Managing director, Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), Dr Ali Nuhu, has announced the return of a heritage film festival ‘Decasia’ to Lagos for its 2025 edition scheduled for July 27 to July 30.

Nuhu, who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of NFC, made this announcement in a statement by NFC’s director of Public Affairs, Brian Etuk yesterday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the return of ‘Decasia’ to Lagos is a collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Film Corporation (NNFC), the Lagos Film Society and partners from Germany namely Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Arts (Berlin, Germany).

NAN also reports that others were Deutsche Filminstitut and Filmmuseum (Frankfurt Germany), Goethe University-Frankfurt, DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) and Goethe Institut.

Nuhu said the heritage film festival will be a landmark gathering of filmmakers, archivists, historians, scholars, and culture enthusiasts, dedicated to the rediscovery, preservation and creative re-imagination of Africa’s cinematic heritage.

The Chief Executive Officer of NFC assured expected participants of exciting moments of the film festival.

He added the exciting moment include; the screenings of rare archival films, panel discussions woven around strategies, archiving, preservation challenges and national development in support of the draft National Film Archive Policy.

” The networking sessions designed to spotlight the importance of cultural memory in shaping Nigeria’s creative future.

“Objectives of ‘Decasia’ is to sustain global conversations, including the impact of digital technologies, as well as the relationship between archives and film festivals.

“Decasia provides a veritable platform to harness great creative opportunities inherent in archival materials, as weapons for sustainable human existence and development.

” It also provides public platform and supporting linkages between the National Film Video and Sound Archive (NFVSA) as a national audio-visual repository.

” It provides Master Degree Programme in Film Culture & Archiving Studies of the National Film Institute (NFI) and the University of Jos, as well as audio-visual content creators and the general public,” he said.

Nuhu, speaking on the underlying thrust, said the film festival was to conscientised government and relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including the organised private sector, content creators on the imperatives of audio-visual material usage, protection, preservation and archiving.

” With the NFVSA as Nigeria’s audio-visual repository, efforts by the NFC to foster constructive engagements and affirmative actions through collaborative partnerships underscores the mounting of ‘Decasia’ 2025.

“The offerings of ‘Decasia’ 2025 to Nigeria’s film industry includes, culture and heritage protection, strong and productive linkages, skills and capacity development in archival management, preservation of audiovisual materials, archival practices, film and culture diplomacy promotion,” he added.

The four-day event, scheduled to take place from July 27 to July 30 at the Lagos office of NFC Ikoyi, Lagos, also designed to be hosted in Berlin Germany.

The first edition took place in 2019 October 24 to 27 in Lagos, with the title “1st Berlin – Lagos Archival Film Festival”.

While the 2020 edition took place in Berlin Germany themed “Reclaiming History, Unveiling Memory”. (NAN)