Committee Ene Racheal-Onoja Amali disclosed that the award ceremony would hold at the NAF Conference Centre Pool Side on Saturday December 5th. The Awards categories are: Best Cinematography, Best Script, Best Animation, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Best Foreign Film, Best Student Film, Best Picture, Best Indigenous Film.

This year’s ZUMA filmfest is holding under the theme, Content Connectivity – 2: Every view, Everywhere. The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) had in an earlier statement indicated that the festival will have a combination of physical and virtual participation with the physical participation complying with COVID-19 Safety Protocols. Managing Director of the NFC and Chairman, Organizing Committee of ZUFF 2020 Dr. Chidia Maduekwe has assured that no effort will be spared to ensure that ZUFF 2020 sustains the narratives that Nigeria is indeed the hub of film production activities in Africa despite the COVID-19 pandemic.