Film Corporation Boss Promises More Collaboration With HomeVida
Samuel Oyejola, Abuja
The Managing Director of Nigerian Film Corporation, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe has promised to collaborate with HomeVida in the production of short films that address issues around gender equality and empowerment, digital economy and transparency, accountability and good governance.
Maduekwe also said the corporation would not rest on fulfilling its operational mandate through regular training and capacity building of both emerging talents and film professional at the National Film Institute in Jos, Plateau state.
He said this at the 9th Integrity Film Award (HomeVida) in Abuja recently. He commended the organizers for creating space in the promotion of arts and culture, recognizing and rewarding excellence of emerging talents in the Nigerian film industry who according to hum are “influencing the society with their talents”.
Speaking further on the contribution of HomeVida to the industry he said, “we appreciate your enthusiasm in training of youths and preparing them for leadership responsibilities in this country.”
Maduekwe advised the recipients of the awards to become role models to upcoming film professionals towards the advancement of the Nigerian film industry to enviable height.
Also speaking at the event, the founder of HomeVida, Chibuzor Ekwekwo said that the platform have been encouraging young Nigerians to tell their stories positively. “The idea of HomeVida is borne out of the desire to use our creative energy, particularly through the film medium, to tell our stories positively”
The Google representative in Nigeria, Titi Akinwumi-Bolarinwa while commending the talents shortlisted for the award said Nigeria is gifted with ability to take challenges in the society to creative ideas.
While delivering the welcome address, the HomeVida Coordinator, Mbanan Mku said the initiative is focused on influencing the type of films produced in the industry “by providing incentives to filmmakers to produce films that address social challenges and societal values as a contribution to nation building.
Mku explained that the HomeVida platform has produced 24 short films, trained about 300 young scriptwriters on how to write scripts that focus on societal issues and inspire integrity in people.
“Though we have focused on film in the past; we recognize that the world keeps evolving and we target trends to stay relevant while influencing change,” she said.
She revealed that the platform ran a competition with support from Google tagged: “Internet For All,” with the aim of shifting the focus of people from using the internet to incite hate speech, to using the internet to improve the standard of our economic and socio-cultural values.
The 2018 HomeVida competition had called for young Nigerians to create skits and spoken word videos that creatively showcase the economic, socio-cultural relevance of the internet.
Akwuruaha Ikenna was awarded the winner while Anita Abada and Joel Adegboye were both the first and second runners up. The winners were awarded cash prizes of 250,000, 150,000 and 100,000 respectively
