Nigeria’s Pete Edochie receives African Film Legend award at TAFF

yFor his role in the development of the film industry in Africa, legendary actor Pete Edochie, who turned 73 few months back, was recently honoured with the African Film Legend award at the just concluded African Film Festival (TAFF). 

The festival, which ran from June 2, through June 6, 2020, in Dallas, United States of America, was screened live online, making it the first ever virtual award.

Due to ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, Edochie was unable to attend the four-day festival. However, he didn’t miss anything as back home, as he followed proceedings online from his Enugu residence, and was presented with TAFF 2020 Living Legends Award Certificate by actress Patience Ozokwor popularly known as Mama G. Also, plans are underway for the festival founder and filmmaker, Kelechi Eke, to personally deliver Edochie’s trophy after the pandemic.

Speaking on the choice of Edochie for the honour, Eke who’s also a software engineer, said the veteran actor deserves the honour, having contributed immensely to the development of the African film sector, in addition to bringing happiness and joy to many homes across the continent and beyond.  

According to him, Edochie came into prominence in the 1980s after he played the lead role of Okonkwo in an NTA adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s all-time bestselling novel, Things Fall Apart, and since then, the bearded actor has not looked back.

Meanwhile, South African veteran actor and director, Dr. Jerry Mofokeng, winner of the 2006 Oscars Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, introduced Edochie as the Living Legend awardee, which featured film screenings, online workshops, training sessions, and TAFF closing awards ceremony.

This year, the festival showcased African independent films that either promotes African culture, address issues affecting Africa or explores African landmarks and historic leaders. Attendees had the privilege of watching the festival selections in the comfort of their own homes as well as on demand, while the film portal, ROOTFLIX showcased the selected films and the awards ceremony.