The founder shares insights on the influence of international ju umpires and the quality of African films

Israel Auducasim, founder of the Kaduna International Film Festival, shares insights into the festival, the quality of African film entries, and the impact of international ju umpires on the latest additions to the festival.

With the introduction of international ju umpires, which extends to members of Israel, France, India and Egypt in the past two editions, several submissions have been seen from the ju umpire countries as seen in Russia this year.

Conversely, an increase in submissions from the country as Uganda (which outweighed Nigeria's submission at the 2024 festival) has been seen to include Ugandan film experts in this year's International Ju Court.

However, with the increase in submissions, there is a risk of film quality issues and foreign overloading with foreign films.

Qasim mites the subsequent horrors by pointing out that festivals through the category of Indigenous cinemas do not necessarily obscure local or African films, but ensure that foreign submission has its own space on the platform.

“We have nine international ju judges blocking Africa, Asia and Europe, with the aim of raising more awareness about the festival. They are also there to provide a perspective on film and cultures from different countries.

“It depends on the indigenous category of entries we have. If there are indigenous entries from Africa, or indigenous entries from Nigeria, we set up the category to support technical entries from other foreign countries compared to other African countries.

Regarding the quality of submission of the film at the 8th edition of the festival, Kasim observed that so far, more submissions from Nigeria than Uganda, and more submissions from Russia have been continuing.

However, submissions from Nigeria mainly come from the southern and English film industry, Nollywood, not Hausa in northern Nigeria, where the festival resides.

“I believe that film festival entries must be the standard for films. Therefore, submissions of such works. On the other hand, we believe that the content is not suitable for the festival, so we can barely see entries from Northern Nigeria.

“The quality of entries from Yoruba and English-speaking films from the South have improved. Not where we were before. Many entries from Europe and America have all the film equipment and technology, but are also identified by good entries from Uganda, the second largest submitted at this year's festival.”

Meanwhile, Kadiff is working with local and international organizations involved in the Nigerian arts/culture and entertainment industry to adopt a new strategy to support local filmmakers during and after the festival. This includes identifying and working with organizations whose missions match the annual theme.

This began last year with collaborating with the EU on “1 Million Nailagrant” to train and support local filmmakers to create a film that addresses the festival's 2025 theme, “The Movies of Social Impact.” Additionally, they partnered with the Governor's Wife Forum to select such films and embassies to show the films that were nominated from their country and won. It will now help promote relationships with UNODC and IOM and address the issues of drug trafficking and migration.

“This year, we are primarily focusing on the use of films to promote and influence social change. There are a lot of creatives doing a lot in this area.

“These creatives include comedians, skit makers whose works promote and influence social change. With the world on social media, we want to bring them closer and celebrate,” Kassim said.

Similarly, Kadiff partnered with MTN this year to showcase the best movie categories for viewers via votes. Nigerians and Kadiv enthusiasts have the MTN line and can vote for the best movies with the release of films nominated by judges in May and the release of selected films.

Currently, there are over 100 submissions ranging from over 16 countries from Africa, Europe and Asia, and Submissions 2025, which is scheduled to end April 23rd, will open from August 26th to 30th.