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The maiden edition
of what promises to become an annual touring event, the iRepresent
(iREP) International Documentary Film Festival, opens in Lagos on
January 20. It will hold until January 23 at Terra Kulture and the
Lagos Business School.

A press release
signed by the executive director of iREP, Femi Odugbemi, states that
the iREP is conceptualised to create a platform of awareness and
expression for aspiring and practicing filmmakers who are creating
socially relevant documentary films to positively impact our world.

The festival is
also intended to fully engage an array of trans-cultural creativity and
to provide a forum for everyone’s ingenuity to be showcased without
prejudice to style or subject. In addition, iREP celebrates the ever
expanding world of documentary films by inviting talents from across
the globe to share ideas on trends and technological advancements in
the format.

“We recognise that
there are still quite a good number of well-trained, talented and
serious filmmakers in Nigeria who are willing and ready to work hard to
reclaim the lost glory of the industry,” say the organisers. “This is a
goal that the iREP desires to pursue in its operation, especially
through its annual iREP international touring documentary festival.”

Symposia

The three-day
festival themed ‘The Impact of Documentary Production in a Developing
Society/Economy’ will feature paper presentations, training and
workshop, interactive panel discussion, screenings, networking, as well
as gala and award ceremony.

The workshop and
symposium will feature topics including: ‘Can Documentary Change the
World?’ a keynote by Manthia Diawara, director, African-American
Studies, New York University.

A panel of
filmmakers and critics led by Senegalese film producer, Lydia Diakhate,
will discuss the topic ‘Redeeming the African Image: a Case for African
Documentary Films’.

A panel of
speakers led by filmmakers Tunde kelani and Sandra Obiago will focus on
the topic of ‘Africa in Self Conversation’. Bongiwe Selane will deliver
a paper on ‘Films for Development: Engineering Change in African
Politics’.

A roundtable
moderated by Tunde Babawale of the Centre for Black and African Arts
and Culture (CBAAC) will discuss ‘Motives of Black Consciousness in
African Documentaries’, while a mini training session for young and
aspiring filmmakers will look at ‘Digital Filmmaking, Shooting
Techniques and Tricks for Documentary Production’.

Also expected to
participate in the symposium and workshop sessions as lead speakers and
discussants are: Afolabi Adesanya, MD, Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC);
Emeka Mba, DG, National Film and Video Censors Board; and Tunde
Adegbola, lecturer at the University of Ibadan. Others include: Fidelis
Duker, director, Abuja Film Festival; Busola Holloway, and Awam Amkpa,
director, Africana Studies, New York University.

Screenings

A collection of
award winning documentary films by filmmakers from across the world,
especially Africa in the Diaspora and at home, complemented by works of
young and old filmmakers in Nigeria, will be screened during the
festival.

Also, a jury made
up of professional and young filmmakers will shortlist the documentary
films made by film students in Nigeria to be screened at the festival.

Professional
filmmakers who have confirmed their participation in the festival
include: Jihan El-Tahiri, French-Egyptian producer of ‘Behind the
Rainbow’ (2009) and David Max Brown, producer of ‘The Manuscripts and
Timbuktu’.

Also expected are
Mario Mabor; Talal Afifi, a film festival director from Sudan; Akin
Omotosho, director of MNet Great African Stories; Lydia Diakhate,
director of the Real Life Documentary Forum, who will be directing the
training and workshop session; and Issraa El-Kogali.

Other poetential
international participants are expected to be confirmed soon. On the
home front, about ten filmmakers are expected to participate.

Some of them are:
Sandra Obiago, who will be presenting a collection of films made under
her outfit, Communicating For Change; Femi Odugbemi (one of the movers
behind iRep, he is the director of ‘Oriki’); Inspire Africa, which will
be showcase ‘Naija Diamonds’; while CBAAC and the National Film
Institute will be presenting works by five students. Each filmmaker
will have an interactive session with festival audience after the
screenings of their films.

The festival film
is ‘Behind the Rainbow’ by South African Jihan El-Tahiri. The
124-minute documentary focuses on the conflicts within the African
National Congress (ANC), which took over power in South Africa after
the end of Apartheid. It won the second prize for Best Documentary at
FESPACO 2009 in Burkina Faso.

In 2010, iREP International documentary film festival was founded by
a board of directors which include producer and director, Odugbemi;
culture activist and newspaper editor, Jahman Anikulapo; and filmmaker
and director of the Lagos Film Office, Makin Soyinka.