Nigeria Content Online

It is dark in the
morning. Our daughter is up and ready to go to the bus stop – she is in
high school. She steps into our bedroom and announces that she is going
to the bus stop. My wife says to her, “I will go with you, it is too
dark.” The seasons are changing and my wife says it is too dark for
children to go to the bus stop by themselves. In the darkness, I mumble
to my wife, “She will be fine, it is not too dark.” It cannot be as
dark as the mornings of my childhood in Nigeria, me scurrying around to
do my chores. But it is often futile to engage in these debates. The
unspoken communication: My wife wants me to see our daughter off to the
bus stop. I get up and I say to our daughter, “I shall go with you.”
Our daughter doesn’t like it, she argues with us, what kind of parents
escort their high school kids to the bus stop? What would the other
kids say, she grumbles? She resigns herself to the compromise. I will
escort her to the bend in the path to the bus stop where I can see the
lamp post that works. And we both agree: As soon as she says “goodbye
daddy!” I must return to bed.

In the kitchen, as
our daughter gets ready for school, she regales me with stories of her
yesterday. The stories are all American, of a culture and a way of life
that is alien to me even after all these years of my sojourn but the
names of her stories’ characters are delightfully United Nations –
dizzy pointers to the ancestry of those who fled strong opinions and
deadly force to come to this land of the allegedly free. Our daughter
laughs at her own stories and I laugh along with her. She is happy and
I admire and envy her. Who was the sage that said that we live through
our children?

We get to the bend
in the path and our daughter turns around and says “goodbye daddy!” I
stop and wish her a great day. In the dark I look around me. There are
shapes kneading themselves into human forms, benign spirits morphing
into students congregating at the bus stop. Out by the woods, sounds
warn of the mysteries and dangers of the dark and the known. All around
me the majesty of the moment overwhelms me and transports me to the
majesty of a past in Africa that will not leave me alone. Africa comes
calling again; the Africa that I remember despite her wars and issues.
Our Africa is a nurturing one – of caring clans, bountiful markets,
wondrous stories and heart breaking dances.

Why are we here?
Today, in America, we are riding shotgun in life’s SUV. Today we are
riding crouched low on the path of no resistance. Come dawn, we wanted
to stay in bed but today again slapped us awake and berated us to
turgid attention. The mirror shimmers with glee. It is not me that I
see in the sea of mirth but I cannot escape the mirror that forces me
to peer. We are out in the cold depths of America’s winter shivering in
dresses that were inspired by the searing heat of the land of my
ancestors. Why are we shivering when we could be clothed in the warmth
of the values of the new land? We are afraid to look our bullying
ancestors straight in the eyes and ask the question: Why?

America. This
journey is the same, has always been the same, from the beginning of
the earth. Nothing is new, it is the same journey and we have always
trudged on this same path. Yet, it is an abiding mystery, how it is
that each new traveler always gapes with awe and wonder at the changing
constants, this constant newness of this journey. It is the same big
fat bus filled with the same people, hustling, jostling, elbowing their
way out of somewhere to somewhere. Languages are dying; peoples are
dying; and dead customs litter the halls of bored museums, all
mummified by the happy pall-bearers of that cliché called change.

From Africa to America there is war everywhere, war fuels the
journey. Don’t look but our children are falling off the roofs of
trains, drowning in the waters of roiling seas that bloody the
relentless movement of warriors of color. Everyday history is made. But
their history is dead. They came kicking and screaming. They are still
kicking and screaming – at us. They don’t want us here. They say,
“Learn English! Speak English! You are in America!” they remind us,
speak English! Their eyes ask us to check multiple boxes – in English:
Who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going? When are
you going back home? We do not ask questions. We are happy to be here,
we tell them. We know the truth, that they know the truth. Welcome to
America.

According to
Musiliu Peregrino Brimah, Majek Fashek’s first outing was in Ghana
where he performed a series of concerts. While there, he won the
Nigerian Music Award. On his return he played concerts around Nigeria
and eventually left for the United States of America, where he signed
up with the InterScope Record label that also had Snoop Dog in its
stable.

Brimah picks up the
story. “Majek played at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York
and, in the appreciative audience were Carlos Santana and other top
musicians. He was a big hit because they had never heard a band play
reggae with talking drums; his diminutive dancer, Pogo, who also played
shekere, thrilled the audience. The Jamaicans in particular, inventors
of reggae music, were shocked. Generally, Majek was well accepted on
the American music scene and he appeared on the famous David Letterman
Talk Show. He made a record in America which was favourably reviewed in
music journals as well as the upscale Esquire magazine. He was
described as the new voice of international reggae! When Fajek came
back to Nigeria, the first thing he did was to kiss the ground.

“I again advised
Majek to be closer to God. We went to a party in Ikeja where Sunny Ade
was playing and when Sunny saw Majek he started praising him in song.
Later, I told Majek I did not like the way he was behaving as he was
always restless and, that, if he had lost the key he should look for
that key that controls the mind. I asked him if he was taking drugs and
he said: no. Rather, he told me, he had read the spiritual book, ‘Seven
Books of Moses’ on the way to America. I have not seen Majek since
then. All I hear now are stories.”

The first Oxygen

Musiliu Peregrino
Brimah himself had to move on with his art. He designed the label for
the new Punch newspapers’ record company, Skylight Records. He designed
album covers for Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owoh, Christie Essien-Igbokwe,
I.K.Dairo, Oriental Brothers, Kabaka, BLO, Manu Dibango, Tee Mac, Dele
Abiodun and Jonny Haastrup, amongst many others.

He delved further
into his passion for identifying and producing young talents. He worked
with a young group, Special Branch from Festac and, one of the members,
Tony, brought Paul Play Dairo. “I interviewed Paul Dairo,” Brimah
recalls, “and gave him an assignment to do the Johnny Cash song ‘I can
see clearly/now the rain is gone’; and sing it in the style of Seal. He
did the song and I was overwhelmed by [his] talent. So, I formed a
group which I called Oxygen, with Paul and Tony in 2002. Paul brought
in Slam and Bayo and, they all had talent. We were doing Hip Hop and
Hiplife; a mixture of highlife and hip-hop. We were doing fantastic
sounds and we were about to release our sound when Paul did ‘Mosorire’
for his father. I had already gotten Oxygen a record deal in America;
but Paul went to Kenny’s Music who released Moserire and it became a
big hit. That was the end of the first Oxygen.”

The second Oxygen

Brimah did not give
up! “I formed another Oxygen group,” he reminisces, “with Modog, Cool
Irie and, then a fellow producer told me he wanted me to meet a girl
called Asa who had talent. When I auditioned Asa and heard her voice I
was fascinated. With her in this new group called Oxygen Track 2, we
did a recording at Ayo Bankole’s Mainstream studio in Surulere. After
we shot the video, Asa told me she wasn’t too happy with the behaviour
of some of the other musicians so she decided to go solo. I continued
working with young musicians and, I worked with OJB who later produced
the hit ‘African Queen’ for Tuface Idibia.”

Brimah’s Peregrino
Music has continued to produce cutting-edge innovative popular music in
Nigeria and Ghana. Two of such products currently in the market and
making waves are ‘Ekute Oyingbo’ by Kaduna-based King Suleiman and
‘Ikebe’ by Katsina Rankies, based in Nima, Accra, Ghana. The lyrics in
both recordings are in Hausa and English.

When will he
release his earlier musical experiments with Oxygen and other groups?
“I think the time is right now,” he responds. “They were unknown
musicians then and the music industry then had not become what we made
it to be.” What are the special factors that now drive the Nigerian
Music industry? “These young musicians are money-spinning machines
today, not like before. The publicity, their involvement with
telecommunication companies and the fact that their music now has
international appeal has made all the difference!”

Celebrating Nigeria and Ghana

Musiliu Peregrino
Brimah’s pet project now is the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival scheduled
for November 2010. It is a project that has gestated for some time. “I
first conceived the idea back in 2004/5. Then in 2007 I went to Ghana
to see the then President of the Ghana Musicians Association, Sidiku
Buhari, and told him that the purpose was to develop our culture
through music. He liked the idea. I then talked to Tee Mac who was then
President of PMAN and he too liked the idea. Then in 2008 I went to the
then Minister of Culture and Tourism, Adetokunbo Kayode, and the
Ministry gave me approval for supporting African Music and Culture.

“I then went into
collaboration with CBAAC and we did a promotional mini-documentary for
the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival with the theme, ‘A Bit of Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow’ and aired it on the Music Africa programme on
Silverbird Television for nearly two years. In the promotional film, we
talked about the Beats of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow including
Highlife, Juju, Afrobeat, Fuji, Kpalogo, Adowa (both from Ghana) and
others. We have done enough publicity and we believe this is the right
time to do the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival because of Nigeria’s 50th
Anniversary and Kwame Nkrumah’s centenary. The theme of the Festival is
Integration and Development because Nigeria and Ghana are like
twin-sister countries!

“We are looking at 10 musicians, four from Ghana and six from
Nigeria. We are definitely planning on having great musicians from
Nigeria and Ghana. Already, some state governors are part of the
sponsorship we have received. We plan on using the Lagos City Hall and
more details will be available as we embark on the final advertising
and awareness push very soon,” Brimah concludes.

What makes America great?

Simple audacity: her dreams are bigger.

The country won independence

and proceeded to mature

in self determination and confidence

having shaken off the empire Britain

What makes Nigeria great?

Nature’s blessings

of location in our black continent

where food, clothing, and shelter

are the three basic gifts.

America’s

splendid isolation, exceptionalism, entitlement,

meet

Nigeria’s

regional leadership, prosperity, entitlement

Taken from ‘Comrade’; Kraft Books; 2010

The First Edition
of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), themed, ‘Africa
Unites’, is scheduled to hold from December 1 to 5 at the Genesis
Deluxe Cinema, Port Harcourt. This was announced at a press briefing
held on September 15 at City Mall, Onikan, Lagos.

According to Chioma
Ude, Founder and Project Director of the Festival, “AFRIFF draws on the
principle that being African is a bond that goes beyond geography,
birth or lineage; people of African origin are spread across the globe
and Africa is a proud home to many non Nigerians.”

Calls for
registration of film productions by both indigenous international film
makers have been made by the festival body. And according to Ude, the
response has been encouraging, “We have over 200 movies registered
already, from which [those] to be screened at the workshops will be
selected”. The festival will also culminate in an award ceremony in
recognition of outstanding movies screened during the festival. Movies
to be screened fall under the categories of features, documentaries,
short films and animation.

Workshops

Chioma Ude revealed
that while planning the festival has been challenging as expected, she
has had a lot of support from four other organisers, all female. “What
I like about the festival planning is the planning committee, each of
us have come together with different competencies.”

Peace
Anyiam-Osigwe, founder of the African Movie Academy Award (AMAA)’, is
the creative director of the festival. She says concerning her role,
“This will be the first time that there will be a call for projects. A
content market is one of the best things that the festival is bringing.
Most times we say that we have the stories, now we want to work in
putting those stories out properly.”

In a novel
development, the festival will incorporate workshops in the aspects of
scriptwriting, sound and cameras. Soledad Grognett, Technical Director
of the Festival, spoke further on the scriptwriting laboratory, saying,
“It will contribute to the long-term ambition of the festival. We are
already receiving short stories with a maximum length of 30 pages.
Instructors will select 3 to 5 projects which will be awarded cash
prizes towards the realisation of their production, with a view to
having them featured next year. We are utilising the youth and their
raw talent in the way stories are being told.”

While however the
scriptwriting workshop invites new entrants and university students,
especially from the Niger Delta, some of whom are being sponsored by
corporate bodies; the other workshops, According to Grognett, “are more
inclined to enhance skill rather than start planting; and work with
practitioners rather than students.”

Ude also disclosed
that, “this year, with the help of Film 24 and other partners, we are
introducing an equipments market, where equipments can be bought or
leased. The idea is to foster the African Film industry from within.
There is also the film content market established with the view to meet
supply with demand; to stimulate Africans to know the type of project
the market is interested in. And enable international film makers to
get the real African content.”

Rivers and Cannes

Scheduled to hold
annually in Port Harcourt, AFRIFF hopes to unite film makers from
across the world on African soil. And speaking on the choice of
Port-Harcourt, Ude disclosed that, “the Rivers State government is our
main sponsor; when you have a project, you take it to the most
receptive body. And the government of Rivers State has been a foremost
supporter of Arts and Culture.”

On hand to give his
support at the press briefing was movie marketer Emma Isikaku, who
praised the festival committee. “The people behind the festival are
tested hands behind the AMAA and the ION film festival. At the ION
festival last year, I saw something different from what we had been
seeing, so with AFRIFF I hope to see that same quality,” he said in a
chat with NEXT.

Isikaku, who
expressed a desire to market his films and acquire marketing rights to
some movies, at the festival, also remarked that, “Festivals like this
help producers and marketers to begin to see that they need to up their
game. It is a starting point.”

Ude, whose career has spanned nursing, medical staffing, marketing
and logistic planning, is the initiator and organiser of the AMAA
charity balls and producer the ION Film Festival held last year in
Port-Harcourt, through which the vision for AFRIFF was derived. She
concluded the press conference by expressing hopes that the festival
will take on a national significance, “I want AFRIFF to be viewed as a
national programme, like Cannes is for France.”

Tunde Kelani’s
Mainframe Productions and the National Association of Nigerian Theatre
Arts Practitioners, (NANTAP), Lagos State chapter, will stage Dotun
Ogundeji’s ‘Yeepa: Solaarin Nbo’ as part of events marking Nigeria’s
50th Independence anniversary.

Translated into
Yoruba from playwright, Femi Osofisan’s ‘Who is Afraid of Solarin’, the
play is a satire on the state of the nation and is being bankrolled by
the Lagos State Government. It centres on the public complaints
commissioner, Solaarin, feared by corrupt leaders in the community due
to his uprightness. Politicians in the village become afraid when they
hear he is due to pay a visit, and set about cleaning up their acts.
But does he?

“We are witnessing
history with this production,” began Kelani at a meeting with reporters
on Thursday, September 16. “It is a synergy between Mainframe, Lagos
NANTAP and the Dance Guild of Nigeria (GOND). It is a total performance
that is taking theatre back to the basics,” he said.

Artists, Toyin
Oshinaike, Lara Akinsola, Ropo Ewenla, Kayode Idris, Femi Tade and
others will feature in the play directed by Niji Akanni and co-produced
by Kelani and Mufu Onifade, chair, Lagos NANTAP.

“This special
Independence performance is designed to capture the theatre of the 60s
epitomised by the travelling experiences championed by the likes of
Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, etc,” explained Onifade.

He noted that
during that era, “opening glee was an integral part of the main drama
presentation. The opening glee, a combination of dance, music and pure
entertainment must, as a matter of compulsion, precede a full-length
drama presentation.” He disclosed that an opening glee choreographed by
Segun Adefila and Adedayo Liadi, will precede the staging of ‘Yeepa…’

“The Lagos State
chapter of the Dance Guild of Nigeria will also present a stage
dance/musical performance of Hubert Ogunde’s ‘Yoruba Ronu’ and 9ice’s
new musical, ‘Petepete’. These two performances will be rolled into
one, thus emphasising the vibrancy and potency of opening glee as
prelude to a major performance.”

Justifying why a
satire is being staged to celebrate Independence, Kelani said the
original role of drama, apart from entertainment, is to stimulate
people and “stir their conscience.” He added that the producers hope to
initiate a process of “re-orientation. To say to Nigerians we can
gather our lives together” despite the destruction of the society. “If
we all decide we must stay together, we must not focus on the problems
alone but also the solution,” Onifade added.

Kelani also
explained why a Yoruba play was selected for a multicultural state like
Lagos. He said the late Kola Ogunmola and Duro Ladipo got Order of the
British Empire (OBE) awards for plays they staged in Yoruba language in
England and that the message is not limited by the selection of a
Yoruba play. “Personally, the English plays have never been successful
for me,” he added.

The command performance holds on Friday, September 24, at the MUSON
Centre, Onikan, Lagos, by 5pm. It will also be staged free of charge
for the public on September 28 and 29 at the National Theatre, Iganmu,
Lagos at 5pm.

The burial ceremony
of publisher, Appolos Oguwike, publisher of Onitsha Market Literature
fame, held on Friday, September 17 in his hometown of Alaenyi Ogwa in
Imo State. Oguwike, proprietor of Apollos Brothers Press (Nig) Ltd and
a major player in publishing pulp fiction genre referred to as Onitsha
Market Literature, died on July 26.

He published Ogali
A. Ogali’s popular ‘Veronica My Daughter’ and ‘Alice in the Romance of
Love’ amongst many other titles. Until his death, Oguwike was the Odu
(prime minister) of Alaenyi Ogwa.

Born in October
1935, Oguwike had his primary school education in his hometown but
could not go further because of financial constraints. He, thereafter,
resorted to trading in books and stationery, after understudying his
uncle. Oguwike later established the popular and still surviving
Appolos Brothers Press, which produced numerous titles, including
Ogali’s ‘Veronica My Daughter’ – a classic of the genre.

Apart from
publishing and trading in books, Oguwike was also an active community
leader. He was made the Nze I of his kindred, Umuezelaeze, in 1996 and
the Odu (prime minister) when Alaenyi Ogwa became autonomous in 2000.

President General of the town union, Kenneth Nwanguma, disclosed
that the 2010 Irriji (New Yam Festival) of the community has been
postponed in honour of the late publisher.

According to
Musiliu Peregrino Brimah, Majek Fashek’s first outing was in Ghana
where he performed a series of concerts. While there, he won the
Nigerian Music Award. On his return he played concerts around Nigeria
and eventually left for the United States of America, where he signed
up with the InterScope Record label that also had Snoop Dog in its
stable.

Brimah picks up the
story. “Majek played at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York
and, in the appreciative audience were Carlos Santana and other top
musicians. He was a big hit because they had never heard a band play
reggae with talking drums; his diminutive dancer, Pogo, who also played
shekere, thrilled the audience. The Jamaicans in particular, inventors
of reggae music, were shocked. Generally, Majek was well accepted on
the American music scene and he appeared on the famous David Letterman
Talk Show. He made a record in America which was favourably reviewed in
music journals as well as the upscale Esquire magazine. He was
described as the new voice of international reggae! When Fajek came
back to Nigeria, the first thing he did was to kiss the ground.

“I again advised
Majek to be closer to God. We went to a party in Ikeja where Sunny Ade
was playing and when Sunny saw Majek he started praising him in song.
Later, I told Majek I did not like the way he was behaving as he was
always restless and, that, if he had lost the key he should look for
that key that controls the mind. I asked him if he was taking drugs and
he said: no. Rather, he told me, he had read the spiritual book, ‘Seven
Books of Moses’ on the way to America. I have not seen Majek since
then. All I hear now are stories.”

The first Oxygen

Musiliu Peregrino
Brimah himself had to move on with his art. He designed the label for
the new Punch newspapers’ record company, Skylight Records. He designed
album covers for Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owoh, Christie Essien-Igbokwe,
I.K.Dairo, Oriental Brothers, Kabaka, BLO, Manu Dibango, Tee Mac, Dele
Abiodun and Jonny Haastrup, amongst many others.

He delved further
into his passion for identifying and producing young talents. He worked
with a young group, Special Branch from Festac and, one of the members,
Tony, brought Paul Play Dairo. “I interviewed Paul Dairo,” Brimah
recalls, “and gave him an assignment to do the Johnny Cash song ‘I can
see clearly/now the rain is gone’; and sing it in the style of Seal. He
did the song and I was overwhelmed by [his] talent. So, I formed a
group which I called Oxygen, with Paul and Tony in 2002. Paul brought
in Slam and Bayo and, they all had talent. We were doing Hip Hop and
Hiplife; a mixture of highlife and hip-hop. We were doing fantastic
sounds and we were about to release our sound when Paul did ‘Mosorire’
for his father. I had already gotten Oxygen a record deal in America;
but Paul went to Kenny’s Music who released Moserire and it became a
big hit. That was the end of the first Oxygen.”

The second Oxygen

Brimah did not give
up! “I formed another Oxygen group,” he reminisces, “with Modog, Cool
Irie and, then a fellow producer told me he wanted me to meet a girl
called Asa who had talent. When I auditioned Asa and heard her voice I
was fascinated. With her in this new group called Oxygen Track 2, we
did a recording at Ayo Bankole’s Mainstream studio in Surulere. After
we shot the video, Asa told me she wasn’t too happy with the behaviour
of some of the other musicians so she decided to go solo. I continued
working with young musicians and, I worked with OJB who later produced
the hit ‘African Queen’ for Tuface Idibia.”

Brimah’s Peregrino
Music has continued to produce cutting-edge innovative popular music in
Nigeria and Ghana. Two of such products currently in the market and
making waves are ‘Ekute Oyingbo’ by Kaduna-based King Suleiman and
‘Ikebe’ by Katsina Rankies, based in Nima, Accra, Ghana. The lyrics in
both recordings are in Hausa and English.

When will he
release his earlier musical experiments with Oxygen and other groups?
“I think the time is right now,” he responds. “They were unknown
musicians then and the music industry then had not become what we made
it to be.” What are the special factors that now drive the Nigerian
Music industry? “These young musicians are money-spinning machines
today, not like before. The publicity, their involvement with
telecommunication companies and the fact that their music now has
international appeal has made all the difference!”

Celebrating Nigeria and Ghana

Musiliu Peregrino
Brimah’s pet project now is the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival scheduled
for November 2010. It is a project that has gestated for some time. “I
first conceived the idea back in 2004/5. Then in 2007 I went to Ghana
to see the then President of the Ghana Musicians Association, Sidiku
Buhari, and told him that the purpose was to develop our culture
through music. He liked the idea. I then talked to Tee Mac who was then
President of PMAN and he too liked the idea. Then in 2008 I went to the
then Minister of Culture and Tourism, Adetokunbo Kayode, and the
Ministry gave me approval for supporting African Music and Culture.

“I then went into
collaboration with CBAAC and we did a promotional mini-documentary for
the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival with the theme, ‘A Bit of Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow’ and aired it on the Music Africa programme on
Silverbird Television for nearly two years. In the promotional film, we
talked about the Beats of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow including
Highlife, Juju, Afrobeat, Fuji, Kpalogo, Adowa (both from Ghana) and
others. We have done enough publicity and we believe this is the right
time to do the Nigeria-Ghana Music Festival because of Nigeria’s 50th
Anniversary and Kwame Nkrumah’s centenary. The theme of the Festival is
Integration and Development because Nigeria and Ghana are like
twin-sister countries!

“We are looking at 10 musicians, four from Ghana and six from
Nigeria. We are definitely planning on having great musicians from
Nigeria and Ghana. Already, some state governors are part of the
sponsorship we have received. We plan on using the Lagos City Hall and
more details will be available as we embark on the final advertising
and awareness push very soon,” Brimah concludes.

The Federal Ministry of Tourism,
Culture and National Orientation is organising an exhibition tagged,
‘Journey of our Independence: Mega Exhibition for Nigeria @ 50’ to
commemorate the independence anniversary. The exhibition is to be
formally opened today by Goodluck Jonathan and will hold at the
Velodrome, National Stadium, Abuja.

Based on the concept of creating a
historical narrative about the achievements, challenges and aspiration
of Nigeria; the focus of the exhibition will be to tell the story of
Nigeria’s cultural freedom through physical and virtual formats. Among
the major highlights of the exhibition will be the bronze sculpture of
Queen Elizabeth II of England, produced in the 1950s by the renowned
Nigerian artist, Late Ben Enwonwu. Classic traditional works of Nok,
Igbo Ukwu, Ife and Benin cultures will also be exhibited.

It will also feature electronic
productions, Traditional Nigerian Art, Contemporary Nigerian Art,
Science &Technology, Historical materials, Made-in-Nigeria products
and documentaries on Military matters. Art entries were drawn from
governmental, private and educational institutions, and will
demonstrate the vibrant and dynamic cultural development of our nation.

In preparation for the Mega Exhibition,
The Velodrome National Stadium has been remodelled to the standard of a
world class gallery. The display will employ a central space specially
designed for the 200 selected masterpieces from the National Commission
of Museums and Monuments, and an upper level platform for other
selected exhibits. A book catalogue containing special essays on the
exhibition’s themes and illustrations of some works will complement the
exhibition.

The Subcommittee for the exhibition is
chaired by Nkanta George Ufot, Director of Culture, Federal Ministry of
Tourism, Cultural and National Orientation. Appointed as curators for
the six-week exhibition are: Jerry Buhari, Associate Professor of Fine
Arts, ABU, Zaria; Uwa Usen , President, Society of Nigerian Artists;
and Mayo Adediran, Director of Museums, National Commission of Museums
and Monuments.

‘Journey of our
Independence: Mega Exhibition for Nigeria @ 50’ is open to the public
at the Velodrome, National Stadium, Abuja, until October 31.

The seventh edition
of the Abuja International Film and Video Festival will hold from
October 26 till 29 at the Silverbird Galleria, Abuja. Themed
‘Celebrating Naija @ 50 through Cinema’ to commemorate Nigeria’s
independence, the festival will examine the cinema industry in the last
50 years.

This year’s edition
is organised in conjunction with industry stakeholders namely: the
Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, the National Film
and Video Censors Board, the Nigerian Film Corporation, the Nigerian
Intellectual Property Commission, and the Nigeria Television Authority.

It also proposes to
continue with its previous vision of ‘Youth Empowerment in Motion
Pictures’, calling for the participation of university students who
will be involved in seminars, workshops, and production of their own
film works.

30 film entries
have been shortlisted for screening at the festival. The films fall
under categories including: Feature, Animation, Short Films,
Experimental Films, and Documentaries. Some of the entries at the
festival this year include international works like ‘Revenge’
(Brazil),’ Crab Trap’ (Columbia), ‘Lost Times’ (Hungary), ‘My House is
Cloudy’ and ‘In a Revenge Zone’ (Iran). From the Nigerian movie stable
comes offerings like ‘Corporate Maid’ by Ikechukwu Onyeka, ‘Adventures
of Alayo’ by Olarenwaju Oluwafemi, and ‘No Jersey, No Match’ by Daniel
Ademinokan.

The festival, which
is billed to open with a cocktail event on October 26 at 6pm, will also
incorporate a Copyright and Intellectual Property Day, in collaboration
with the Nigeria Copyright Commission; as well as a festival market,
which shall feature exhibitors from different sectors of the motion
picture industry, both locally and internationally.

The Film Festival, founded in 2004 by film maker, Fidelis Duker, has
in its past six editions recorded participation of over 20 countries
and attracted entries from about 50 countries worldwide. It has also
featured the works of Nollywood directors like Fred Amata, Jeta Amata,
Paul Obazele, Chico Ejiro, Zik Zulu Okafor, and Segun Arinze, among
many others.

Indian writer,
Shachi Kaul, has emerged winner of the 2010 Commonwealth Short Story
Competition, with her entry, ‘Retirement’; while Nigerian entries,
‘Somewhere’ and ‘Dinner for Three’ by Jude Dibia and Shola Olowu-Asante
respectively, were among 25 other winners in various categories.

Funded and managed
by the Commonwealth Foundation, in association with the Commonwealth
Broadcasting Association, the competition is an annual scheme aimed at
promoting new creative writing and increasing understanding and
appreciation of Commonwealth cultures.

Set in contemporary
India, ‘Retirement’ is an examination of traditional roles coming to an
end, and the contrast of outcomes achieves the above. Kaul, who hopes
to write stories rooted locally but possessing an international appeal,
expressed her delight at winning the award.

“It means many
things to win this competition. It is an acknowledgement of my writing,
a boost to my future aspirations, and a kind of check to show that I’m
headed in the right direction,” she said.

According to the
Foundation, winning entries were picked based on merit, originality,
and voice from over 2000 entries from five world regions: Africa,
Canada and Europe, The Caribbean, Asia, and The Pacific. The stories
were adjudged by a panel comprised of New Zealand writer and reviewer,
Jolisa Gracewood; Nicholas Laughlin, editor of The Caribbean Review of
Books; Nigerian author and 2009 Commonwealth Short Story regional
winner, Kachi Ozumba; Canadian author and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize
winner, Shandi Mitchell; and Indian broadcaster, Usha Purie.

For the first time
since its inception in 1996, a prize was awarded for the best story
that explored a science and technology theme, also won by an Indian
writer, Anuradha Kumar, with ‘The First Hello’, a story about the first
telephone to be installed in a rural Indian village. There was also an
award for the Best Story for Children, won by Iona Massey from
Australia, while past winner, Anietie Isong, from Nigeria, gave a
special prize for the best Nigerian story, won by Shola Olowu-Asante.

The 25 stories, including the overall winner, four regional winners,
three special prize winners, and recommended regional stories are
available in an audio collection, which will be broadcast widely on
radio around the Commonwealth.