By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna
The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has said that it will partner with filmmakers in training content creators in the Nigerian film industry for enhanced contributions to the nation’s economy.
Mr Shuaibu Husseini, Executive Director, NFVCB, communicated this during a panel session at the 7th Kaduna International Film Festival on Friday in Kaduna.
Husseini, who made a presentation on “Impact of censorship and classification on Creative Freedom in Films,” said film festivals were platforms where filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors met with an opportunity to exchange business ideas.
According to him, such capacity building initiatives are in line with the board’s mandate to classify and approve contents to prevent them from negatively shaping public perceptions and behaviour.
He said NFVCB, through its Creative Leap Acceleration Programme (CLAP), would build capacity in production, distributors and exhibitors by training young content makers in content creation to ensure they met regulation standards.
The executive director added that the training would be held in the six zonal offices across the 34 state offices in November under CLAP initiative.
“We want to ensure that film makers produce content within the board’s regulations while we balance creative freedom and classification set up by those laws.
“We are collaborating with experts from streaming platforms to train content producers on monetising those contents within the board’s regulations; because once they are trained, the right thing will be done.”
The NFVCB boss lauded organisers of the annual Kaduna International Film Festival for making a platform where stakeholders met to chart a common front on issues affecting the industry.
“The festival is an avenue for the agency to engage with film makers, content creators, distributors and exhibitors in a bid to create an enabling environment for the industry to thrive,’’ he said.
He therefore, assured the state film industry that the board would support waivers as part of measures to encourage a profitable business environment.
Bola Athar, Director, Service Innovation Department of the board, said the board was determined to protect Nigeria’s cultural values by ensuring that films and videos distributed in Nigeria met required ethical standards.
She therefore, urged filmmakers and other content creators to uphold Nigeria’s cultural values and morals in their productions.
“Film is an instrument through which Nigeria’s culture is being preserved for the next generation,” she said.
