The Nation Newspaper

Tag: iREP

  • iREP partners Ecobank, unveils 15th anniversary edition

    iREP partners Ecobank, unveils 15th anniversary edition

    The iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival (iREP) has partnered Ecobank Nigeria for its 15th anniversary edition, holding between March 18 and 22, at the Ecobank Pan African Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.  The 2026 festival marks 15 years since the founding of iREP, acclaimed as one of Africa’s most influential platforms for documentary films. Convened by the Foundation for the Promotion of Documentary Films in Africa (FPDFA), iREP has consistently advanced documentary storytelling, critical discourse, and capacity development across the continent.

     With the theme Transformation, the anniversary edition will examine the transformative power of documentary filmmaking in Africa over the past 15 years. The various events in the programme – conversations, screenings, workshops, trainings etc – will spotlight the role of documentary films in shaping public discourse, influencing policy, preserving cultural memory, and amplifying African voices on global platforms.

    Set against a reawakened African cultural renaissance, the festival reflects a renewed emphasis on African creativity, identity, and talent. Through documentary cinema, iREP continues to place African storytellers at the centre of conversations shaping the continent’s past, present, and future.

     Co-founder and Executive Director of iREP, Femi Odugbemi, unveiling the anniversary edition recently in Lagos, stated: “The 2026 festival is a special anniversary edition, marking 15 years since the founding of iREP, one of Africa’s most influential platforms for documentary cinema.”

    He added: “Over the years, iREP has played a critical role in advancing documentary storytelling, discourse, and skills development across the continent.” He described the partnership with Ecobank Nigeria as a landmark collaboration that reflects a shared commitment to youth empowerment, creativity, and capacity building, particularly for young and emerging documentary filmmakers.

    Read Also: PTAD: Resolving pensioners’ issues

     As part of the partnership, Ecobank Nigeria will host a three-day Mobile Phone Filmmaking Workshop from March 16–18, 2026, ahead of the festival. To be facilitated by renowned and tested filmmakers, the workshop will provide participants with hands-on training in producing compelling documentary films using mobile devices. Outstanding films produced during the workshop will attract prize rewards, encouraging innovation and excellence among participants.

     Commenting on the collaboration, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Ecobank Nigeria, Austen Osokpor reaffirmed the Bank’s commitment to the creative and cultural sectors. “As a Pan African bank, we have a collective vision of promoting African culture to reinforce and celebrate our shared heritage. This partnership aligns with the broader resurgence of African creativity, enabling talents to thrive while preserving the stories that define who we are as a people.”

     The 2026 iREP programme will feature over 30 documentary films, including award winning titles addressing key themes such as governance and democracy, advocacy, technology, and culture. The festival will offer a dynamic mix of screenings, panel discussions, workshops, and networking sessions — bringing together filmmakers, scholars, policymakers, students, and documentary enthusiasts from across Africa and beyond.

  • Stars gather at iREP …as Beverly Naya’s Skin opens film festival

    NIGERIA’S foremost documentary film festival, iREP opened its 2019 edition with pomp as movie stars, filmmakers, and creative industry entrepreneurs gathered at the Amphitheatre of Freedom Park, Lagos, where two major events were highlights of the evening.

    Beverly Naya’s documentary feature, ‘Skin’, which opened the week-long festival on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 was a refresher, going by its theme of colourism that opened discourse around self-discovery,  self-confidence and preservation of self-identity.

    The film by the popular actress and first-time producer was directed by Daniel Etim Effiong, starring Beverly Naya, Eku Edewor, Diana Yekini, Phyno, Bobrisky among other Nigerian celebrities that shared their views on the subject.

    Speaking on the documentary, Naya said the 80 minutes film “was not a campaign against bleaching’, even though most of the people being interviewed, including Bobrisky, wish they could go back to their natural skin colour.

    In its 9th edition, the annual international documentary film festival celebrates the best of documentary films and creative industry people in Africa and beyond.

    One person who was honoured as the festival opened was Bolanle Austen-Peters, CEO of Terra Kunture.

    She ageless entrepreneur was honoured for her activities and contribution to Nigerian arts and motion picture.

    She thanked the organisers, as she received a plaque presented by the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Art and Culture, Steve Ayorinde.

    Moderated by Jahman Anikulapo, the event had other iREP officials, including Femi Odugbemi and Makin Soyinka.

    Others in attendance are Tunde Kelani, Steve Gukas, Kunle Afolayan, Toni Kan, Olumide Iyanda, and Kemi Lala Akindoju.

    The festival continues to Sunday, March 24 with a robust lineup of films and panel discussions.

  • IREP to honour Bolanle Austin-Peters

    Terra Kulture Cultural Centre, founder/CEO Mrs. Bolanle Austin-Peters will be honoured at this year’s iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival with the prestigious iREPHonours as a frontline promoter of arts and culture.

    The festival, which opens tomorrow, will run till Sunday at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, and the Nigerian Film Corporation, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    According to the iREP Directorate, Mrs. Austin-Peters is being honoured during her 50th birthday, because “essentially, she represents the spirit of progress and possibilities in our culture producing community; a major inspiration to many young people’’.

    “At the inception of the festival, Mrs. Austin-Peters was the first supporter we had. She gave us the Terra Kulture facilities free and  donated lunch to some of our guests. She repeated the feat on the second edition before the festival relocated to Freedom Park. That is an uncommon gesture of philanthropy, especially in our clime.

    ‘’For this kindness of spirit, iREP Directorate has decided to honour the one fondly called “Mama Terra,” a true Amazon of Art Promotion in Nigeria,” the directorate said.

    The honour will be presented to her at the festival opening cocktail today.

    Meanwhile, over 50 films will be screened during the festival;  curated from over 100 submissions by local and international filmmakers.  Films came in from nearly all parts of Africa and the Diaspora. Remarkably, more films were submitted this year by Nigerian producers than ever recorded in past nine years. This is a signification that the culture of documentary filmmaking is indeed growing in the home-front; one of the cardinal objectives of the iREP.

    Some of the filmmakers showcasing in iREP this year are: Tam Fiofori, the septuagenarian photographer and filmmaker, who has been very consistent in past few years in the festival list: His film is titled, Ogbu-OjaEze, reflects in the career of an Igbo flutist; Tunde Kelani, also another consistent contributors and supporters of the festival, is screening his latest work,  Yoruba Beyond Borders, which he directed and produced with long-time sideman and collaborator, Bola Bello.

    Afolabi Adesanya, filmmaker and former Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC) Director-General, is also presenting his bio-pic, Gbenga Sonuga: artist, activist, administrator; former director of Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, and now traditional ruler, Fadeseewa of Simawa Autonomous kingdom, near Sagamu.

    Beverly Naya, the Nollywood actress, explores through identity the meaning of beauty in all the different shades of black. James Amuta will show Nightfall in Lagos, which explores the not-so-underground world of transactional sex in a country where prostitution is illegal.

    Aderonke Adeola will show Awani, which examines the evolution of the role of Nigerian women, starting from pre-colonial Nigeria to the present day. Adeola Osunkojo,will show76: Story Behind the Story on the experiences of the families of the military officers executed in the aftermath of the 1976 coup.

    From Tolulope Itegboje, it is AwonBoyz, which documents lives of street boys from three hoods telling stories about coming up, ambition and hope, while Ronke Macaulay, shows Green Passport at France 98 – The third in the Green Passport series by the filmmaker on experiences of Nigerians when they travel abroad. Toyin Ibrahim Adekeye willshow Bigger Than Africa,which follows the journey of hundreds of Africans (slaves) from the point of no returns in West Africa to the final destinations In the slave while Gbenga Salu, offers Little Heroes, on street kids and their soccer exploits.

  • iREP: 70 young filmmakers up for training

    Organisers of the annual iREP International Documentary Film Festival have said that 70 young and upcoming filmmakers will be trained during this year’s edition, holding from March 21st to 24th.

    Over the years, the festival has trained over 200 filmmakers through its training and workshops, where upcoming  filmmakers gain knowledge and understanding  on the rudiments of filmmaking and the art of documentary film.

    For the training which is in partnership with the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), select participants will be taught  ‘Basics of Storytelling’ and the ‘Vision of Directing’.

    Tagged ‘Storylines’, the ninth edition of the festival will focus on how documentary filmmakers can use technology to tell their stories effectively.

    According to the organisers, “Technology is constantly redefining the impact of human experiences and challenging us to tell our story as a means of engaging the world with our identity, individuality and personal experiences.

    Taking place at Freedom Park, Broad Street, and Nigerian Film Corporation, Ikoyi, Lagos, the festival will also feature screening of over 30 carefully selected international films, presentations and panel discussions from highly renowned personalities like Prof. Jonathan Haynes, Prof. Niyi Coker, and Theo Lawson among others.

  • iREP harps ‘change’ in documentaries

    Spanning four days across three different venues in Lagos, documentary filmmakers from across the globe had space to showcase their work at the sixth edition of West Africa’s biggest documentary film festival, the iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival.

    The event which held at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island, from Thursday, March 24 and ended on Sunday, March 27 screened over 45 documentaries selected along its chosen theme: ‘#CHANGE, Documentary as Agent Provocateur.’ It also made use of Afrinolly Space in Oregun and the National Film Corporation also on Lagos Island.

    Delivering the keynote at iREP 2016, Jane Mote, an accomplished filmmaker had harped on the need for individuals to tell their own stories.

    ‘We have a responsibility to document the world honestly and to ask the questions that get us nearer to the truth,’ said Mote. ‘I passionately believe everyone should own their own stories.’

    For Mote, who has worked for BBC and UKTV and consulted for other global media brands such as Turner Broadcasting, Discovery, BBC Worldwide, London Live, The Africa Channel, Whickers World Foundation and One World Media, documentary story-telling should stand out from other platforms.

    With documentaries traversing the social sphere such as in My Big Nigerian Wedding by EkeneSomMekwunye (Nigeria), the political space such as in Arij – Scent Of A Revolution  by Viola Shafik (Egypt/Germany) and search for economic being in Low Season by Madeleine Dallmeyer, the mantra of seeking ‘change’ featured dominantly in the movies.

    According to Mr. Femi Odugbemi, Executive Director/Co-Founder of iREP, the theme is premised on the Change as relating to Political, Economic, and Technical.

    Documentaries screened at the festival include Negritude: A dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (Dir – ManthiaDiawara, Mali/USA), Ota Benga(Dir – Niyi Coker, USA),The Revolution Won’t Be Televised (Dir – Kim Bartley, DonnachaO’Briain, Senegal), The Democrats (Dir – Camilla Nielsson, Zimbabwe), The Drills of Afi Mountain (Dir – Tom Richards, UK), I Shot BiKidude(Dir – Andy Jones, UK), and a host of others.

  • “Europeans still tell African stories for selfish goals”

    “Europeans still tell African stories for selfish goals”

    Former UKTV and London Live Exec, Jane Mote, has said that foreign media and documentaries still tell African stories for their selfish gains.
    Mote said this on Thursday in a keynote address at the ongoing Irep documentary film festival at the freedom park, in Lagos.
    According to her, we deserved to tell our stories in our own way, from our own perspective as Africans.
    She also reiterated the power of images in information dissemination, stating that the effective use of media (pictures, videos and social media) is very important to tell stories.
    She concluded by stressing that it is our space and our time, and so we have to use it wisely in telling our stories.
    The Irep film festival starts on Thursday and will continue till the 29th of march, with various venues like the afrinolly center at Ikeja, the Goethe institute and the Nigerian film corporation at Ikoyi.

  • iREP set for sixth edition

    All is set for the sixth edition of the biggest documentary film festival in West Africa, the iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival, taking place from Thursday, March 24 to Sunday, March 27, at the Freedom Park, Lagos.

    Typical of the annual film event, iREP, this year, is expected to run with screening of over 30 specially selected international films in line with the theme: ”#CHANGE, Documentary as Agent Provocateur”.

    According to Mr. Femi Odugbemi, Executive Director/Co-Founder of iREP, the theme is premised on the Change as relating to Political, Economic, and Technical.

    He said: “Though conceived on the traditional iREP thematic framework of Africa in Self-conversation, the theme is premised on the whirlwind of complex issues confronting us today on many fronts that challenge our understanding of the world, of ourselves and how we sustain our pursuit of Peace and Prosperity. Poverty, Epidemics, Terrorism, Civil wars, Racial inequalities, Economic imbalances, Imperialism, Corruption and Political divisions – these challenges are urgent and critical. They demand a response. In a world of Sound-bites, documentaries provide an opportunity to think, understand, and connect the dots.”

    Organisers have released a list of some of the films to be exhibited at the festival, reflecting works of notable filmmakers across Africa and the Diaspora.

    Among those who have confirmed participation are, Prof. Manthia Diawara (US); Steven Markovitz (South Africa); Jane Mote (UK); Prof. Niyi Coker (US); Tunde Kelani (Nigeria); Julian Reich (Germany); Paul; Reith (Germany); Onye Ubunatu (Nigeria) and Barbara Off (Germany).

  • iRep to honour Francis Oladele

    iRep to honour Francis Oladele

    •As filmmaker is interred July 1

    iREP Documentary Film Forum, in conjunction with associates and friends of the late filmmaker, Francis Adetunji Oladele, will on Friday, July 3, celebrate the life and times of the deceased at the Freedom Park, Lagos.

    According to information, contemporaries of the pioneer filmmaker such as Alhaji Arulogun, JAB Adu, and associates such as Tunde Kelani and Afolabi Adesanya are expected to pay tributes to him as well as reflect on his life and works. The event will also feature the screening excerpts from some of his works.

    Also, the family of the late Oladele has announced that he will be buried on Wednesday, July 1, at his residence in Oyo State.

    Born to Oyo parentage, on August 30, 1932, Oladele worked in Nigeria as a Photo-journalist with Daily Times of Nigeria where he introduced the then very popular column, Social Diary. He traveled to the United States of America in 1955 at the young age of 22 to study photography at the popular New York Institute of Photography.

    He later worked at the Technicolor, USA, where he was recruited by the then Premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo to return home as the pioneer African Head of the Film Unit of the defunct Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), Ibadan.

    On September 21, 1965, he established Calpenny-Nigeria Films Limited, said to be the first private film Production Company in Nigeria.

    Apart from being the pioneer in the Nigerian feature film industry, Oladele is known to have achieved a first by deciding to make films based on the work of successful and internationally acclaimed Nigerian writers.

    In 2012, Oladele was conferred with the iREP Documentary Film Forum’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which earns him a place in the prestigious iREP International Film Festival’s Hall of Fame.

    He passed on in the early hours of June 22, in an Ibadan hospital, after a battle with prostate cancer.

  • iREP resumes monthly screening

    WITH the political situation in Nigeria somewhat settled, organizers of iRep International Documentary Film Festival, Lagos, Nigeria, have announced the resumption of the festival’s monthly film screening, a build-up activity to the main event, held usually in March.

    A statement from the festival’s secretariat says the screening programme at the Freedom Park Lagos, on Sunday June 7, at 2pm, will recommence this first week of June, with the tribute screening of Uncommon Service, a film produced by Deji Adesanya.

    Uncommon Service is an unusual story of patriotism and community service by Dr. Yombo Awojobi, a medical doctor cum inventor, engineer, philosopher, all rolled into one. Dr. Yombo Awojobi died a few weeks ago.

    The iREP film forum, which just staged its 5th edition, is taking an upbeat swing, with series of global recognitions for promoting Africa’s documentary cinema.

    At the Dok.Network Africa programme, the 30th anniversary edition of the Dok.Fest Munich, one of the prime documentary film festivals in Europe where iREP was a co-host two weeks ago, the event, held at the prestigious Museum Funf Kontinente, Munich, witnessed an impressive diverse audience.

    Some of the films screened at the event include The Democrats by Camilla Nielsson (Denmark) and Miners’ Shot Down by Rehad Desai (South Africa) as well as La Sirene De Faso Fani by Michel K. Zongo(Burkina Faso).

    Interestingly too, the event presented a dynamic panel discussion on documentary’s political role in emerging democracies in Africa.

    Rens van Munster of the Danish Institute for International Studies presented a talk with very interesting perspectives on the political dimensions of documentary filmmaking, while Nigeria’s Femi Odugbemi, Co-founder and Executive Director of iREP was a featured Speaker. He also presented Miners’ Shot Down on behalf of its South African director, Desai. The film was curated and recommended to Dok.Fest 2015 by iREP, as it had earlier featured as part of the screened films at the iREP 2014 edition.

    The idea of AFRICA DAY had been inspired by the collaboration between DOK.Fest and iREP, which began three years ago. The collaboration has also yielded another opportunity as DOK.Fest has asked iREP to send in an operations staff to once again undertake a six-week internship starting in November. The cooperation and collaboration between iREP and DOK.Fest had been midwifed by the Goethe Institute, Lagos, which had also been the intermediary of the relationship between iREP and the Ag-Dok  the highly influential German association of independent film producers, which in the past four years, has brought groups of German filmmakers to every edition of the yearly iREP festival.

    Shortly after the staging this year’s IREP festival March 22-24 at the Freedom Park, Lagos, the Forum received a gladdening news from Cape Town in South Africa, that it should send a representative to the ENCOUNTERS Documentary Film Festival  a highly competitive international documentary film workshop and industry gathering, for a three-week training and internship program that would usher collaborative programming. IREP 2015 Festival Manager Lanre Olupona has since left for South Africa on that attachment. He will work and understudy the programming team of Encounters Festival over an intensive 3-weeks, with a view to learning best practices in Festival Operations and management.

    It will be recalled that just 2-years ago another IREP Festival Manager Toyin Poju-Oyemade was in Munich Germany to understudy the operations of the Dok.Fest Documentary Festival as well. All of these exchanges have strengthened IREP’s global network and enshrined global best practices in its operations.

    In June, at the prestigious Sheffield Documentary Film Festival UK, Femi Odugbemi will also be a featured Speaker on the subject of “Imperialism Or Inquiry  How Fair Is Foreign Filming?” a major panel of the Documentary Campus Industry Conference. He will as well be meeting several global documentary filmmakers to schedule films for the 2016 IREP Festival.

    In July, Odugbemi will also be attending the People2People Conference scheduled to be hosted by the 2015 Durban International Film Festival in South Africa. Odugbemi is on the Advisory Board of the People2People Conference and IREP is a founding signatory to the Documentary Network Africa, DNA, an influential documentary platform featuring filmmakers from over 45 countries in the continent.

  • Irep to field foreign filmmakers

    Irep to field foreign filmmakers

    This year’s edition of the annual iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival begins on Thursday, March 19 and will run through Sunday March 22 at the Freedom Park, the old Broad Street Prison on Lagos Island. The Festival is organised by the iRepresent Documentary Film Forum, an affiliate of the West African Documentary Film Forum (WDFF), and the Documentary Network Africa (DNA).

    No fewer than 12 international guests from countries such as Germany, United States, United Kingdom, France, Cameroon, Gabon, South Africa, Kenya are expected at the festival, which will screen about 50 films in the course of its four-day duration. The festival also offers training sessions, workshops, seminars as well as Master Classes for young, aspiring and already practising filmmakers, which usually throng its programme in every edition since 2010 when it was birthed.

    This year marks the 5th anniversary of the festival, which in its short lifespan has attracted the attention of world documentary film circuits including the People2People Festival in South Africa, the Munich-Germany based Dokfest; South Africa-based Discop; and Cameroon-based Ecrans Noirs.

    The 2015 edition will explore the theme:Reinventing documentary filmmaking in a digital space.Though conceived on the traditional iREP thematic framework of Africa in Self-conversation, the theme is premised on the reality that Digital media technology is expanding narrative possibilities and shaping audiences’ experiences of how realities are articulated.

    Festival Executive Director, Femi Odugbemi said: “Documentary filmmaking is coming to terms with these new realities and continuously finding hybrid strategies to navigate the blurred lines crisscrossing verite and satisfying the ever changing temperament of the digital world that is hip, fun-seeking, chaotic, multi-tasking, and attention sapping.

    “For documentary filmmaking, digital technology presents a challenge and an opportunity that would either remarkably transform and redefine what passes as a documentary film or bury the art in its past. More than ever before, there is a need to reinvent the art of documentary filmmaking within the space of the new elements that are dictating the trend of media consumption and experience globally. We are also conscious of the inevitable movement of Television broadcasting and services into full digital era as envisaged by the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission and that that quite a lot of African nations have set same 2015 as deadline for their full embrace of digital broadcasting on the continent”.

    The festival will feature screening of a carefully selected films representing the best of recordings of African experiences, conference, seminar and workshops on the journeys, challenges and prospects of digital broadcasting, training Programme for young African filmmakers on the technicalities of digital broadcasting, iREP Producers’ roundtable, and exhibition of Digital Broadcast equipment. Others are live conversation with the public on the prospects of digital broadcasting, iREP Distinguished award for excellence in Filmmaking, support for industry, unveiling of iREP Tv

    There will also be Festival cocktails & reception; a ceremonial event that will bear the festive nature of the edition. It will feature a Red Carpet reception with a jazz band performing; a brief keynote on the journey of iREP Film festival so far by Prof. Niyi Coker of University of Missouri, St. Louis, USA.