The 2023 edition of the I-Represent (IREP) International Documentary Film Festival kicked off on Thursday with an online pitching workshop on story selling facilitated by IREP Co-founder and Executive Director Femi Odugbemi.
Designed to teach participants the skills they need to sell their narratives, the professional workshop, which was well attended, achieved its aim, as Odugbemi brought his professional experience to bear in teaching participants all they need to know about story telling, as well as story selling or pitching as it is also called.
However, the opening ceremony proper held same Thursday at the Amphi-Theatre in Freedom Park. It was an evening of speeches, wining and film screening. The opening evening featured the screening of Oso Afia, a 31-minute documentary by T. Nwaiwu and Boys on the Brink, a 58 mins documentary by Peter Oke and Rume Onosode.
Running under the broad theme: Documenting the Underserved: Agenda for Nigeria 2023, organisers explained that the theme was chosen “to address cogent issues in the national polity, which essentially is about enthroning responsible political system that insists on good governance and participatory democracy – two ingredients that have been lacking in Nigeria’s chequered 24-year-old democratic journey which began in 1999.”
The statement also explained that the objectives of the theme is to direct attention of particularly young people to the power of documentary films in empowering them to be active participants in the discourses in their socio-political, economic and cultural environment.
This year’s edition featured satellite screening at Inner City Centres such as Bariga, Ajegunle, Ejigbo, Ikorodu. Details of the festival, which ends tomorrow, can be sourced at www.irepfilmfestival.com or @irepfilmfestival on twitter and Instagram.
Article culled from The Guardian online
