To offer the nation’s creative film industry a wider platform for culture and heritage preservation, the second edition of the Berlin and Lagos Archival Film Festival, Decasia, is currently underway in Lagos.
With the theme “Unleashing the African Archive,” the four-day festival serves as a catalyst for deeper conversations on the role of archives in shaping the future of African storytelling.
The event is a collaboration between the Nigerian Film Corporation, the Lagos Film Society, and other Film Institutions from Germany.
In an address of welcome, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Film Corporation, Dr. Ali Nuhu, described the festival as a cultural movement with the potential to sharpen the nation’s film industry.
He emphasized the need for sustainable pathways in film culture and commended the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Mrs. Hannatu Musawa, for repositioning Nigeria’s creative assets.
Dr. Nuhu also highlighted the importance of engaging government agencies, the private sector, and content creators in audio-visual preservation and cultural memory management.
“Before I came on board, I never knew Nigeria has an archive and I think it’s necessary for the practitioners, so I was surprised, but I saw it and I said ok fine, this is a welcome idea and what am trying to do is to make our mother ministry understand is that, this can be one place where film makers will make good use of, scholars will make good use of and it can be a place where we can generate revenue “
Dr. Nuhu further noted that strategic partnerships like Decasia can boost national revenue, outlining some of the persistent challenges facing the industry.
“You know the challenges like my colleague, Dr. Shuibu, the DG of the National Film and Censors Board, is one funding, to be able to digitize all the contents”.
In goodwill messages, , Artistic Director of the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin, Stefanie Stratgaus and, Coordinator at Goethe University Frankfurt’s DAAD programme, Alo Paistik, stressed the importance of documenting history to preserve it for future generations.
They noted that their collaboration with Nigerian institutions spans over a decade.
“We need to find effective and responsible and sustainable ways of preserving our heritage and handing over to the future generations, that’s all that keeps me up at night, is the thought that fifty years from now, someone would ask us, where you responsible custodians of this heritage, you were there at the beginning of the 21st century, why did you not act”
” Cinema is not just a building, a building is very important no doubt, cinema is also a network place, it’s build on friendship, solidarity and we wanted to show it in this programme “.
Founder and Artistic Director of Decasia, Mr. Didi Cheeka, explained that the festival was born out of a need for alternative cinema platforms in Nigeria—spaces where people can engage with archival films and explore the creative opportunities within them for sustainable development.
“We wanted a venue where people can see films as a cultural product, not just a commercial entity, we wanted to present it so people can talk about it, argue about it, debate it’s relevance for contemporary life and reality and from presenting thing from across Africa, after we discovered the remnant of the colonial film archive, we decided to create a festival that could present to modern audiences what cinema had been in the time gone past “
Also speaking, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr. Mutar Yawale , who represented the Minister, assured stakeholders that the federal government will continue to support the industry in all forms.
The event featured screenings of rare archival film and was attended by filmmakers, students from the University of Lagos and the School of Pan Africa, as well as key stakeholders in the film sector.
Reporting by Eunice Olile