Can documentaries change the world?

By Femi Odugbemi
February 26, 2011



I have screened excerpts from my films, “BARIGA BOY” and “ORIKI.’ In them are the core ideas around which I have concentrated my work as a filmmaker. My philosophy is that I am not just a filmmaker, I am an African Filmmaker. That is an identity that I take seriously and it is an identity that inspires my content. I believe that my art and my identity are interconnected and must feed each other. The idea and the context and culture of the artist shape his work. Filmmaking as all artistic undertakings, is a cultural practice and every form of its interpretation enriches and projects the experiences of a culture as captured from the artist’s perspective.

Documentary as an ideological mode of narrative

By Bunmi Ajiboye

(234next January 29, 2011)


Was it a coincidence that the panel on the 3rd day of the iRep Documentary Film Festival comprised academics? Little wonder then that the discussion at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, went in the direction of an academic discourse of sorts with useful examples which still bordered on the theoretical.

An instance was Onookome Okome's theory that Nollywood is popular art. Okome, a lecturer at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, is also a specialist in Nollywood films and is currently on sabbatical at the Pan African University.

Sola Olorunyomi, a lecturer at the University of Ibadan; Awam Amkpa, professor and director of African Studies at New York University; and Tunde Babawale, director general of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), were also on the panel. They discussed ‘Motifs of Black Consciousness in African Documentary films'.

Documenting Africa on screen

BY BUNMI AJIBOYE

Culled 234NEXT January 29, 2011)



The iRep Documentary Film Festival which began on Thursday, January 20, continued the following day with workshops and film screenings at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.The event not only brought together documentary filmmakers from the African continent, it was also an eye opener as it highlighted the potentials of the genre while also paying attention to obstacles documentary filmmakers often contend with.Culture activist, Toyin Akinosho; filmmakers, Deji Adesanya and Mahmood Alli Balogun; and president, Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), Busola Holloway, were on a panel moderated by Tunde Adegbola.

They discussed ‘Africa in Self Conversation: Documentary and Democracy', while Sandra Obiago, executive director, Communicating For Change (CFC), also presented a paper titled ‘Films for Development: Engineering Change in African Politics'.

Africa’s battered image… pains for documentary filmmakers

(Culled from The Guardian Thursday, 27 January
By Chuks Nwanne


Over the years, there has been a general outcry from different quarters of the continent on how the international media has done great harm to Africa in its coverage by casting Africa in negative light. African governments and scholars have viewed this kind of reportage as a deliberate project of alienating Africa and framing it as a hopeless continent. The issue was at the front burner during the just concludeda iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival in Lagos, where filmmakers from different parts of the world brainstormed on the possible use of documentary films to redeem the already battered image of Africa.

RESEARCH has shown that international media has low budgets for Africa as it believes that no good news can come out of the black continent. It has suddenly become a popular opinion that all news from Africa is bad news. Critical observation has shown that few international correspondents are usually sent to cover Africa on a long-term basis. Those who are sent to the continent are usually assigned only in moments and areas of crisis and for a very short period.

iREP: Making a case for documentary films

As appeared in the BusinessLIFE section of the BusinessDay, Friday, 28 January 2011


By Kemi Ajumobi

The general notion about Africa, as transmitted through various local and international media, revolves around death, corruption, drought, disease and war. But the question that Nigerian filmmakers, critics and literary activists were preoccupied with answering at the just-concluded iREP film festival was: ‘who is telling our stories and from what point of view?’

The event, which held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island and the Freedom Park on Broad Street, Lagos, served as a platform for filmmakers to exchange ideas on the future of documentaries in Africa and how the platform can be used to tell true stories of Africa by Africans. Thankfully, participants came away with a sense of optimism, as their conclusion was that documentaries can indeed be used (if the guidelines are followed) to accurately report occurrences on the continent.

With the theme ‘Africa in Self-Conversation, the Documentary Film Intervention’ the festival emphasised on training and skill development for the benefit of young filmmakers, while celebrating documentary filmmakers who have used their works to impact the world positively.

iREP treats documentary film experts to Lagos art passion

Nigerian Compass WEDNESDAY, 26 JANUARY 2011 00:00 TONY OKUYEME

By Tony Okuyeme
A FOUR-DAY celebration of documentary films, tagged iREPRESENT (iREP), ended last Sunday in Lagos. The international touring documentary film festival, an impressive outing, was held under the theme: Can Documentary Change the World?
It ended on a hopeful note with new media scholars, film makers and film enthusiasts across Africa who participated describing it as stimulating and exciting. The festival was staged in two venues in Lagos- Terra Kulture and Freedom Park, both on Victoria Island.

Through the festival’s objective, promoting independent documentary features, it brought together scores of youths and professional filmmakers, screenwriters, production company executives, feature documentary development executives, distributors, commissioning editors, cinematographers, among others to the venues. Significantly, it brought together documentary film professionals from several parts of Africa. But beyond the interaction it was an event enriched by its intellectual menu and creative engagements as organisers used it to show the capacity of documentary films as significant media for telling the African stories.

What is irep

(Being the opening remarks by Femi Odugbemi, Executive Director, iREP, at the opening of the festival on January 20 at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, lagos)


iREP is about promoting documentary films from Africa, by Africans and about the African experience. Beyond propaganda, irep is about providing a platform for the promotion archiving and distribution of documentaries about our culture, our peoples and our development.

Enough of the colonial narrative of Africa being only about wars and diseases and pain. Yes these stories exist sadly but it needs perspective. And what is usually missing in these narratives is that the facts don't always reveal the truth. The challenge is for African filmmakers to do more than entertain and to begin to educate and inform and protect brand Africa in narratives that are more true, more rounded and yes more to our economic and development advantage in the global information order.