French Embassy, AFRIFF partner to boost Nigerian creative industry, audio-visual sector

As part of efforts to put the Nigerian movie and creative industry on the world stage, the French Embassy in Nigeria held three days business to business meetings in Lagos between French and Nigerian film key stakeholders.

The event which held on the 4th, 5th and 6th of November 2024, took place within the framework of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) with which the French Embassy is collaborating to carry out a qualitative event allowing French and Nigerian expertise and excellence in the audiovisual sector to be endorsed within the most prominent Nollywood platform.

AFRIFF, which celebrated its thirteenth edition this year, has become the unmissable cinema event on the continent, with more than 70,000 visitors.

Over ten French companies participated in the three day meetings. The embassy said the objective is to present and facilitate development and cooperation’s possibilities in Nigeria and to promote quality French content to Nigerian producers and distributors and the various tools made available to them to co-produce with France.

The French companies engaged in up to six conferences, workshops and masterclasses.

Their knowledge was activated during the meetings to help identify and offer opportunities to the Nigerian talents of tomorrow. Indeed, the new generation of Nollywood is sensitive to the possibilities of international co-productions, the search for new audiences and the opportunity to one day be present in the selection of major international festivals, like Cannes, the embassy said.

Altogether, the presence of this French delegation at AFRIFF was part of an overall action plan of the French Embassy in Nigeria, with the general objective of strengthening the Nigerian and French collaboration in the audio-visual sector and develop co-productions.

The French Embassy’s actions, scattered throughout the year, encompass workshops, networking moments, delegations visits to France or welcoming French representatives to Nigeria.

Their latest accomplishment was the attendance of twenty official Nigerian studio representatives to the TV content market MIPCOM in Cannes last October.