Documentary Club Crucial to Energising the Genre
For indigenous documentaries to become a ubiquity in Nigeria, an initiative responsible for developing the genre and its prospects was advocated for by veteran filmmaker Cyril Okonkwo during day 2 of the 2014 iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival.
Okonkwo was speaking during the discussion panel titled ‘Diversity of African Identity and Documentary Film', which followed a keynote address by Dr Segun Dosunmu, a representative of Prof Tunde Babawale, director general of the Centre for Black African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC). Okonkwo explained that a documentary-conscious society would enliven the film industry and eliminate the current trend of PR documentaries.
"That club will work out an agenda for anyone interested in investing in documentaries. We have had scattered approaches but the solution is a platform, which can go to NBC (Nigerian Broadcasting Commission) for airtime as part of their CSR. If we do that, people will start talking about documentaries," the film maker proffered.
Also on the panel were African film professionals like Steve Gukas, Pascal Schmitz, Charles Peter Asiba, Wunika Mukan, Jean Yves Nana, Fibby Kioria, Niyi Coker, with Professor Femi Shaka as moderator. Another central issue under the day's discussion was the role of the film maker in documenting reality. Given the ambivalent nature of society, there were divergent views on what was meant to be the ideal content of documentaries concerned with African identity.
But from the explanations of most of the day's panellists, it all boiled down to personal choice given the complexities of African culture, a view reiterated by Prof Shaka, and documentary filmmaker Tam Fiofori, who advised against "pandering to Eurocentric Ideas".
"The challenge is not so much knowing what the African Identity is but projecting it," Fiofori added.
Shaka also touched on the dearth of female-focused documentaries and female filmmakers before the discussion veered into the lack of documentary courses for willing filmmakers in Nigerian institutions.
However, respite seems to have come the way of prospective filmmakers interested in making documentaries as the University of Port Harcourt has collaborated with an Indian-based University to offer courses and training to students.
According to Prof Shaka, the awarded certificates will also bear the names of both institutions with training being handled by resource people from both Nigeria and India.
"We hope that those sent to India will now be sent to us in Port Harcourt as documentary is a very important format in the Nigerian industry," he said.
IREP Documentary Channel in the Offing
In line with its desire to invigorate the local documentary scene, IREP co-founder Jahman Anikulapo announced the advent of the IREP TV channel.
Revealing this after the festival panel on African identity and documentary film, he added that talks had reached advanced stages with Channels Television, to air home-made documentaries spiced with discussions on the critical areas of the documentary scene, not excluding the eventuality of a dedicated channel.
Anikulapo's disclosure was received with applause from film makers and others in attendance on the second day of proceedings. For them, it was a long-awaited shot in the arm for the Nigerian documentary scene.
by Adewole Ajao
Paper first published in The Irep Report - 2014 iREP Newsletter Vol. 2, p. 1 & 3, reprint courtesy of Goethe Institut Lagos & Irep.
