User:Oluwafiropo/sandbox/Ibadan Film Circle (IFC)

Perhaps the best way to describe IFC is to use a popular phrase; that it is an idea whose time has come. But the actual story behind the creation of IFC runs like this: For almost ten years before Niji Akanni’s (a film Nigerian filmmaker) relocation, with his family, to Ibadan in July 2014, he and a few close friends had constantly agonised over the peculiar circumstances of life and living in Lagos which prevented their desire of holding regular meetings and soirees to exchange ideas and compare notes around their mutual professional passions in the arts, namely film and theatre. As he settled down in Ibadan, he got inexorably drawn into a neat and active circle of old and new friends in the city, whose watering hole is a colonised space in the Senior Staff Club of the University of Ibadan. Here, almost every other night, this informal group of young, not-too-young and visibly old academics gather in a convivial atmosphere that sustains their acquaintanceship and fuels their passion for intellectual debates on just about any topic that happens to float by. Possibly influenced by his own professional calling, he found that almost every time, his presence in this circle would invariably invite several debates around theatre and film practice in Nigeria. Eventually, this discourses on film and theatre snowballed into an idea (facilitated into fruition largely by the infectious enthusiasm of Ropo Ewenla, a prominent member of the group) to begin scheduled screenings of films, starting with his own works. He screened his most successful films, Aramotu and Heroes & Zeros; Amogunla Femi Kayode screened his highly-rated short film on gender-based violence; a couple of other young men, debutante filmmakers, also screened their works. To all these screenings, film/arts specialists and enthusiasts from within the academic community and several cultural icons from the city of Ibadan were invited. They came in their scores to enjoy the films and participate in the long discourses and critiques which followed the screenings. He drove back home one night from one of these film screenings thinking how more highly enriching and beneficial it would be for film and theatre practice in Nigeria if many of their Lagos-based friends and colleagues were to partake in these sessions of serious and intellectually uplifting discourses. That night, June 20, 2015, he created a Wassap group and named it Ibadan Film Circle, inviting as members all the friends and colleagues who had been running/facilitating/attending the Ibadan film screenings as well as most of their other friends and colleagues in Lagos and elsewhere whose views and professional standings/reputation he believed would add value to the ‘community’ of arts visionaries being birthed in Ibadan. There was no way he or anyone could have envisaged the spectacular enthusiasm with which the idea of ‘a virtual community of artistes in discourse’ (that’s how he introduced the group to new invitees) was embraced by all and sundry. He threw the door wide open from the very beginning such that IFC embraces established cineastes like Tunde Kelani, Kunle Afolayan, Mahmood Alli Balogun, Tade Ogidan, Greg Odutayo, Femi Odugbemi and Yinka Akanbi alongside fast-rising filmmaking talents like Ehizojie Ezebolo and Tunde Olaoye. We have veteran actors like Bimbo Manuel, Norbert Young, Segun Arinze, Antar Laniyan and Tina Mba to cohabit virtually with stars-in-the-bud like Ropo Ewenla, Judith Audu, Adeniyi Johnson, Kemi Ajala Michaels, and Omowunmi Dada. There are up-coming make-up artistes like Maryam Eniola Bayode along with award-winning costume designers like Toyin Bifarin-Ogundele; famed professional producers/production managers like Bakare Adeoye and Biodun Aleja; as well as media marketing experts like Boye Adefila. Within the first two months of its existence, the Ibadan Film Circle grew its membership 300%. Today, IFC is a 82-member group comprising Actors, Directors, Producers, Set/Makeup/Costume Designers, Editors, Dancers, Production Managers, Arts/Culture Administrators as well as Professional Academics and Scholars of Arts, Theatre and Film Studies either independent or domiciled in several universities like the Lagos State University, Babcock University, University of Ibadan, Covenant University, Redeemers University and Osun State University. A few of these are Professors Remi Raji, Duro Adeleke, Dr Sola Olorunyomi, Dr Tunji Azeez, Dr Yomi Ogunsanya, Dr. Olusola Oyero, Dr. Kolade Ajilore, and Dr Olusegun Ojomo. There also scores of PhD candidates from several universities who see and utilize the Forum as a rich trove of research database. There is also a deliberate effort to tap knowledge from and simultaneously enhance the resource base of the very vibrant and highly professionally accomplished Yoruba sector of the Nigerian film industry, such that we have IFCites like Yomi Fash Lanso, Muyiwa Ademola, Abbey Lanre and Adebayo Tijani. We also have top-notch journalists and arts writers as members, including Jahman Anikulapo, Shuaibu Hussein, Akeem Lasisi and Tony Okuyeme. What do we do on the IFC forum? An indication of IFC’s raison d’etre could be glimpsed in its motto (coined by Tina Mba): ‘Learn, Laugh, Connect’. It is a virtual ‘community of artistes in discourse’ where every shade of opinion/topic on the arts, theatre and film practice in Nigeria finds ample space to be discussed, opposed and debated. Dominating daily discussions on the Forum are matters arising, breaking news/upcoming events and policy issues as they affect the theory, practice and administration of any of the arts but especially film and theatre. Yet, we find numerous moments to trade jokes and light banters and we celebrate one another on milestones/achievements in our personal and professional lives.

HOW HAS THE JOURNEY BEEN SO FAR It has been far beyond expectations (if there were any expectations to begin with). This dream turned reality has not only grown beyond its humble vision of being a ‘virtual’ community of generators and vendors of ideas into a tangible village of workers striving to positively impact, affect and possibly alter the cultural space of Nigeria. For instance, in November 2015, the IFC successfully mobilised resistance to and outright disruption of an attempt to exploit a vulnerable sector of the artistic community (up-coming actors) by a film production company which wanted to charge ‘attendance fees’ to its auditions.

Also, there was the four-months season of the ‘IFC Warm Seat’, a weekly program featuring one member every week. The aim is for other members to learn from the skill-set of their colleagues through probing questions into his/her professional experience/career thus far. For instance, it is certain that a new-breed administrator like Ropo Ewenla, current head of the University of Ibadan Media Center, will take one or two things away from a Warm Seat session featuring Yomi Layinka, the immediate past COO of BCOS; or that Tunde Olaoye, a young and energetic television director/producer will benefit from the shared experiences of Ayo Babajide or Dele Morakinyo, both veteran television producers, scriptwriters and directors. Furthermore, the IFC initiated what it calls a Legacy Series, a quarterly program which is a public event to celebrate and honour veterans of the Nigerian arts/culture community for their individual contributions to the past, present and future profiles of their areas of specialisation. The first of such cultural icons to be so honoured was Alhaji Adegboyega Arulogun (now late), a pioneer film editor and member of the first generation of formally trained filmmakers in Nigeria as well as a former Commissioner of Culture in Oyo State. The next edition of the Legacy Series, featuring Nigeria’s own comic genius, Moses Adejumo, alias Baba Sala (now late), came up on February 24th 2015 in Ibadan. Other recipients of this honour who are also late now are Alagba Adebayo Faleti and Professor Akinwumi Ishola. In October 2015, IFC also served as part-facilitator of a screening exercise for film directors who are members of the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPPAN). Furthermore, the IFC, using both its group identity and the personal social media contacts of its members, has successfully been a platform of marketing and publicity for major film releases by its members which include Greg Odutayo’s Beyond Blood, Ayo Orunmuyi’s Couple of Days and Tade Ogidan’s Gold Statue.

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