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From Gyang Bere, Jos
The United States Embassy in Abuja has praised the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) for its unwavering commitment towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s film industry.
During a meeting with Dr Chidia Maduekwe, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Film Cooperation, the new Cultural Affairs Officer of the US Embassy, Julie Mckay, commended the NFC for its numerous domestic and foreign partnership initiatives.
Mckay stated that the Cultural Office of the Embassy has observed with excitement the NFC’s efforts in recent years and will increase its support to the corporation to achieve more in the delivery of its mandate.
She praised the ingenuity of Nigerian filmmakers in achieving success, promising to support stakeholders in changing the narrative of Nigeria from being the second-largest producer of films to producing quality content for the continent and the global audience. She added that Nigeria’s films should be able to compete at events such as the Oscars.
Mckay assured stakeholders that the US Embassy will facilitate the entry of more American film production companies, producers, directors, and training institutions into the Nigerian film industry. She also said that the NFC would receive assistance to deliver on its film training and capacity-building programs, with a focus on the National Film Institute (NFI) and other projects in its service delivery.
Mckay’s comprehensive collaborative support for the NFC will be revealed after her visit to its headquarters and tour of its facilities in Jos, where the National Film Institute (NFI) and the National Film Video & Sound Archives (NFVSA) are located.
Dr Maduekwe, in a press statement signed by Director, Public Affairs, Brian Etuk, applauded McKay on her appointment as the new US Cultural Affairs Officer in Nigeria. He said NFC was determined to sustain initiatives that would drive the optimal performance and contributions of the sector to national development.
“In the past five years, we have focused on building healthy partnerships across the board with countries, institutions, and like-minded agencies, organisations, companies, and film commissions that will help us actualise our goals of human capital enhancement, film training capabilities, innovative capacity building, and film production infrastructure development in Nigeria,” Dr Maduekwe said.
He added that NFC’s partnerships were focused on domestic and inter-country film collaboration and production, capacity building, film students’ professional exchanges, technology transfer opportunities, film co-production, partnerships and collaboration, expertise in film festival development and sustainability, inter-country content distribution and sales, access to project funding opportunities, cooperation in film festivals and film weeks organisation in partner countries, and many more.
