NOLLYWOOD, as the Nigerian movie industry is commonly called, may not have had a feature film shown either in or out of competition in the held 34th Durban International Festival, but the premiere of The Line Up a-13 minute short film that was directed by Nigeria's Folashakin Iwajomo, and produced by Victor Okhai, gave Nigeria and indeed, Nollywood something to cheer. The short presented in English and Pidgin, and also, in English and Yoruba, with subtitles, was shot as part of the African Metropolis Project - an initiative of the Goethe-Institut South Africa and South African Executive producer, Steven Markovitz, with support from Guaranty Trust Bank and the Hubert Bals Fund of International Film Festival Rotterdam. The project aims at highlighting the directing talent of selected directors from six African countries.
From the project comes six short films - Berea, The Cave, Homecoming, The Line Up, The Other Woman and To Repel Ghosts - from six African directors and cities - Lagos, Abidjan, Dakar, Johannesburg, Cairo and Nairobi. Each of the films was viewed by a full house at the two major screening slots during the festival. The short films show the face of a modern and cosmopolitan Africa and reveals some very crucial narratives are. Also, through the films, the filmmakers confront some long-standing clichés about the continent.
Peter Machen, Manager of DIFF said after one of the screenings that was sold out that the DIFF was delighted to host the world premiere of the African Metropolis Short Film Project, which, according to Machen, explores and promotes young directing talent from different capitals of the continent.
"This idea fits perfectly with our own goal of highlighting the emerging African film industry," Machen said. The short films have also received rave reviews and commendation from some critics, film curators and programmers. Gertjan Zuilhof, international programmer and Peter van Hoof, head of Short Film Programme of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), said: "Big city films from African big cities is just what we have been waiting for. It is about time we moved on from pre-colonial nostalgia. The best would be if this project could work as a model for the future. Many occasional film projects have been done in Africa - and also, Rotterdam had its share in them - but continuation is what is needed. On to the next series should be the motto."
For Rasha Salti, international programmer of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the project has given young filmmakers opportunity to shape the aesthetics and licence to imagine stories and characters set in a culture of urbanity. She also said: "The plurality and diversity of voices is a joy to discover. Should this series continue, a small compendium of emerging talents from urbane Africa can compile into a rare, and fascinating contemporary testimony from a continent for too long harnessed into the most moribund and facile prejudices."
Philippe Lacôte directed the piece from Abidjan while Marie KA, Vincent Moloi, Ahmed Ghoneimy and Jim Chuchu directed the short films from Dakar, Johannesburg, Cairo and Nairobi respectively.
In The Line-Up, Iwajomo explores the human mind and exposes how poverty can sway people into a state of desperation. Faced with mounting hospital bill to offset, a man finds himself in an unusual line up where men are blindfolded, stripped naked and subjected to inspection by a ‘thick' lady who makes her choice among the men on the line up and pays off those that are not among her pick for the day. A fellow hints that those that are eventually picked are rewarded handsomely. The man is picked and how he ends up, remains that of the audience to tell.
A piece that offers something refreshing to merit attention, The Line Up is miles away an improvement in production and technical quality especially when compared to some of the short films that have come out of Nigeria. A powerful film that comes recommended, what, however, The Line Up doesn't need is those stereotypes that are reinforced about Lagos. The story could have been told without the attempt to ghettorize poverty and Lagos. Nevertheless, it is an archetypal important short film. Same thing goes for the other short films.
The 38th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 2013) have selected all the shorts, except the short from Nigeria and Senegal and Cairo. Berea (directed by Vincent Moloi, South African), Homecoming (directed by Jim Chuchu, Kenya) and To Repel Ghosts (directed by Philippe Lacôte, Ivory Coast) are the happy few.
by Shaibu Husseini
![Homecoming [réal: Jim Chuchu]](http://www.sudplanete.net/_uploads/images/films/CHUCHU_Jim_2013_Homecoming_01_byAndrew-Mungai.jpg "Homecoming [réal: Jim Chuchu]")
