Project ACT Nollywood, the presidential intervention programme established to improve technical and professional capacity in the value chain of the Nigerian movie industry continues to make measurable progress in achieving its core mandate,said a statement by Paul C Nwabuikwu,special adviser media to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for Nigeria’s Economy,Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
“Now it is set to tackle the central challenge working against the optimum development of the sector – a poor distribution system and rampant piracy. The ultimate objective is to make pirated copies of Nollywood movies unattractive to consumers by ensuring that genuine products are easily available at a multiplicity of accessible points. This is to ensure that those who put their efforts into film production are properly rewarded” the statement said .
According to the statement released Sunday, “The tool for achieving this ambitious objective is the N2billion Innovation Distribution Fund (IDF) aimed at improving the distribution of audio-visual content, cut down on piracy, and to better protect intellectual property in the industry. The IDF is targeted at the businesses that operate or plan to operate in the film distribution space.
“The core plan is a market driven approach which will boost the number and quality of distribution options through strategic co-financing of new channels and supporting the expansion of available ones. These could include technology-based solutions such as digital streaming, enablers of effective distribution, movie exhibition infrastructure and physical distribution.
“Applications for the distribution fund are welcome through the Project ACT online web portal www.projectactnollywood.com.ng which will be operational for a two month period starting January 19, 2015. To be considered, applicants must provide their companies’ details on the completed application forms and upload supporting documents (as required) before the deadline.
Okonjo-Iweala’s aide explained that “The distribution fund is the third of the three funds which make up Project ACT. The other two have made reached significant implementation levels. The Capacity Building Fund valued at N300 million enabled industry practitioners to update their technical skills through foreign and existing private Nigeria-owned institutes that offer training courses, programmes and technical certification in the movie industry.
“Under the Capacity Building Fund, 205 individual Nollywood practitioners within the movie industry have undertaken several training courses at home and abroad (particularly in the US, the UK, and India).
“Also under the Capacity Building Fund, 7 private film-training institutions in Lagos, Kano, and Port Harcourt have received grants to develop their capacities to offer training programmes. While some have received funds, others will get their grants after meeting the set criteria, including accreditation by the National Board of Technical Education.
Furthermore, “The Film Production Fund (FPF), on the other hand, aimed at co-financing commercially viable film projects with grants of up to N10 million even though a handful of film projects were considered for higher grants. In making these grants available, the initiative is supporting the further development of the Nollywood film industry and filmmaking talent. Production categories that are being supported include feature films, documentaries, animation, short films, TV formats.
“English language and indigenous language movies which successfully passed through the qualification procedures received support. But to qualify, the movie projects had to have national and international appeal. So far 92 film projects in various categories have received support under the Film Production Fund,” the statement said.
