The 14th Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) will kick off with the screening of ‘3 Cold Dishes,’ a pan-African thriller co-produced by Afrofusion star Burna Boy and actress Osas Ighodaro.
The festival’s lineup and its 2025 theme, ‘Rhythms of the
Continent: The Afrobeats Film Movement,’ were unveiled at a Lagos event on
Thursday.
Scheduled to run from November 2, the festival will
celebrate the powerful synergy between music and cinema.
“It is really about music. We want to showcase the effect
and the importance of music in film. And most importantly, our music in film.
If we are making African films, we also need to understand why music should also
be African and the effect of it,” said Chioma Ude, founder of AFRIFF.
“We are pulling in all our music partners, all our
musicians, music executives to guide us, encourage us and to learn. We are here
to say this is how you are important to films.”
The opening film ‘3 Cold Dishes’ was shot across several
African, European, and Arabian nations. Director Asurf Oluseyi revealed that
the film tells the story of trafficked girls on a mission for revenge against
their abductors.
“‘3 Cold Dishes’ is a Pan African film. A co-production
between Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, the Ivory Coast, France, the
Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia,” Asurf said.
“It is shining on stories of survival within Africa. Most of
the stories we have talk about Africans to Europeans. 90% of trafficking
happens within Africa. This is an important story to us.
“Burna and I have a working relationship. It was very easy
to work with him. He trusted my work.”
The festival will offer practical industry insights,
including a workshop on November 3 at the Twin Towers in Lekki.
The session, headlined by Moses Babatope of The Nile Group
and EbonyLife’s head of legal Omotayo Queen Inakoju will cover revenue
maximisation and understanding distribution agreements. Music star Davido has
also been announced as a panellist for the event.
A significant new feature for the 14th edition is the
introduction of the AFRIFF Film & Content Market (AFCM).
Ude described it as a crucial step for industry
sustainability, providing a platform for creators to network with marketers,
exhibitors, and financiers. Partners expected at the summit include SOOP, a
Korean content creation company, and the World Bank.
The festival will honour several distinguished figures,
including vice president Kasim Shettima; Enugu governor Peter Mbah; US actor
David Oyelowo; and Hakeem Muri-Okunola.
AFRIFF 2025 will conclude with two final screenings: a
documentary by highlife singer Flavour N’abania titled ‘Afroculture: The
Making,’ and ‘Tukki from Roots to Bayou,’ a film by Vincent Le Gal and Alune
Wade.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com