Enugu Set To Reverberate As Uche Agbo Announces 3rd CCIFF

The beautiful coal city of Enugu is poised to reverberate later this month as filmmakers from across the globe gather there for the third edition of the annual Coal City Film Festival.

The festival, according to the founder, Uche Agbo, opens from March 23, through to March 25, in Enugu and will feature a series of events including film screenings, master classes, panel discussions, city tours, palm wine and bushmeat round table, award/gala night and after party.

New additions to this year’s edition include Old Skool Fashion Night and South East Entertainment/ Media Night. This, Agbo said is meant to encourage local participation during the 3-day event, which will also have filmmakers from 26 countries in attendance.

Agbo, who is also the Secretary General of the Directors Guild of Nigeria, DGN, hinted that this year’s edition offers a great opportunity to celebrate and honour key industry stakeholders while learning how to improve their arts and business knowledge.

This is a day dedicated for leisure and business focusing on key industry players in the south east part of the country.

Though an International film festival, the Coal City Film Festival management have always sought a means to promote and encourage the local industry in the east south.

“Our vision is to have 75% local participation and 25% International participation,”Agbo added.

Speaking further he added that like the 2022 edition, the 2023 festival with the theme, “Film Meets Tech” is designed to expand the visibility of the festival as well as increase the physical and online participation.

The choice of this year’s theme, he explained, is to expand the horizon and include conversations around technology, food, fashion, finance, health and culture, and how film can be used to improve these sectors.

There will also be an opportunity for small and medium enterprises to sell their goods and services during the event.

This is to encourage vendors to take advantage of the large crowd that often attend the festival and market their goods.

“This year, about 46 films were selected for screening by our jury team headed by the multi-award winning UK-based Nigerian filmmaker, Obi Emelonye.

The categories range from feature films, short films, documentaries and students/experimental films.

Other members of the jury include film critic and journalist, Dr. Shaibu Hussein, astute filmmaker, Mildred Okwo, Emem Isong, Professor Mohan Das, an Indian Filmmaker and Judith Audu, a vibrant and young Nigerian producer cum director.