BY FELIX KASSIM
No fewer than four persons have emerged winners in this year’s Homevida’s Nigeria Integrity Films Awards, aimed at using films to wage war against sexual abuse and rape.
Speaking at the event, which attracted stakeholders in the nation’s film industry, in Abuja on Tuesday, Mrs Mbanan Mku, Communication Lead, Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), said HomeVida is focused on providing incentives to young scriptwriters and filmmakers on key societal issues.
She said HomeVida, a brainchild of PPDC, has partnered with several local and international organisations to support the production of films that centred on values that promote good governance, digital economy and those that wage war against human trafficking, cyber bully, among others.
“This year, with support from Luminate, we put out a call for short scripts, skits and spoken word videos that focus on rape and sexual abuse which ended on the 30th of November.
“This issue has been recurrent online and offline in the past year. Some examples are the recently released BBC Africa documentary Sex For Grades and the rape story of the 13-yr old Ochanya which lead to her death. The aim of the competition is to raise awareness on these issues, provide rehabilitative solutions to those who have been victims and also to urge the government to adopt effective policies that would be put in place to punish the perpetrators.” she said.
Also speaking at the event, which saw the winners going home with N750,000, the board chairman of PPDC, Mr Chibuzo Ekwekwuo, said the 10th edition of the HomeVida film awards would go a long way to impact positively on the society.
“For HomeVida, the result is not just the films that were produced , but also the skills built, the people impacted, and the work they have gone ahead to do. For this I want to thank all of our oartners,” Ekwekwuo said.
One of the winners, Moyinoluwa Ezekiel, commended the organisers of the award, saying her entry into the competition was to contribute positively to the society.
“I saw the competition as an opportunity to contribute to the society because of its theme; Rape and Sexual Abuse. I have been writing for eight years, but this is my first competition,” the visibly elated Moyinoluwa said.
The LABOUR reports that the winners out of the over 600 entries that were received were Kenneth Olusanya and Adetola Adetayo, under the Short Scripts category, while Ademola Aderinale and Moyinoluwa Ezekiel clinched the top spots in the Skit and Spoken Word section.
