World film and tourism festival slated for Lagos in November
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2000
The first World Film and Tourism Festival will be held in Lagos, Nigeria from November 15 to December 1, 2000.
The festival dubbed " Expo 2000/1," is aimed at projecting Africa through its films and culture, address problems facing the film and tourism industry on the continent and set up marketing avenues for African films.
It would be under the theme " Path to African Cultural Renaissance and Economic Emancipation," with participants drawn from all over the world.
During the festival, an exhibition would be held separately to showcase African crafts such as weavings, carvings, paintings and traditional medicinal products. The government of Nigeria, some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and UNESCO would be sponsoring the event.
Briefing newsmen in Accra on Monday, Chief Benjamin Idowu, International Co-ordinator of the Festival, said it would be launched within a few weeks as part of the Nigerian governments' effort at reactivating the film industry, which is presently dying due to neglect during the military era in that country.
He said the project, which has been in the pipeline for over 18 years, was supposed to be a follow-up to the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), which was held in 1977, but successive governments abandoned the it resulting in its retrogression.
Chief Idowu noted that the African Film Industry has suffered a lot of setbacks due to the overpowering circulation of video films against celluloid films.
He said it was time Africa censored and changed the image of its films exported to other parts of the world, which portrays ritual related issues, gangsterism, barbarism and violence.
The festival headquarters would be under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Nigeria, in Abuja. Mr. Kwaw Ansah, Executive Film Producer of the Film Africa Limited, has been nominated as the focal person in Ghana for the festival.
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