AFRIFF Day 3: My Expectations and Experience Are Currently Miles Apart
Day 3 of AFRIFF brought mixed experiences, from logistical challenges to memorable film screenings like Agemo and Dynamite.
Something about AFRIFF feels different this year. Maybe it’s the different location but for some reason, things are not going as I had imagined. Yesterday was my first day at the 2024 edition and getting sorted at the registration point proved to be a hassle.
First, as someone who had registered as a media attendee for the festival, getting my tag proved difficult. I was told by the attendant to go look for a ‘Natasha’ and apparently there was a special process that folks who had registered as media attendees needed to follow.
I was stumped with finding Natasha with zero idea who that was or where to get her contact from or who to ask. Eventually and thankfully, I was given the event tag. I would learn that this experience was shared by a lot of people who had come to attend the festival with the intention of covering it for the media. After the hassle at the registration point, I set out to watch my first film of the day, Agemo.
A mystery/horror feature directed by Moshood Abiola, Agemo is the story of a sinister tradition practiced by the town of Itolo where every year, a stranger is sacrificed to the masquerade Agemo for the peace and prosperity of the kingdom.
The screening experience was quite engaging and the film got some interesting reactions from the audience. After the screening, however, I had to ask where the Q&A was held and find my way to another screening room. It’s important to state here that the star of the Q&A session was Darasimi Madi who plays Orin. Her eloquence was remarkable and certainly captured the hearts of everyone in the room.
Still brooding on my notes and questions about the film I’d just watched, I linked up with film journalist Seyi Lasisi and his friend. Together, we made our way to a panel session on co-producing for global recognition.
On this panel were Stephanie Linus, Dennis Ruh, John Njamah, and Victor Okhai. It seemed particularly interesting that sitting on this panel were two prominent members of the Nigeria Oscar selection committee - Stephanie Linus and Victor Okhai.
After the thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations were gotten out of the way, a question about whether nepotism still determined a worthy Oscar selection brought about some intriguing responses. The most outstanding was the emphasis placed on the need to meet the criteria provided by the Academy which many filmmakers apparently seem to forget when agitating for their desire to have their films selected.
In a bid to further debunk the nepotism or favoritism myth, past Oscar selections were cited as examples. However, when this year’s selection was mentioned as having met the criteria without favoritism, I was a bit taken aback. Journalist, Lasisi at that point noted that this year’s selection Mai Martaba didn’t seem to have had a cinema run yet, a requirement which is also top on the criteria list of a worthy Oscar selection.
(But on further research, IN confirmed that Mai Martaba indeed had a cinema run in the North, Kano to be specific.)
As soon as the panel session closed, we headed to another screen to watch Ifeoma Nkiruka Chukwuogo’s Dynamite. This film pulled the most crowd and had people trying to fit themselves along the aisle. Directed by Uche Aguh, Dynamite is a story exploring the theme of desire and chains.
The lead, a singer and musician, is stuck in an unhappy marriage with her husband and manager who is grossly unfaithful and entitled. He feels responsible for her success and makes it a point to remind her at the slightest chance. She would later fall in love with her bassist and they begin a rebellious and assertive romantic adventure.
One word kept swirling in my head throughout the film was ‘colourful’. Every part of this film was proof of the incredible intention behind the art direction. From the first to the last scene, everything popped. It would track when the cinematographer Dennis Schmitz was introduced as someone who has a keen eye for shooting black skin. The film also made sense when compared to other films on its mood board — If Beale Street Could Talk , Moonlight and City Of God.
The wonderful viewing experience, the story appeared to be holding back a bit. It felt incomplete in an unexplainable way at first until the director shared the backstory about how the film is based on her first EP ‘Sanguine’ after being a closeted musician for so long.
It is clear that Dynamite is a product of passion and I find it soothing that the filmmakers did not hold back on infusing the story world with as much art as possible.
I closed out my AFRIFF experience for the day with a conversation about what the festival is offering this year. Attendees I spoke with believe that the experience seems to pale compared to previous years.
There’s still time to properly assess this part. Right now, I am excited to discover more exciting work over the next couple of days.