The Kaduna International Film Festival (KADIFF) has unveiled the list of nominees for its 2025 edition, featuring a wide range of award categories.

Nominations include Best Feature, Short Film, Animation, Documentary, Experimental Film, Indigenous Film, and Student Film. Individual recognitions will also be awarded for Best Actor, Actress, Director, Cinematography, Music Score, and more

Competing for the Best Actor Award are Kelechi Udegbe (Offshoot), Wole Ojo (Season of Love), Vugah Samson (Kismet), Manson Sikela (Service to the Heart), Sadiq Ahmad (Kakanda), Adam Garba (Taqdeer).

Mimi Orjiekwe (Goodbye Celine), Kehinde Bankole (Offshoot), Lum Nora (Kismet), Hildah Nangoyi (Service to the Heart), Amoma Shehu (Kakanda) and Maryam Booth are in contention for the Best Actress award title.

Battling it out for the title of Best Supporting Male Actor are Kizito Simeon (Lama), Erick Roberts (The Brattt), Keppy Ekpenyong (Kisum), Ibrahim Suleiman (Offshoot) Francis Duru (Kismet) and Ado Ahmad (Kakanda).

While Tolulope Asanu (Taqdeer), Asabe Madaki (Tataburza), Cecilia Mwansa (Service to the Heart), Farida Adamu (Kakanda), Sonia S. Ibrahim (Healing the Inner Child) and Angel Unigwe (Goodbye Celine) are contending for the Best Supporting Female Actor.

Nigeria’s Juliet Ibrahim (Healing the Inner Child), Aabdulrasheed Bello (Taqdeer), Steve Ayeny (Offshoot), Cameroonian, Ngang R. Ntseh (Kismet), Zambia’s Paul S. Wilo (Service to the Heart) and Russian Valeriy Pereverzev (The Brattt) are vying for the Best Director award.

Uganda, India and the US are slugging it out for the Best Animation title – with Denis Dhikusooka’s ‘Mission Xylara’, Kintu, Sirage Diberu’s ‘Stuck In The Nest’ and ‘Nkizzi’s First Day’ (Uganda); Shayma Aziz’s ‘Between Land on Sky’ (US), Dharamdeep Randev’s ‘Chadni Ki Baatein: Ek Ankahee Prem Kahani’ (India).

Vying for the Best Feature Film award are – Nigeria’s ‘Healing The Inner Child’, ‘Taqdeer’, ‘Radar’, and ‘Offshoot’, alongside ‘Kismet’ (Cameroon), ‘The Brattt’ (Russia), and Zambia’s ‘Service to the Heart; while Nigeria’s Dapo (Omotilewa Mary Odeyemi), Hey Stranger by Abdulrasheed Bello, Uganda’s ‘Half Chocolate Half Vanila’ (Nodryn E. Kabuye) and ‘Oije Ondarire’  (Daisy Owomusiya), and France’s ‘The Old Days’ by Guillaume Noura are in the race for the Best Short Film award.

Nigeria’s ‘The Urban Hustle’, ‘Oru Igba Boi’, ‘Days of Rage, and Round One’ (Kenya), ‘The Shadow of Pandemic’ (Uganda) and ‘Once Upon A Time In A Forest’ (Finland) are for the Best Documentary award. ‘Lama’ and Mysteries of Love (Uganda), Kakanda, Seven Doors and Tataburza (Nigeria) are contending for the Best Indigenous Film award, and finally, ‘The Real General’, ‘Penat’ (Uganda), ‘Dear Hauwa’ (Nigeria) and ‘Bad Day: Good Man Gone Bad’ (US) are in the race for the Best Experimental Film award.

Themed Film ‘For Social Change’, KADIFF 2025 (eighth edition) will hold August 26 to 30, 2025 in Kaduna State, Nigeria.