At the just concluded Kaduna International Film Festival (KADIFF), out of the 18 awards categories, Nigeria won six (6), Uganda seven (7), Ghana one (1), and the United Kingdom one (1). Not to mention that Uganda had the largest amount of film entries in the festival.
Several factors are responsible for this development, which, according to Head of Jury, KADIFF, and member, Oscar 2025 Nigerian Selection Committee, Dr Victor Okhai, range from film quality and quantity, filmmaker’s strategy, and the lifespan/longevity of the festival.
First, Ugandan filmmakers won largely categories often ignored by their Nigerian film industry, like Best Short Film, Best Animation, Best Costume, Best Production Design, Best Special/Visual Effect, Best Lead Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.
Despite the growing interest by global film conglomerates such as Disney and Cartoon Network which have led to collaborations that birthed animation series ‘Iwaju’, and the upcoming animation ‘Iyanu’, Okhai said Nigerian animators are often excluded from local festivals, operate individually or in isolated siloes, and have zero access to support.
Describing the awards situation from the viewpoint of “if one doesn’t enter a beauty competition, one can’t hope to win”, Okhai said the more entries one has in a festival, the more awards one is likely to win.
“Nigeria has one in 20 chances of winning because KADIFF had more entries from Uganda than Nigeria.”
More important than the quantity of entries was the quality of entries, which is judged based on individual efforts rather the entire production cast. For instance, Best Actress categories is judged by the skills the actress brought in play to the movie question. Likewise, the Best Animation and Best Special/Visual Effect which are scored based on the impact of the quality of skills displayed in these aspects of a film.
“The entries from Nigeria weren’t quite impressive. The results came from a jury that is above board, are experts in their field and can’t be easily swayed,” said Okhai, who is also the President, Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), and two-time KADIFF jury member.
KADIFF 2024 jury comprised local members – Chairman of the 2023 Zuma International Film Festival Abuja and Prof of Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Femi Shaka; Member, Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) and Senior Lecturer, Department of Theatre & Film Studies Alex Ekwueme Federal University of Nigeria, Dr Charles Okwuowulu; Senior Lecturer, Department of Performing Arts, University of Akwa Ibom, Dr Ekaette Brian Edem; Dr Chiemela Ogbonna, and actress and filmmaker, Faithia Williams Balogun. International jury members included experienced but young French but American-based filmmaker, Anna Deluche; Egyptian Film Editor and Culture Activist, Azza Elhosseiny; and Indian Screenwriter and Film Critic, Professor Atul Marewad.
Additionally, Okhai said the despite its continued growth, and its reputation as one of the best two northern film festivals, the festival is considered relatively new by many Nigerian filmmaker who’d prefer to make submissions to Lagos International Film Festival or African International Film Festival (AFRIFF).
There are also filmmakers’ strategies of entering their movies in certain festivals where they’d have better chances of winning awards to attain accolades that will earn them the attention of distributors or funders.
“Being an award filmmaker is a strategy. It is not bad. It depends on how you want to grow your career. it can add an accolade to your name and get people to pay attention to a filmmaker. Ugandan filmmakers have been to KADIFF and KILAFF where they have won awards and probably recommended both to colleagues back home.
“They are also more willing to pay for the film entries fees (no more than $10 per film category), which sum total is little comparison to the huge cost of running a festival each year,” he said.
To address the situation, Okhai urged Nigerian filmmakers to increase their entries into festivals, and participate in more festivals, as they are opportunities for networking and meeting potential angels, partners, and distributors “to get to know their films.”