This year’s iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival (iREP), the ninth edition is set to honour the memory of departed artistes.
A statement by the organiser’s said that tonight, March 20 at the opening cocktail of the festival at the Amphitheatre of Freedom Park, Lagos, “the spirit of some of the recently deceased members of the art and culture community will be recalled for honour”.
The event begins at 6pm.
Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike (1950–2018), Olabisi Silva (1962 –2019), Pius Adebola Adesanmi (1972 –2019), Okwui Enwezor (1963 –2019) and Paul Emema (1965-2019) are the five listed for a special session of tribute.
According to the Festival directorate, “these are very important contributors to the building and sustenance of our creative community, but who have regrettably, moved on to higher services; we wish to celebrate their life and career in our own little way as a means of keeping them fresh and evergreen in our memory.”
Though the festival is conceptually framed around the iREP generic theme of Africa in Self-Conversation, the theme for this year is Storylines, and it will explore the various dynamics of storytelling with a view to tracing the importance of stories to human and social development, especially as it concerns nation-building in Africa.
Over 50 films collected from 22 countries, and three continents – Africa, Europe and the Americas – are expected to feature in the festival. Also eight presentations and panel discussions on various dimensions of the theme have been designed to elucidate on the theme, while the various filmmakers in attendance will also interface with the audience on the content, form and techniques of realising their work in an educational exchange manner.