By Damiete Bride
Despite all odds, history was made with the maiden edition of the first and truly indigenous Coal City Film Festival 2021, which was held last year in Enugu, the iconic socio-political, economic and historic capital of South East Nigeria.
According to the organisers, we celebrated so much during the first edition, which could be rightly accorded high accolades, irrespective of its debut outing.
As planned, the first edition of the Coal City Film Festival, now unarguably the most renowned in the entire Eastern region, lived up to its billing in terms of theme, purpose, content and attendance.
“We recorded a large turnout of participants during the three day festival and we had various conferences for writers, directors and Budding actors. The festival also featured tourism visitations, premiere of 62 films selected from over 298 submitted by filmmakers all over the world.
The Coal City Film Festival, founded by African avant-garde Director/Producer/Screenwriter and currently National Secretary of Directors’ Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Uche Agbo, in its first edition in 2021, was rounded off with an Award Night, with leading thespians, like Zack Orji, Pete Edochie (MON) and renowned directors, such as Lancelot Odua Imasuen and Okey Oku, clinching prizes in Directorial categories.
“In keeping faith with our undying resolve to shore up the fortunes of the socio-economic and creative potentials of Enugu and South East Nigeria through film, we are back for the second year running for the Coal City Film Festival 2022.
The theme of this year’s edition is “Glocalization of Africa Cinema”, and will be held from March 24 to 26, March 2022 in the city of Enugu.
Like the 2021 edition, the 2022 Festival will feature Beginners Classes for Actors, Classes for Film Makers and Scriptwriters, Master Classes, Panel Discussions, Film Screenings, City Tours and Award Gala Night.
New additions to this year’s edition are the inclusion of Palm Wine & Bush Meat Round table and the Coal City Film Festival Hall of Fame, among others. Attendance at the Festival will be by registration, which grants participants free unlimited access to the venue.
This year, about 50 films have been selected by our jury team headed by the indefectible, multi-award winning Nigerian filmmaker, Obi Emelonye (Director/Producer and Screenwriter). Other members of the jury include: Professor Dr. Mohan Das (India), Tiffany Thomas (USA), Leonard Amanya (Uganda), Emem Isong (Nigeria), John Henry Richardson (USA), Judith Audu (Nigeria).
John, a participant, said the festival exceeded his expectations, because he learnt a lot during the festival.
Jocelyn Catan, a filmmaker, from the Caribbean, who attended the festival via Zoom, said: “It is an honour to be part of the festival, and am happy that my documentary film “Colonisation and Black Slavery in the French West-indies” was selected and shown during the festival. The documentary helps to shed more light on the history about slavery.