By Comrade Mark Akhuetie
For years, Nigeria’s film festivals have celebrated filmmakers, screened movies, presented awards, hosted workshops, and created opportunities for networking and cultural exchange.
Yet an important question remains: Who is documenting the story of the festivals themselves?
Across the country, film festivals have emerged as significant platforms for talent discovery, audience development, film education, cultural diplomacy, tourism promotion, and industry conversations. Some have grown into internationally recognised events, while others continue to serve as important grassroots platforms for emerging filmmakers.
Despite their growing influence, much of the history, experiences, challenges, innovations, and lessons from these festivals remain scattered across social media posts, press releases, event brochures, and personal archives.
It is against this backdrop that the Nigerian Film Festivals Association (NFFA) has announced a call for papers for the maiden edition of Film Festival Digest, a publication designed to document and examine the Nigerian film festival ecosystem.
Domiciled at the University of Port Harcourt and led editorially by Professor Femi Shaka and Dr. Ken Osunwa, the publication seeks contributions on a wide range of topics, including festival history, financing, volunteer management, audience mobilisation, cultural exchange, emerging festivals, technology, education, team management, and organisational challenges.
The initiative raises an important issue for the broader film industry and which is that “Documentation Matters”
Industries grow not only through production and distribution but also through knowledge preservation. Every successful sector maintains records of its institutions, pioneers, innovations, challenges, and milestones. Without documentation, valuable experiences are lost, lessons are forgotten, and future generations are forced to start from scratch.
Film festivals occupy a unique position within the creative ecosystem. They are often the meeting point between filmmakers, audiences, investors, regulators, academics, students, and cultural institutions. They help shape conversations around cinema while creating opportunities that extend beyond the screen.
As the number of film festivals across Nigeria continues to expand, so does the need to document their contributions, evolution, and impact.
This growing emphasis on documentation mirrors wider efforts within the Nigerian creative industry to preserve institutional memory and build credible reference resources for future generations.
The question is no longer whether Nigeria has film festivals. The question is whether the industry is doing enough to preserve their stories.
And perhaps that is what makes initiatives such as Film Festival Digest particularly timely. Because before history can be celebrated, it must first be documented.
The call for papers for the maiden edition of Film Festival Digest remains open to film festival stakeholders, organisers and contributors across Nigeria.
–Comrade Mark Akhuetie is a media specialist, journalist, cultural enthusiast, and social commentator.
