Nigeria Arts Daily

Nigeria’s premier University, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State is set to host the inaugural edition of International  Students Film Festival, ISFF.

Following his monumental trajectories in the African and international film industry, legendary and Africa’s most consistent filmmaker, Chief Ambassador Dr. Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen has continued to give back to society by creating and dedicating a festival to filmmakers in training tagged, ‘International  Students Film Festival, ISFF.

According to Dr. Imasuen, the vision is to see to the development of filmmakers affiliated to learning institutions such as Academies and Universities. Saying; “overtime, it has been observed that student filmmakers do not get dedicated opportunity to showcase their creative works. This could be in part as a result of the student-status of these category of filmmakers, which may pose the threat of seeing them as unable to produce award winning master piece films.”

“It is in this light that I got inspired to create this very first International  Students Film Festival that is set in motion to span from Nigeria to the rest of Africa and beyond.”

One of the beauties of this unique festival is that it has been designed to travel from one location to another. With this development,  different editions of the festival will be hosted by different institutions that will meet the required standards as captured in ISFF’s accreditation document.

And in 2023, following an inspection of facilities by the accreditation committe of the International  Students Film Festival, Nigeria’s premier private University, Igbinedion University Okada, Edo State, was been found worthy to host the inaugural edition.

With over 250 student made films, submitted from across the globe; including Nigeria, Ghana,  Cameron,  Kenya,  Spain and many others, the management of ISFF, after a robust scrutiny selected four Jury members who were Nollywood scholars and practitioners from various institutions and Film institutes. These jury members, after a meticulous assessment of the films, have presented 37 films selected from Africa and 22 from outside Africa for screening.

The highlight of the event will be the award presentation, which would be endowed by Nollywood legends and prominent Edo sons and daughters, namely,  Captain Dr. Hosa Okunbo Memorial Award for Best Student Overall Film. Chico Ejiro Memorial Award for Best Student Director, Sadiq Baba, HRM Chief Dr. Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, Liz Benson and several others.

The event will take place between Thursday, 12th to 15th, and October 2023.