The 2019 Zuma Film Festival ended on Friday night with a closing ceremony and gala awards night.
The week-long film fiesta, which held at Jabi Lake Mall and NAF Conference Centre, had local and international filmmakers, actors, industry watchers, and government functionaries in attendance.
High point of the ceremony was the presentation of competitive and non-competitive categories of awards, a feat every filmmaker and stakeholder looks forward to at film festivals.
Chairman of the jury for ZUFF 2019, Abdulkareem Mohammed said that the festival received more than 3,000 film submissions from 50 different countries.
He explained that film entries were subsequently internally screened and pre-selected, and at the end of the exercise, 150 films in diverse categories were recommended for the competition.
“Although it was a herculean task, the jury was able to screen the entries, assess the storylines and the cinematic elements of each film, rank all entries as well as recommend some for the awards,” he said.
Some of the competitive trophies during the night were – Best Short Film, won by ‘Take 2’; Best Student Film, won by ‘The Arbitrators’; and the Best Indigenous Language Film, clinched by ‘Rukayya’, a Hausa film.
Others were – Best Picture; Best Cinematography; Best Script; Best Producer; and Best Director, which were clinched by ‘Almost Perfect’, a film directed by Wale Adesanya.
Fast-rising Nollywood actress Tamara Eteimo went home with the highly-coveted Best Actress award for her role in ‘Drowning’, and Francis Ogbonna clinched the Best Actor trophy.
Veterans in the film industry were also recognised and honoured with the Movie Rock of Fame Award at the awards gala. Late movie icon, Eddie Ugboma and other veterans in the film industry including, Joke Silva and Alex Eyengho, among others were bestowed with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Chairman of the Festival Organising Committee, Chidia Maduekwe, said that the 10th edition of the festival was, among other things, geared toward encouraging alternative means for film distribution in line with global trends.
Maduekwe, who is also the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), organiser of ZUFF, noted that the increase in foreign participation in ZUFF 2019, was an indication of international acceptance.
“This year’s theme of the film festival, “Content Connectivity, Everyview; Everywhere” has set the tone for robust engagement for all stakeholders.
“We are determined to encourage the development and improvement of other means of film distribution platforms and windows, which are necessary and important parts of the entire film production process.
“I believe the nation has and is tremendously improving on creative content which is leading to international acceptability of Nigerian films for screenings and competitions.
“We are determined to ensure that by the end of 2020, the nation would have been able to develop a national data tariff policy that will drive content distribution digitally,” he said.
Source: NAN
