Themed #ShootTheCulture, the festival’s 2023 edition will continue in its quest to draw passionate short film fans and creators from Lagos and all over Africa to the city of Lagos, Nigeria. The festival which mostly focuses on films of Nigerian descent just like the maiden edition , will also feature films across the African continent.
Chukwu Martin, founder of TAFM confirmed the festival’s new edition in a statement. “In March 2022, we launched The Annual Film Mischief to shine the spotlight on filmmakers daring to tell stories with unique narratives and styles. The average African filmmaker comes from humble beginnings and though there will be limited resources, there will never be limits to creativity, hence our theme – ‘Less is More’. It was a call to action to reach beyond financial limitations and dig into the abundant well of creativity.”
According to the press statement, the festival selections will include domestic and international feature and short films. Submissions for the 2023 edition of The Annual Film Mischief will officially open November 1st, 2022, and filmmakers are encouraged to submit entries early enough through TAFM’s filmfreeway page at no cost at all.
Martin mentioned the successes of the past movie that 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, went on to get nationwide theatrical distribution with moderate success at the Nigerian box office.”
Other directors whose movies featured at the last event went on to gain recognition at film festivals both local and internationally. Olabode Izy’s who won the Audience Cheese Pick for his film ‘The Samaritan’ at the festival last year went on to get recognition at other festivals like Realtime International Film Festival and Cuckoo International Film Awards.
Other notable titles from TAFM’s maiden edition include Owen Olowu’s ‘Songs of Ubong’ which won TAFM Grand Cheese Prize, Reflections Winner, Best Screenplay, award-winning Chuko & Ari Esiri’s ‘Eyimofe’ opening the film festival and Paul Utomi’s ‘Country Hard’ delivering an excellent close.
