EKOIFF President and Fashola's Parents in France for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival

The President/Co-founder of Eko International Film Festival (EKOIFF), Hope Obioma Opara and the amiable parents of the Governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, with Lagos state delegation were among the only Nigerians at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in France, and he shared the highlights of their trip with Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.


EMC: You were at the recently concluded 63rd Cannes Film Festival in France, how was Nigeria represented this time?

Hope: The Cannes Film Festival is the world cup finals of the film world attracting thousands of filmmakers, lovers of movies and tourists to Cannes every May, but unlike last year Nigeria did not have a pavilion and only few Nigerian journalists were there. The Guardian, The Nation and Supple magazine were the major Nigerian news media.

EMC: You and the Lagos state delegation were at the 63rd Cannes Film
Festival?

Hope: Yes. The Lagos state government sent the Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Affairs and the Executive Secretary of the Lagos Film and Video Censors Board and also Mr.and Mrs. Fashola, the amiable parents of the Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, were also there.

EMC: Why did the Lagos State delegation attend the Cannes Film festival?


Hope: The Lagos state delegation came to Cannes to promote the Lagos Film City project to be located in Badagry. The Lagos Film City will be the Hollywood of Nigeria. And we met with the top executives of KODAK at an exclusive party on a luxury yacht where the Lagos state delegation publicized the Lagos Film City project and I informed the international
guests of the Eko International Film festival coming up in Lagos this July, which is going to become the Cannes of Africa. I had a very important meeting with KODAK executives on how we can improve the quality of Nollywood in cinematography.

EMC: What were the major attractions at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival?


Hope: Well, Cannes will always get better with over 25, 000 film professionals, over 5, 000 journalists and thousands of tourists thronging the French Riviera to watch the best movies in and out of competition and of course the popular Cannes market premieres with millions of other viewers watching on TV and Internet. As Thomas Sotinel, the Movies Section
Editor of the prestigious Le Monde said, that Cannes Film festival is where you see the interpretation of global changes in the eyes of the film industry, attracting the gaze of the five continents. Filmmakers do not only tell our stories, but also capture history in the making. Senegal and South Africa competed for the top prizes and one of the most moving and touching Films was “Life, Above All", a movie on the stigma and trauma of AIDS in South Africa. Many of the viewers left the theatre in tears after seeing it. A filmmaker from Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the highest prize, the Palme d'Or for his film "LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)". But the question is; where is Nigeria? We need to work harder to compete with the best in the
film world. I am very confident that we have all it takes in terms of ambitious directors, daring producers, outstanding actors and actresses to pitch in every film festival in the world. And that is why we want to use Eko International Film Festival to bring the film world to Lagos every July and attract thousands of tourists to Nigeria. I was also interviewed on the inaugural Eko International Film Festival by our media partners on EKOIFF which is already attracting filmmakers and movie buffs from all over the world.


EMC: How many films have been submitted for EKOIFF?


Hope: We have received over 33 films so far and 21 of them are by filmmakers from Europe and other parts of the world, including a Spanish film that has won over 100 awards, and one film called “Made in Japan”. We are excited that many foreign filmmakers are willing to come to Nigeria for EKOIFF.

EMC: So, you are ready to host the film world come July 7-12, 2010?


Hope: We are doing our best with able members of the Organizing Committee and our European media partners who have publicized Eko International Film Festival to over 4,000 filmmakers and over 77, 000 film festival media agencies in the world.

We need the cooperation and support of the Lagos state government since this is the host state, the Federal Government, the local and multinational companies and everyone to do their best to join us to make the inaugural Eko International Film Festival a success

Nigerian filmmakers and others should go to our website for accreditation, because only accredited film practitioners and journalists will be given free pass. Others will buy tickets to see the movies at the venue. Over 300, 000 tickets were sold at the 63RD Cannes Film Festival Eko International Film Festival is show business and as they say there is no show like show business and this is Eko for show. We are ready to make it happen for the entertainment of all lovers of movies.


Thank you,