With the theme #ShootTheCulture, the 2023 edition of the festival will continue in its quest to attract passionate fans and short film makers from Lagos and across Africa to the city of Lagos, Nigeria. Focusing heavily on films of Nigerian descent like the inaugural edition, the festival will also feature films from across the African continent.
Chukwu Martin, founder of TAFM, confirmed the new edition of the festival in a statement. “In March 2022, we launched The Annual Film Mischief to highlight filmmakers who dare to tell stories with unique narratives and styles. The average African filmmaker comes from humble beginnings and while there will be limited resources, there will never be limits to creativity, hence our motto: ‘Less is more’. It was a call to action to go beyond financial constraints and delve into the abundant well of creativity.”
According to the press release, the festival selections will include national and international feature films and short films. Submissions for the 2023 edition of The Annual Film Mischief will officially open on November 1, 2022. and filmmakers are encouraged to submit their work well in advance through TAFM’s filmfreeway page at no cost.
Martin mentioned the successes of the latest film that was screened at the festival and went on to represent the industry internationally. “We had some successes to celebrate. ‘Yahoo+’, one of the films screened at TAFM ’22, gained national theatrical distribution with moderate success at the Nigerian box office.”
Other directors whose films were presented at the latter event gained recognition at both local and international film festivals. Olabode Izy’s, who won the Audience Cheese Pick for his film ‘The Samaritan’ at the festival last year, has garnered recognition at other festivals such as the Realtime International Film Festival and the Cuckoo International Film Awards.
Other notable titles from TAFM’s inaugural edition include Owen Olowu’s TAFM Grand Cheese Award-winning ‘Songs of Ubong’, winner of Reflections, Best Screenplay, Chuko and Ari Esiri’s award-winning ‘Eyimofe’ which opened the film festival and Paul Utomi’s ‘Country Hard’. an excellent closure.
