Poor funding, restrictions holding back Northern films — Festival director

The Director of the Kaduna International Film Festival, Audu Israel.

The Director of the Kaduna International Film Festival, Audu Israel, has identified restrictions, inadequate funding, poor access to modern equipment and limited government support as major challenges hindering the growth of Northern Nigeria’s film industry.

Israel said the challenges had limited the ability of filmmakers in the region to express their creativity freely, compete with their counterparts in Southern Nigeria and showcase their productions to international audiences.

He spoke during a media engagement with journalists in Kaduna on Monday, where he called on the Federal Government to establish a support structure for the creative industry and ensure that practitioners benefited from policies designed to promote its growth.

The KADIFF director said Nigeria’s film industry was largely driven by the private sector, unlike countries such as India, where government support had helped establish structures for the industry.

“In other countries, the film industry is very instrumental to the government’s responsibility. That is why you see Bollywood has a structure; the government has a structure for them. But in Nigeria, it is not the same,” he said.

Israel faulted the government for what he described as the limited impact of its engagement with creative practitioners, saying the Minister of Art and Culture needed to meet stakeholders, listen to their concerns and develop practical solutions.

“The minister is working, but they don’t feel the impact of the government,” he said.

He added that professional associations had made efforts to support practitioners through partnerships with health insurance providers, but insisted that such initiatives could not replace the government’s responsibility.

“The government has a major role to play. The contact person of the government is the minister, so this falls on her table,” Israel said.

On the challenges facing Northern filmmakers, he said socio-religious considerations had limited the subjects they could explore and the extent to which their productions could be promoted to wider audiences.

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“The major reason why the South is more advanced in the film industry is because they can freely and openly expose their art to the world. But here in the North, there are limitations to what you can do,” he said.

Israel noted that the limitations, combined with inadequate professional exposure and poor access to funding, had affected the competitiveness of Hausa-language films in the international market.

“The Northern film industry only produces films for the Northern audience,” he said, lamenting the limited presence of Hausa-language productions on international streaming platforms such as Netflix.

He attributed the situation partly to the technical requirements of international distributors and the inability of many Northern filmmakers to afford the equipment needed to meet those standards.

“Netflix has its standard. If you are able to meet that standard, you know your camera cannot go on Netflix. The cameras that you are supposed to use; if you don’t use them, they will not accept it. So here in the North, the cameras that they have, they can’t afford to use them,” he said.

The KADIFF director also called for improved protection of intellectual property rights, better access to professional training and increased investment in production facilities.

He said films addressing insecurity and other social challenges should be seen as opportunities to draw attention to societal problems and encourage solutions, rather than being unnecessarily restricted.

Israel urged the government, private investors, banks, telecommunications companies and technology firms to invest in the creative industry, noting that filmmaking could generate employment and contribute to economic development.

He said KADIFF would continue to provide a platform for connecting filmmakers with investors, policymakers and cultural institutions to strengthen the creative industry in Kaduna State and Northern Nigeria.