No Nigerian Filmmaker is Among the Best and Greatest African Filmmakers

No Nigerian Filmmaker is Among the Best and Greatest African Filmmakers

I am currently doing research on my article on "African Cinema in the Eyes of the World". 

No Nigerian filmmaker is among the best and greatest filmmakers in African Cinema since 1925 to date. None of them is on the list of the to 10 African Filmmakers.

Only Newton Aduaka's multiple award winning film,"Ezra" that won the most prestigious award of the "Étalon d'or de Yennenga" (Golden Stallion of Yennenga) at the 2007 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou or FESPACO) (held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. "Ezra" also other sspecial awards; including the Oumarou Ganda Prize, given for the best first film, and the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director of the African diaspora named in honour of the major 20th-century American actor, singer and civil rights activist in the United States.) and C.J Obasi's cinematic masterpiece, "Mami Wata", the  2023 sci-fi drama based on the mythology of Nigerian marine spirits  are included in the best 100 African films so far.

"Mami Wata"'s  cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition and won three awards at FESPACO - Prix de la Critique Paulin S. Vieyra (African Critics Award), Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleur Décor (Set Design Award).

The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène Ousmane's "La Noire de (Black Girl). It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966. Ousmane is recognized as the Father of African Cinema.

Only one African film has won the highly coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Chronicles of the Years of Fire" (1975) by Algerian director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. 

Then Mati Diop of Senegal became the only African woman to win the Grand Prix, the second-most prestigious award, for her film "Atlantics" in 2019.

"Tsotsi", a South African film is the first African film to win  the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 actually,  the first non-French language film from Africa to achieve this honor.  It was directed by Gavin Hood, based on a novel by Athol Fugard.

The first African film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival was "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha", a South African drama directed by Mark Dornford-May, in 2005.

"Dahomey, directed by Mati Diop won the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in 2024, the first Black filmmaker to win the award. 

No African films has won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. However, "Mother, Mother" by Somalian filmmaker K'naan Warsame did receive the FIPRESCI Jury Award in 2024.

The Golden Globes celebrated a century of Egyptian Cinema in 2021. I have been working on "A Century of Nigerian Cinema: from Palaver To Nollywood - 1926-2026".

- by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

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#africancinema
#nigeria
#nollywood
#filmmakers
#films
#academyawards
#filmfestival
#cannes
#berlin
#toronto
#Ousmane
#diop
#obasi
#aduaka
#blackgirl
#Tsotsi
#ezra
#mamiwata
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Pavillon Afrique the Place where Africa Welcomes the World at Cannes Film Festival

ADVERTORIAL: Pavillon Afrique the Place where Africa Welcomes the World at Cannes Film Festival

The mission and driving force of Pavillon Afriques is to increase and give value to the representation of filmmakers, talent and producers who identify with African heritage in order to develop a viable film industry in Africa. Karine Barclais, Founder of Pavillon Afriques, believes in: 

"giving more visibility to African talents on the global scene and allowing the continent to take a better share of the multi-billion dollar film industry."

Pavillon Afriques’ visionary leadership and dedication in the industry to further the respect and demand of African cinema is at the heart of its commitment.

Pavillon Afriques (PA) brings together the finest filmmakers from Africa and its diaspora from Europe, the Caribbeans and the USA to nurture collaborations and bring to life new co-productions. It invites the rest of the world to discover the talents and the specific ways Africa tells stories.

The international film and entertainment industry is ripe for growth when looking at the incredible talent pool and cultural significance of sharing the vision of growing access to distribution of African film and audiovisuals.  It’s no longer a digital revolution, but a digital evolution!

Since 2019, the flagship event takes place each year at the Cannes Film Festival. PA has become the home where Africans and Afro-descendants welcome the rest of the world.

During 10 days, the programme will aim to educate, strategize, network and entertain through workshops, masterclass, panel discussions, country presentations, screenings, pitch sessions, cocktail parties. 

We have content looking for distribution and projects looking for investors. Come and visit Pavillon Afriques in the Village International, Pantiero side

Contact: info@pavillonafriques.com

Red Sea Film Festival announces $10m fund for Arab and African Filmmakers

The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation has announced the $10 million Red Sea Fund that will support projects with directors from the Arab World and Africa, launching a new generation of filmmakers and supporting established auteurs as they bring their work from script to screen.

The Red Sea Fund is part of the Red Sea Film Foundation’s commitment to the regional screen sector, that will also include launching the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival that will take place from 11th to 20th November 2021.

The fund will support fiction, documentary and animation feature films, as well as episodic content. Additionally, Saudi nationals will be able to apply to the Red Sea Fund to support short films in development and production.

“Helping African and Arab cinema grow, that’s a very exciting responsibility. That’s what the Red Sea Fund will do at every stage of the making of the chosen movies and episodic content. In providing more than 100 grants of up to $10 million to help the development, production and post-production of movies across the Arab World and Africa, the Red Sea Fund will help cinema that is in full metamorphosis,” says Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, Red Sea International Film Festival.

Applications are welcome from around the world to support projects that are being helmed by an African or Arab director. The fund is open from 15th June – 21st July 2021, with all details and requirements available via https://redseafilmfest.com/en/red-sea-fund/.

The Red Sea Fund will be split across three main categories:

Red Sea Fund – Development

The fund aims to support bold and creative directors in developing live-action, emerging media, and animation projects from treatments to production-ready screenplays and concepts. Red Sea Fund will develop projects from Arab, African and Saudi directors that have a director and producer attached.

Red Sea Fund – Production.

The Red Sea Fund – Production is for projects going into production and is aimed at supporting any aspect of the shoot. Open to viable projects at the production stage, with a script, committed director and producer attached, as well as potential cast and confirmed timeline. The team can be emerging or established, but with proven experience in filmmaking.

Red Sea Fund – Post-Production

A fund supporting all aspects of post-production on feature-length projects. Once a rough cut is ready, these grants will support filmmakers to complete their films and get them ready for distribution and exhibition. The team can be emerging or established, but with proven experience in filmmaking.

The festival will see the launch of the Red Sea Souk, its market place and industry hub for the region. Red Sea Souk will include a Project Market, with pitching sessions of more than 20 projects from the Arab World and Africa, as well as the Films-in-Progress workshop. All projects that apply to the Red Sea Fund will automatically be eligible for Red Sea Souk – Project Market and Red Sea Souk Films-in-Progress Workshop.

The Red Sea Souk - Project Market will take place from 12th to 15th November 2021 at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. The projects will compete for the Red Sea Development and Production Awards respectively in the amount of $25,000 and $100,000.

The Red Sea Souk Films-in-Progress Workshop will take place from 12th to 15th November 2021, at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. Each selected project in Films-in-Progress will compete for the Red Sea Post-Production Awards in the amount of $30,000.

“The Red Sea Fund is a major boost for the African and Arab film industry. Over the past two decades, we have seen the Arab and African film industry grow and flourish. The Fund and the Red Sea Souk will provide more tools to support the Arab and African film business to make even more of an impact on the international marketplace with the launch of its project market and films in-progress workshop this November,” said Shivani Pandya, Managing Director, Red Sea International Film Festival.

The Red Sea Souk will also contain panels, networking events, workshops and booths connecting the international film community to the exciting new Saudi market.