Lagos hosts sixth Eko filmfest as Cairo International Film Festival cruises home

The 6th edition of the annual Eko International Film Festival (EKOIFF) opened in Lagos on Monday, November 16 at the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos, and will close on Saturday, November 21.

Organised by the Hope Obioma Opara-led Supple Communications, the festival will feature films from several countries of the world including Tunde Olaoye’s Alaaru (The Carrier), La Boucle (The Loop) from France, Steven Matthews Awakening and several other local and international film.

Olaoye’s Alaaru will screen on November 18 by 11am while Katung Adwuak Heavens Hell will close the festival on Saturday at 6pm and will precede the festival award event. All screenings, apart from the closing event are from 9am to 4pm, according to the founder and President of EKOIFF, Opara.

Similarly, the 37th annual Cairo International Film Festival opened in Cairo on Wednesday, November 11 and will run till November 20. The festival will feature film screenings, panel discussions, workshops and seminars. The Critic week, a major aspect of the festival organized by the Egyptian Film Critics Association and directed by Egyptian filmmaker Ahmed Hassouna last Friday with the Polish film Journey to Rome.

The Critic week is one of the most recent additions to the Cairo International Film Festival. It may have been inspired by the success of similar events in major festivals around the world like Venice and Cannes. However, this edition of the CIFF Critic week will feature seven films, which are the first or second feature by a young filmmaker. Hassouna explained that the critic week, which is in its second edition, aims at “providing the opportunity for the discovery of new talents.”

Hassouna further explained that the main focus of the week is the ‘novelty of the theme ‘Technique and Visual Power.’ He added that this year’s selection of films for the week features a wide variety of ideas and different cinematic directions.

The films on the line up include Tuk-Tuk, a documentary by Egyptian filmmaker Romany Saad; the part documentary and part fiction Brazilian film Olmo and the Seagull by Petra Costa, the film by Singaporean director Green Zengwho titled The Return, the documentary by French director Evangelia Kraniot titled Exotica, Erotica, Etc and Red Spider, a film by Polish documentary film director Marcin Koszaka.

Two awards will be handed out to participants of the critic weeks and the responsibility for deciding winners of the Shadi Abdel Salam Prize for the best filmmaker and the Fathy Farang Prize for the best artistic contribution rests on the jury of the critic week led by Foremost Egyptian director Mohammed Khan. The other members of the jury are Nigerian culture journalist, film critic and member of Africine Shaibu Husseini and the Lebanese film critic Mohammed Rouda.