As part of the Film Connections Programme, there will be Film Industry Workshops covering the following topics;
As an independent filmmaker, how can you engage with film festivals to maximize the potential of your film and enhance your career? Which are the best festivals to submit your film to and how can you ensure that your content attracts the attention of the festival curator and stand out in the programme? During this workshop you will learn how to use the festival circuit to your best advantage and create a festival strategy that ensures your work is seen by audiences all over the world.
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Recording Sound in Documentary Film | Steve Whitford
The workshop will demonstrate field sound recording techniques and approaches within the filming of a BBC documentary series, using illustrative film clips.
1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Production for Television| Lucy Brown and Alex Lichtensels
The workshop will explain the elements of producing for Television.
2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
My story, Their Money: Packaging and Pitching African stories to the Global Film Market | Victoria Thomas
How do you remain authentic to your voice and attract funding and partners for your film? A practical workshop on navigating the international space to raise funding for films set in Sub-Saharan Africa and authored by filmmakers of African origin.
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Nadia is a curator, producer, event organiser and author of the book Beyond Nollywood.
What’s your connection to the British Council?
I am currently the UK lead curator for the UK/Nigeria Film Connections programme. Film Connections seeks to create a bridge between the two countries’ film industries. I am delighted to be involved in the project as I have been specializing in the Nigerian film industry for the past four years and know a great number of filmmakers who could benefit enormously from what the programme has to offer.
What are you working on right now?
So, I have just completed the curation of the film and workshops programme for Film Connections. The showcase will take place at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos from 29 Oct-4 Nov.
We are opening our strand with Nick Broomfield’s latest documentary Whitney, Can I Be Me? and I am thrilled! It is certainly one of the talked about titles for this year and I am confident that it will be well received by our Lagos audience.
We are showing other award winning features which include A Moving Image by Shola Amoo, The Hard Stop by George Amponsah and Under the Shadow by Babak Anvari. We also have a shorts strand under the theme Another Reality is Possible. It includes the acclaimed Scottish short film 1745. The Director Gordon Napier and writer and Lead Actresses Morayo Akande and Moyo Akande will be travelling out to Lagos for the programme.
I also recently wrapped my very first BBC World service radio broadcast. The production is called Shooting It Like a Woman. It looks at the fortunes of women in the Nigerian film industry and will air on 25 October as part of the 100 Women series. I co-produced it with Mukti Jain Campion.
What/who originally turned you onto film?
I started running an informal film club at the ICA many years ago – not knowing much that much about the film industry. I ‘caught the bug’ so to speak, loving the combined audience and filmmaker interaction. Film is the ultimate artistic expression. Films really do change people and I am a big advocate of filmmaking for social change. SO here I am ….
What has been your career high so far?
Hmm. There have been quite a few. Spike Lee turned up to the launch party of my very first film festival unexpectedly – so that was pretty cool. It has to be my book The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Beyond Nollywood. It has been rewarding highlighting a more obscure aspect of the Nigerian film industry and showcasing this work under the banner of BEYOND NOLLYWOOD to audiences.
What’s a key piece of advice you’d give to someone starting off in film making?
Networking is key. You randomly meet people who can be so pivotal to your career and they are not necessarily the ‘names’. Being on good terms with people and your reputation is so important. Make every impression count.
Victoria is a filmmaker based in the UK with a filmography that spans across both short and long form content across fiction and documentary which have screened at festivals internationally, broadcast on TV and garnered awards and nominations including BAFTA Scotland. Her film discovery app, which she founded in response to the difficulties faced by independent filmmakers to get their films to audiences won the first ever Canon Innovation award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Since 1984 Steve has recorded Sound in the film/tv industry across a whole range of program output for international broadcasters and a host of independent TV companies.
In 2003, Steve won a Royal Television Society Award: Entertainment Non-Drama Production Award: Sound Team – “Fighting the War” (2004) BBC2 documentary series, where he was embedded with the Black Watch (7th Armoured) during the invasion of Iraq.
Ojoma Ochai is Director, Arts, West Africa for British Council. In this role, Ojoma works with public and private sector partners in the UK and West Africa to develop and deliver programmes that build skills, international and local networks and other capacities that promote the growth and collaboration potential of the creative economy between the sub-region and the UK.
Lucy has made television programmes around the world for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Nickelodeon and Disney. She has TV credits on BAFTA and RTS award-winning children’s and factual programmes and the acclaimed flagship architecture series Grand Designs. She gained a masters degree from the British Film Institute/University of London and began her career at Sight and Sound and the BFI Archive before moving into production and then academiaat the University of Greenwich, London.
Alex Lichtenfels is a filmmaker and theorist who lectures in film production at the University of Greenwich. Before that he worked as a freelance producer in corporate and advertising for several years, producing content for high-end brands such as Apple, Starbucks, and Msheireb. His independent films comprise various genres – arthouse, documentary and naturalist – but are linked by an interest in how the process of filmmaking can be informed by ethical and political principles.
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