Organisers of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) 2021, has given the assurance that this year’s event will beam a search light on Nigeria’s anime space to deepen the animation and eSports ecosystem on the back of a growing youth population and its overall contribution to the nation’s gross domestic products (GDP).
The Nigerian anime ecosystem, which is largely untapped, is believed to be about 66 million mobile (eSports) players, of which 44 million are active gamers. Of these numbers, 25 million are mobile online players while 1.2 million play on personal computer (PC); 1 million play on console and over 960, 000 viewers in a market yet to be consolidated and have not been served with local content.
“I am also very excited to announce that we will dedicate a day to anime and gaming to continue our vibrancy and innovation. We will continue to focus our efforts on training and supporting more filmmakers than ever before, as well as building global bridges, and promoting further cross-cultural exchanges,” said Chioma Ude, founder/executive director, AFRIFF, at the media launch for the AFRIFF 2021 festival scheduled for November 7-13, held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to Ude, the theme for this year’s festival, which is the 10th edition of the annual showpiece; ‘Africans for Africa’, will enable the organisers to celebrate those who enable AFRIFF to dream and celebrate storytelling which challenges society.
Ude also disclosed that Access Bank, US Diplomatic Mission Nigeria, Konga, Afreximbank, Landmark, Pan African Capital, Pernod Ricard and Filmhouse Group are corporate sponsors for the 10th anniversary of the festival.
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“The atmosphere tells again of how ready and excited industry tastemakers are, for another week of cinematic experience, business networking, movie premieres, film screenings, industry sessions, masterclasses, workshops, the Globe Awards, and other events that have become the hallmark of AFRIFF, Africa’s most vibrant and innovative Film Festival,” Ude stated.
Jenny Alonzo, the creative director for AFRIFF, said the festival received a record breaking number of submissions (over 4000) this year from over 100 countries; the highest it has received to date and will screen almost 150 projects, including features, shorts, documentaries and much more selected by AFRIFF team of programmers, who watched over 2000 hours of footage.
According to Alonzo, beyond being a champion of Africa and Africans, International and youth filmmaking; AFRIFF is the largest film festival in West Africa and has consistently been a great supporter of the International film festival.
This year’s festival will open with Michael Pearce’s eagerly anticipated sci-fi thriller: Encounter. Encounter stars Emmy award winner and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Riz Ahmed and Oscar winning actress, Octavia Spencer. The film follows two brothers who embark on a journey with their father, who is trying to protect them from an alien threat. The festival will then close with Nigeria’s Bolanle Austin Peters’ Collision.
Collision is a heart thumping story that explores the seedy underbelly of rogue law enforcement officers and the atrocious results as they collide head on with a frustrated young man and a conflicted member of the police force.
