AFRIF is developing young acts for Nollywoood —Chioma Ude

Chioma Ude is the founder of the African International Film Festival otherwise known as AFRIFF. The annual film festival, which was founded in 2010, is a week long event that includes award shows, film trainings and movie screening. The film festival has been held in some cities such as Port Harcourt (Rivers State), Calabar (Cross River State) and Lagos State. Chioma, who recently led a delegation of angel investors from Silicon Valley to Nigeria, spoke to Newton-Ray Ukwuoma on her plans for the movie industry through her many platforms.

AFRIF has become a major programme in Nollywood. As the founder, a lot of people would like to know the story behind it.

There was this visiting film festival, a group that went from one country to the other. In 2009, they came to Nigeria. I ran a production and events company, called Jata and was one of the companies selected to handle that film festival in Nigeria. We did the logistics locally. It was done in Rivers State. When we were done, the Commissioner of Culture at that time was like, “This is really good. Why don’t you come up with yours?” I spoke to my mentor, the late Oronto Douglas, who gave me his full support. That was how AFRIF was born.

In 2009, the cinema wasn’t getting considerable attention, now we are recording a lot of success in that direction. What would you say was the game changer?

I think the game changer was access to funds. The Bank of Industry (BoI) has done so much without people knowing. I mean if you have funds to do your film, you are more likely to get the best of everything. Secondly, former President Goodluck Jonathan was amazing with the N2billion grant. That was free money for training and distribution. So, there has been a lot of activities and monies injected into this creative field.

Would you say the problem of Nollywood was only lack of funding?

No. I would not say that. I think beside funding, there has been a lot of training, discipline. These were formerly some of the problems. Now, people are having proper managers. People are going abroad, unlike before. I think we should continue to celebrate the pioneers of Nollywood because without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Behind the scene, you have been doing a lot for Nollywood. Who is Chioma Ude?

People don’t know me because what I push is AFRIF. I think people should really know AFRIF more than they know me.

Did you have any acting background?

No.

How did you come to have so much passion for the development of Nollywood?

I used to live in America. Then, all I did was watch Nigerian movies. And each time I watched it. I wondered how I could improve on the quality. Sometimes I would go from work on Friday straight to the African store and buy like 10 movies. I would sit down and watch them until I could watch them no more.

And when did you decide to relocate to Nigeria to be the change you wanted to see in the world?

It was in 2007 that I finally made up my mind to relocate to Nigeria.

How impactful has the initiative been since then?

We have trained over 200 students every year. Of the 200 students, we send the best 20 students to America for further training at no cost to them. We do this annually. We also try to merge people with the right contacts so that they can develop their films. Everybody has access to me. I help people any how I can. We have had so many people that have been trained and encouraged by AFRIF.

Specifically speaking, what kind of training does AFRIF provide?

Basically, we do cinematography courses, we do directing courses, scriptwriting and acting courses every year.

Now, what is your next direction?

Now, I want to focus on my personal projects. I have some structured plans in place. I want to start a school, a studio. There are so much I want to do in this industry.

Do you own a movie production outfit?

No. I don’t have a movie production outfit.

With all the works that surround you, how do you get to unwind?

Owh! I watch movies a lot. I do a lot of series. In fact, I am going to start producing movies actually this year. I am going to do a major movie this year.

What place interests you?

I like Paris a lot.

What is your take on Wedding Party and the success it has recorded so far?

I think Wedding Party was a fun, flirty movie – as for cinematic, I don’t know. But I do think it has attracted so much attention to the industry, and that is very good.

What is AFRIF doing to encourage start-ups?

If anything, I think AFRIF is all about that. We are very engaged with the new Nollywood. We are very much interested in developing the young ones. I have raised money for a few people over the years, and there is a lot that needs to be done. Now on a bigger scale, because last year, AFRIF was observed by the French Government, we are now talking production treaties. I already can see the end of the tunnel for the industry. I just came back from Paris two weeks ago. They were talking about investing and giving grants for Nollywood movies.

You were one of the representatives of Nollywood in a recent visit of some Silicon Valley companies to Nigeria. How would this engagement benefit the Nigerian movie industry?

Yes, we had some investors from Silicon Valley who are interested in Nollywood and some other areas who visited Nigeria during the week. We have been holding some talks. I think it is going to be amazing. You know, we have one million people to one cinema screen. So we are short in distribution channels. They are bringing a lot of technological disruptions in many levels. And what technology will do for us will be massive. With the digitalisation going on and the VOD platform gradually coming to existence, they are looking at investing and expanding the distribution channels of our movies. They are looking at funding; they are looking into collaboration in all areas of film production. And there will a lot of discussions on how to use phones to distribute movies.

What were your contributions to these discussions?

Like I said, we have been talking. I am particular with leveraging digitalisation programme and other investment opportunities in Nollywood. I see a future where movies can begin to make a lot of residual money for the movie makers. If you have one million people watching your movie, at even 100 Naira, that is N100 million. There is so much that can be done with technology and we are glad that Silicon Valley is looking in our direction. The discussion has been going on for a whole year and we have been planning and trying to get them here. And when “Geeks on the Plane” decided to come to Africa, I really pushed for them to come here first.

Is this their first visit to Africa?

Yes. And they came to Nigeria first.

With the new developments and excitements, what are your thoughts on Nollywood?

Yes, this is a highly exciting moment for the industry. There are many players coming into the industry. These players have money and they seriously want to invest. The major thing is access to money and the industry is beginning to enjoy that privilege.