Practitioners unveils plans to advertise the Nigerian film industry to the world

Dubbed the 'Nollywood Travelling Festival', the organizers Mykel Parish and Rogers Ofime told newsmen at the O'Jez Club, Surulere, Lagos, that they are excited and proud to showcase the Nigerian film industry everywhere in the world.

Parish told Punch Newspaper: "Nollywood is the bedrock of films in Africa. But more people need to know what we are doing. Many of our films are already exposed by pirates. In Canada, some people said they watched Nollywood more than they did Hollywood. So, this festival will strengthen this position and help producers to sell more films across the globe."

A seasoned film critic and judge, Shaibu Husseini, who is one of the festival's resource persons, said there were few travel festivals in the world. But, according to him, there is none in Africa. He thus expressed delight that Nollywood was breaking the jinx.

"It will properly internationalise Nollywood. It will change the perspectives that Nollywood is about quantity and not quality as it will expose very good works from Nigeria, unlike the cheap ones that many would have seen. When we take our best films out, the perspective will definitely change. Of course, the festival will also give our film-makers more opportunity to travel," Husseini added.

The maiden edition of the Nollywood Travel Festival will hold in Toronto, Canada, between May 5 and 7 next year.

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