TAFM opens entry for films across Africa

The Annual Film Mischief 23 (TAFM ’23), the second iteration of The Film Rats club’s film festival, aims to draw passionate short film fans and creators from Lagos and all over Africa to the city of Lagos, Nigeria. Themed #ShootTheCulture, the festival which mostly focuses on films of Nigerian descent just like the maiden edition , will this year feature films across the African continent.

Chukwu Martin, Founder of TAFM said this in the press statement, “In March 2022, we launched The Annual Film Mischief to shine the spotlight on filmmakers daring to tell stories with unique narratives and styles. The average African filmmaker comes from humble beginnings and though there will be limited resources, there will never be limits to creativity, hence our theme – ‘Less is More’. It was a call to action to reach beyond financial limitations and dig into the abundant well of creativity.”

According to the press statement, the festival selections will include domestic and international features and short films. Submissions for the 2023 edition of The Annual Film Mischief will officially open on November 1st, 2022, and filmmakers are encouraged to submit entries early enough through TAFM’s film freeway page at no cost at all.

Martin mentioned the successes of the past movie that screened at the festival and went on to represent the industry internationally. “We had some successes to celebrate. ‘Yahoo+’, one of the films screened at TAFM ’22, went on to get nationwide theatrical distribution with moderate success at the Nigerian box office.”

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Other directors whose movies featured at the last event went on to gain recognition at film festivals both locally and internationally. Olabode Izy who won the Audience Cheese Pick for his film ‘The Samaritan’ at the festival last year went on to get recognition at other festivals like Realtime International Film Festival and Cuckoo International Film Awards.

Last year at its maiden edition, TAFM had amazing movies screened such as Owen Olowu’s “Songs of Ubong” which won the TAFM Grand Cheese Prize, Reflections Winner, Best Screenplay, The Samaritan, Winner, Audience Cheese Pick, with award-winning Chuko & Ari Esiri’s “Eyimofe” opening the film festival and Paul Utomi’s “Country Hard” delivering an excellent close.

We are challenging ourselves to be better than the last which, of course, leads us to TAFM ’23 opening to filmmakers across Africa. It is us calling on African filmmakers, home and abroad, to reignite their passion for film and “Shoot the culture!” which is this year’s theme,” he added.

Festival co-directors, Uche Chika Elumelu and Tomi Folowosele further explained what #ShootTheCulture means and why;

“TAFM ’22 was beautiful. We celebrated brilliant films with little or no budget. It was truly refreshing to see the audience enthusiastically engage with these incredible stories. We are delighted to return for another edition; celebrating film with all African filmmakers. The theme we have chosen for TAFM ’23 is #ShootTheCulture. This reflects uniqueness from the African eye, encouraging filmmakers to dig deep into our culture and tell our stories; weave the most beautiful tales into colorful robes for the world to marvel at.”

So, what are you waiting for, filmmakers? Grab your cameras, call your team, and get ready to #ShootTheCulture.