By Benjamin Njoku

Before now, Oguta is a  town on the east bank of Oguta Lake in Imo State, which is rarely known to be a destination for film makers. Rather it’s reputed to be a home away from home  for adventurous tourists who are longing to reunite with nature. But far from it, the beautiful town is about to put the record straight as it gets ready to host the maiden edition of  the Lake City Film Festival.

The festival is billed to hold between December 16 and December 18, in Oguta, with over 50 movies to be screened during the event.

The brain behind the annual festival, Ekine Stronghold, a content provider and script writer  believes that hosting the festival in a town as Oguta, with its  a rich cultural diversity as Oguta would not only help to boost the tourism potentials of the country, but also, it would create an avenue for film makers to explore the themes of culture, arts, tradition and history in their productions.

Ekine    

“I saw a need to draw back interest to our cultural heritage and indigenous stories. I saw a need that most practitioners can benefit from having a home grown festival and enjoy hosting film-makers from every nook and cranny of Nigeria and the world. I saw a need to create a festival that will cater for films around the theme of culture, arts, tradition and history,”Ekine explained, while in a chat with HVP.

He revealed that the festival will open with CJ Obasi’s movie, O’Town while Joe Brown’s The Missing God will close the festival. Disclosing further, he said that a board of jury led by Tari West Johnson and Sani Muazu will be working on short-listing  movies that will make the festival.

Other members of the board are Yinka Ogun, Kathy Kasic and Bond Emeruwa.

“2900 films were received from over 105 countries all over the world and just about 50 or 100 will be screened at the film festival, which is an indigenous one. 62 of the total films submitted were unaccounted for,” Stronghold said.

He said,  the film festival will be a unique one that will be focusing on culture, arts, history and tourism. “We will also be recognising movies that advocates, reforms, educates while entertaining the public in different aspect that include Arts, History, Tourism and Environment will be honoured at the Gala night,” he added. The gala night will award films in categories including Art, History, Tourism and Environment.