Guardian

• Film on lesbianism wins top prize

WHILE Nigeria would be contented with just hosting an interactive forum on Film Funding and Collective Management Organisation to a lean audience at the Cannes International Film Festival which closed on Sunday in Cannes, South of France and also while the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) would be contented at just sharing literatures to guests at the festivals that visited the Nigeria pavilion, countries like South Africa, Kenya and India set up meetings, programmes and parties that were intended to create a global footprint for their cinema.

In fact, while the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) are still struggling with how to achieve their planned celebration of the debatable Nollywood at 20, the Indians who got the organisers of the festival to accord them ‘special guest country’ status came to Cannes in their centenary year with a clear objective - to promote India as a filming destination for films and documentaries and they did this by organising a series of screenings, panel discussions and seminars on topics relating to India cinema.

Megastar-turned-politician and Union Minister of State for Tourism K. Chiranjeevi, who led the Indian delegation, said they were in Cannes to promote India as a ‘Filming Destination’ among international filmmakers. Chiranjeevi said his ministry had identified ‘Film Tourism’ as a niche product and was actively promoting the country as cinema had emerged as a powerful tool for development and promotion of destination. The Indian delegation’s activities at Cannes included a presentation in the ‘Incredible India’ dinner, which provided opportunities for business networking and a booth at the exhibition with the design of the Indian pavilion promoting ‘Incredible India’.

India also came with five strong Indian films - Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly, Ritesh Batra’s debut feature film The Lunch Box, Bombay Talkies, Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, and veteran filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s Charulata that were showed in diverse sections at Cannes.  If there were only 800 footfalls at the Nigerian pavilion by day four of the festival, there would be more than 3000 at the Indian, South African and Kenyan pavilions because there was a lot to see, talk about and take away. At one of the sessions at the Indian pavilion, an official of the Indian delegations, Uday Kumar Varma, not only emphasised the significance of the centenary celebrations but also highlighted various initiatives aimed at making India an attractive filming destination.

For instance, Varma said the Ministry of Culture in India was setting up a “Single Window Clearance” mechanism for foreign production houses interested in shooting films within India. Varma also announced plans to create special screening facilities to promote cinematic hubs and to enable young filmmakers showcase their work.  Indian cinema was properly celebrated last Monday afternoon at a special screening of a new film Bombay Talkies - an anthology film consisting of four short films, which marked 100 years of Bollywood.

The Cannes Film Festival drew to a close on Sunday night with the all-glam award ceremony held inside the Grand Theatre in Cannes and hosted by Audrey Tattou. It didn’t, however, end without the usual surprises. The Cannes Jury is always unpredictable. Films that were tipped by festival-goer’s and critics as frontrunners for the coveted festival top prize of Palme d’Or, including the movie by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Inside Llewyn Davis, which had a triumph with the Cannes audience, all didn’t finish well.

It was Blue is the Warmest Colour, the film by Abdellatif Kechiche, that braced the Cannes race tape and was awarded the festival top prize by the jury headed by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. The film finished well ahead of 19 other films in competition at this edition of the Cannes. Kechiche’s film described by critics at Variety magazine, as the ‘most explosively graphic lesbian scenes in recent memory’ won rave reviews in Cannes.

The movie attracted attention not so much for its technical accomplishment but largely because of the lesbianism theme it treated and particularly because of the explicit sex scenes in the film. Moviegoers said they found the sex scenes too explicit. Some said they almost thought they were watching ‘live sex actions’.  But it must be the very strong positive message in the film - about the spirit of freedom and co-habiting and perhaps the acclaimed beatific performance of actresses, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux that got the jury fixed on the film and which made them eventually award it the top prize.

Nevertheless, Cannes’ audience favourite movie Inside Llewyn Davis got something to show for its brilliance. The film won the Grand Prix, believed to be the second prize of the festival. Amat Escalante got the award for best director for Heli, a film about Mexico’s drug war, while the award for best actor and actress went to Bruce Dern for Nebraska by Alexander Payne and Bernice Bejo in Le Passe by Asghar Ferhadi respectively. Jia Zhangke won the best screenplay award for the film A Touch of Sin while the special jury prize went to Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Like father, Like son.

NIGERIA did not enter any film either in or out of competition but it returned with an international position for one of its practitioners. Indeed, one of the gains of Nigeria’s participation at Cannes this year was the election of the President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP), Mr. Alex Eyengho as the Vice President of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).

With his election, Eyengho made history as the first African to occupy the high office in FIAPF. Created in 1933, FIAPF is a recognised global trade organisation dedicated to the defense and promotion of the legal, economic and creative interests of film producers throughout the world. The election of Eyengho came during the General Assembly of FIAPF held in Cannes, France on May 18, 2013.

It would be recalled that through the efforts and platform of ANCOP and particularly through the effort of the former Regional Secretary for FEPACI for West Africa 1, Mr. Madu Chikwendu, Nigeria was in May 2011, officially admitted into the membership of FIAPF during the Cannes International Film Festival in France. Eyengho thanked FIAPF members from over 28 countries of the world for the confidence reposed in him with the election, and stated that his victory was not for ANCOP alone but for Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

He stated, “My election is not about me or ANCOP. It is about deepening the Nollywood brand. It is about attracting maximum respect to Nigerian film producers at the international level. It is about Nigeria. It is about Africa. This is a confirmation and testimony to the fact that we are on the right track in Nollywood. The election is over. We must get to work immediately”.

Delta State, Nigeria-born Alex Eyengho holds a first degree in Mass Communication from the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and a Master in Media and Communication (MSc.) from the School of Media and Communication, Pan-African University, Nigeria. Eyengho, president of Association of Itsekiri Performing Artistes (AIPA), has produced, directed and or acted in films like award-winning Oma tsen-tsen and Nanna of the Niger Delta; AMAA-nominated Suara La; Beyond Obligation (1 & 2), Ogodobiri, Judgment Day, Second Coming, Scruples, A Queen for Domingo, Back to Africa etc.