KASIE ABONE, Cannes, France


Nigerian film makers have been lambasted for allegedly plagiarizing creative works from other lands even as they are advised to attend international film festivals if they must make films of international standards.

Respected American film maker and prolific advertising director, Spike Lee, punctured Nigerian film makers, saying they bootlegged a lot of his films. Lee told at a press conference in Cannes International Advertising Festival that Nigera made huge films but regretted that a lot of plagiarism went on in Nigeria without any check.

Responding to a question by this reporter on how Nigerian film makers could improve on their creating, Lee fired back:

"You are from Nigeria, Lagos? Those people are bootlegging my films a lot. Let them attend international film festival like the ones held in Cannes and other places to learn how to make great films that would be of international standard.

In a press conference to announce winners of the MOFILM UGC (User Generated Content) Competition, Lee, who was the competition’s jury chairman, said with the explosion of digital devices youths with creative talents would tell a great story using the new technological devices. He said with User-Generated Content, there was little limit to what youths of these days could do using digital devices.

He said a lot of talents abound not only in America and Europe but all over the world. He stated that the era when people went to school to learn film making was fast being replaced by people simply deploying the digital devices with their talents to tell great stories in digital devices.

"You don’t have to call your God to help you get a job. You can tell great stories using these hand-held devices. And to do this creativity is very key. It is a very special thing that empowers you to tell great stories."

Another important tool necessary to tell stories is the skill of story writing. In his words "You don’t have to go to school to be a good film maker. You have to work on developing your talent. You have to work on your writing skills or find someone who can write for you. Writing is key to film making. Whether it’s a piece of music, novel, play or commercial, you must learn how to write."

The MOFILM competition brought together a powerhouse set of 12 brands which consisted of AT&T, Best Buy, PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard, Kodak, Renaissance Hotel, Nokia, Philips, Telstra, Unilever (Omo), Visa and Vodafone. Each brand posted a brief on the MOFILM website, which allowed entrants from all over the world upload their films and compete for the awards and prizes. Each brand selected their favorite video, which went to compete for the grand prize on set with Spike Lee.

At the end of the highly competitive outing, Hiroki Ono, 23-year-old Japanese won the gold prize with $12, 000,000 cash award along with Nokia’s top prize of having his winning video "Feel the Globe" embedded into more than 10 million handsets and the opportunity to be on set with Spike Lee on his next project.

Winning the silver medal was an Indian from California, the United States, Mr. Mahesh Pailor, with is video "Ordinary Creative Guy" for Best Buy, a story about his father. He received $6,000 cash with Best Buy’s top prize of $10,000 gift card.

The bronze medal went to California’s Jeff Jill with his video "Larry Had the Internet" for AT&T. He received $3,000 cash along with AT&T’s top prize of $2,000 and tickets to American Idol finale.

Mr. Lee commented, "I really have enjoyed the MOFILM competition. Any medium that allows creative talent to come to the fore gives them the platform to showcase their gifts, which is gratifying to me. User-Generated Content has to be a good thing for both film and advertising industries."

All the winners expressed satisfaction for the opportunity to be showcased at the Cannes festival, saying they were spurred to develop their talents even further.