The National Film and Video Census Board (NFVCB) and the Alliance Francaise have signed an agreement to showcase and distribute the two countries’ movies through the French-Nigeria film distribution conference. The agreement was signed during a courtesy visit by Mr Jerome Pasquier, Ambassador of France to Nigeria at the headquarters of NFVCB in Abuja.
The Executive Director of NFVCB, Mr Adedayo Thomas and the Director of Alliance Francaise, Mr Arnand Durnon Signed the agreement on behalf of the two organisations. Thomas in his remarks said that the collaboration was to present a platform where investors, producers, distributors and other stakeholders in the motion picture industries of both countries could meet for mutually beneficial deals.
He noted that the collaboration will among other incentives, encourage and promote the distribution of Nollywood movies in France.
He explained that both parties have conceived ‘French-Nigerian Cinema Days’ to screen and showcase the two countries movies, as part of the distribution conference scheduled to hold later in the year.
“Our Nigerian distributors would be more than happy to collaborate with big time French distributors such as Patter, Studiocan and Bacfilms as planned in the coming collaboration conference. The Fench distributors take delight in releasing movies from many different nationalities, whether big or small as it is their belief that the French moviegoers love movies from around the world.
‘France prides itself as a country of movie goers with over 5000 screens, while in Nigeria we are proud to say that we have achieved 200 screens, from 39 in the last two years. Its film industry is acclaimed to be living Lavie enrose (life in roses) that its Nigerian counterpart would love to attain”, he said.
The Executive Director, however, decried the high-rate of piracy as a major bane facing the evolving Nigerian movie industry especially with the emergence of digital distribution platforms. He therefore solicited for sector strive with piracy effectively nipped.
‘Let me not pretend that all is well with the industry as well have serious piracy issue in Nigeria, though piracy is not directly within the regulatory purveyed of the NFVCB, secondly with the pervasive nature of ICT, online distribution/exhibition of movies has created regulatory nightmare for us at the NFVCB.
France no doubt, has experience in handling these issues and we therefore solicit technical support from you in tackling these issues”, he said.
In his remarks, pasquier, the French envoy, said he was delighted at the partnership, adding that it was a common ground for both countries to grow their film industries and also strengthen bilateral relations. The film industries in France and Nigeria are contributing a lot to their economies and this agreement will further present opportunities for both countries.
“This will bring better relationships, not just between the two countries government but between their citizens as well. Private investors of both countries will sure benefit from this collaboration in terms of investment in distributions and marketing of films”, he said.
The NFVCB is a Federal Government body that regulates the films and video industry in Nigeria. It classifies and registers all films and videos in the country.