Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Programme for the Annual IREP Docufilm Festival 2019



IREP Docufilm Festival 2019

9th IREP INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL TO HOLD 21-24 MARCH 2019.

The ninth edition of the annual iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival will hold from Thursday March 21 to Sunday March 24 2019, at its traditional home, Freedom Park, by Broad Street, Lagos, and the Nigerian Film Corporation, Ikoyi, Lagos.

General Idea:
The 2019 Festival is conceived on the traditional framework of Africa in Self-conversation.


Theme:
STORYLINES – it arises from current realities about imagery and perspectives. Technology is constantly redefining the impact of human experiences and challenging us to tell our story as a means of engaging the world with our identity, individuality and personal experiences.
Every human being is a story and we are constantly in pursuit of tools to advance and promote alternative facts about ourselves; and how we wish to be seen. The contention between what is real and what is preferred is shaping the currency of human exchange.
The ability to construct and reconstruct stories by anyone with a social media account is challenging the traditional story form. How would people own their stories without compromising the truth? How would documentary films respond to this reality?


Programme Outlines:

Film Screenings: The plenary sessions will see screening of over 30 carefully selected international films, representing the best new works dotting on the generic theme of Africa-in-Self-Conversation. Films selection is in conjunction with our co-curating partners; African World Documentary Film Festival (AWDFF), AGDOK, and German Documentaries. Dozens of other films related to the theme and allied subjects will also be screened in the screening room and other satellite venues such as the NFC’s newly upgraded screening rooms in Ikoyi.

iREP Producers’ Roundtable:
The Producer's Roundtable has come to be known for insightful discussions that are solution-driven and engage producers in a pro-active prognosis into the opportunities that can grow impact of the documentary film genre.

Paper Presentations and Panel Discussions:
Keynote speeches and presentations woven around the are usually at the core of the Festival’s daily proceedings. This year will feature leaders of thought in filmmaking and media scholarship in conversation with the community of filmmakers present at the festival. It would be an in-depth interaction that goes beyond the top-down approach of paper presentations.

Training/Workshop:
Through the iREP Training and workshop platform, we have been able to train over 200 young and upcoming filmmakers in the rudiments of filmmaking and understanding of the documentary film art. We would expand the platform this year to accommodate the ever-growing number of participants.

IREP Cocktail:
The cocktail is our way of welcoming our international guests to the festival, but more importantly, it serves as a platform for networking. The iREP cocktail is our night of little glitz, drinks, talks, networking and screening of a specially selected film.

GUESTS/RESOURCE PERSONS TO IREP 2019

ESMERALDA KALE:
Esmeralda is currently the Bibliographer of Africana in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies and has served in that capacity for over 11 years. Esmeralda has an M.A. in Library and Information Science from University College London and as well as postgraduate studies in the information needs of women in Africa also at University College London. Her undergraduate degree in sociology is from Trent University in Canada. In her previous experience Esmeralda has served as Reference Librarian at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, Assistant Systems Librarian for the Tri-College Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore), Acting Head of the Department of Library & Information Science at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, and head of periodicals at the University of Swaziland.

PROF. AWAM AMKPA (US):
Former Senior Lecturer of Drama and Television at King Alfred’s University College, Winchester, England, and Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Mount Holyoke College. Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires, London: Routledge, 2003 and forthcoming Archetypes, Stereotypes and Polytypes: Theatres of the Black Atlantic. Director of film documentaries such as Winds Against Our Souls, Its All About Downtown, National Images and Transnational Desires, and feature film Wazobia! Author of several articles in books and journals on Modernisms in Theatre, Postcolonial theatre, Black Atlantic Issues, and Film studies.

PROF. NIYI COKER (US):
Niyi Coker, Jr. is the E. Desmond Lee Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Media Studies at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis. He has directed over 50 major stage productions around the world.   He is the founding artistic director of the African Arts Ensemble in NYC, and has served as Artistic Director-in-residence for several theatre companies ranging from the National Theater of Nigeria; K3 Theatre in Malmo, Sweden; Black Box Theatre in Hamilton, Bermuda. He received a British Council commission to write and direct, “Endangered Species”, which toured Great Britain in 1995.  In 2010 his latest play “Preemptive” opened at the Shaw Theatre in London, England and was covered by BBC Strand in England. The production went on to tour in the Caribbean and West Africa.

THEO LAWSON:
Studied architecture at the Architectural Association School, London between 1978 and 1985, where he experimented with both traditional African and High-tech design styles. Back in Nigeria he studied earth construction techniques culminating in he’s being invited to design and build the Bauchi State Museum in 1987. In 1990, he set up Total Consult, a design and build practice, and worked on many commercial and residential building projects. Total Consult also evolved into designing Stage sets and grew to become the market leader over a fifteen-year period. In 1999, he teamed up with other designers to form the “C.I.A.” (Creative Intelligence Agency), a Collaborative that spearheaded ideas for Lagos in the Millennium. This led to the conception and realization of “Freedom Park”, now Lagos’ most vibrant Arts space. He has also worked on other Public space projects that include; The Motherlan’ performance centre, University of Lagos Anniversary Park and the Kalakuta Museum to name a few. Theo Lawson will keynote on “Urban Art Spaces and stories.” He will also be speaking in an afternoon session on “Globalizing the African story through music.”

DR PAUL UGOR (US):
Assistant Professor, Illinois State University. Paul Ugor earned his Ph.D. in English and Film Studies from the University of Alberta, Canada in 2009, and in 2010 was awarded the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral fellowship in Canada. Ugor was also lucky to be awarded the prestigious Newton International fellowship by the British Academy, which took him to the Centre for West African Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. While at CWAS he researched on the new socio-economic challenges confronting young people in three different cities in Nigeria and the new existential strategies these youth have developed to cope with the vicissitudes of life in precarious postcolonial urban spaces. After his fellowship in Birmingham, Ugor worked as a sessional faculty in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, at McMaster University, Canada from where he joined Illinois Sate University in the fall of 2014.

PROF. LINUS ABRAHAM:
Prof. Linus Abraham has taught at the Greenlee School of Communication at the Iowa State University. He was a professor at one of the top journalism training institutions in the United States—the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at the University of Minnesota. At both universities, Professor Abraham was a member of the graduate faculty. Dean Abraham has researched and published in the areas of visual persuasion; the structure, interpretation, and social functions of visual media; the role of visual imagery in contemporary forms of racism, and the role of new media in society. Linus Abraham is also a documentary filmmaker. Among his productions are Barbara’s Dollhouse (a documentary on the collection of historical black-dolls in the United States) and The Forgotten Sports Heroes (a documentary reflecting on the plight of some of Ghana’s past sports heroes, neglected in the waning years of their existence). Professor Abraham is a member of a number of academic honors societies in America -- Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, the Golden Key National Honor Society, and Kappa Tau Alpha (the national journalism honor society).
Prof. Linus Abraham will moderate a panel on “Narrative structures of African non-fiction and cultural aesthetics”

ABOUT IREP:
The iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival was initiated with the objective of promoting independent documentary filmmaking in Nigeria and on the continent of Africa. Based on the Conceptual framework -- AFRICA IN SELF-CONVERSATION -- iREP is designed to promote awareness about the power of documentary to deepen social and cultural education as well as encouraging participatory democracy in our societies. Though exploring the generic conceptual framework, the theme for every edition varies every year, and embraces issues pertaining to Africa’s social, political, cultural, spiritual and economic realities. It is conceptualized to also create a platform of awareness and expression for filmmakers who are creating socially relevant films to positively impact our world. The festival features hands-on training and skills development workshops facilitated by an array of the most experienced practitioners in the field of documentary film making across Africa.

Contacts:
iREP INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FORUM
3b, Olawale Onitiri Street, Admiralty, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
www.irepfilmfestival.com
info@irepfilmfestival.com

FEMI ODUGBEMI
Executive Director/Co-Founder
0803 425 1963, 0705 331 1512
femiodugbemi@gmail.com


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