By Ogova Ondego
Published July 9, 2013
Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), whose third edition is set for Calabar, Nigeria (November 10-17, 2013), has appointed three experienced people to oversee its programmes.
Announcing the appointments in Lagos in July 2013, Chioma Ude, the Chief Executive Officer of AFRIFF, reminded filmmakers across Africa that the deadline for film—fiction, documentary, animation, shorts—entries to AFRIFF 2013 remains July 30, 2013.
Zimbabwe-born Keith Shiri shall oversee Programming and Jury Coordination while Nigeria’s Andy Amenechi and Norbert Ajaegbu shall be Technical Director and Strategy Director, respectively.
The three men are said to have a wealth of experience behind them. Shiri, for instance, is founding director of Africa at the Pictures and the London African Film Festival and Visiting Research Fellow for Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), University of Westminster, London.
Amenechi, who sat on the jury of the inaugural AFRIFF in 2010, is the current President of the Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) and has Ajaegbu is the sitting Chairman of Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN). Among the 40 films he has produced include Dog of War, Fatal Mistake, Hear my Cry, Broken Dreams, and Secret Mission.
AFRIFF was conceived by Chioma Ude as a “world class showcase that presents a complete immersion into the world of filmmaking with participation from local and international actors, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, sound engineers, musicians, editors, light engineers, students, equipment manufacturers and businessmen.” Its objectives are “to develop the local film industry to a level where its products compete favorably with their contemporaries all over world.”
AFRIFF held its inaugural edition in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, in 2010.
