——————————————————————
By Patience Moses Chat
Nigeria’s Movie industry, Nollywood is having a record-breaking time with the selection of ‘Galatians’ by La Fabrique Cinema.
Nigeriain filmmaker, Michael Omonua’s second feature film, ‘Galatians,’ has been selected to be developed at this year’s La Fabrique Cinema du Monde, which is set to take place at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
‘Galatians’ is a feature film drama that was developed based on the filmmaker’s short film ‘Rehearsal.’ Starring Ruby Akubueze, Brutus Richard, Chimezie Imo and Amanda Oruh. the 15-minute short film follows actors rehearsing for a play about a church group rehearsing miracles. It explores the boundaries between church and theatre, faith and credibility.’ Rehearsal’ in 2021 took home the Grand Prize at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur.
The movie is about the rich and powerful world of Pentecostalism which depicts or portrays a thin line between miracle churches and theatre. Pentecostalism is a Christian religious movement that emphasizes on the Holy Spirit, with evidence of speaking in unknown tongues.
This is history-making for the brains behind the film because it is the first time a Nigerian project will be selected to feature at the development workshop. Michael Omonua will be joined by the film’s producer, Abba T. Makama, at the workshop.
Omonua wrote on his Twitter page how excited he was about the selection. “Happy to announce our new project ‘Galatians’ has been selected at this year’s La Fabrique, Cinema du Monde at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2023. Galatians is part of 10 films selected from the global south for this year’s workshop which invites both director and producer of the project. Galatians is written and will be Directed by Michael Omonua and produced by Abba T. Makama for Polka Dot Films Ltd. Special thanks to Institute Francais and the Nigerian French Embassy for support. See you in Cannes.” he said.
La Fabrique Cinema is a film support programme that is unique in the world. As a veritable springboard, this workshop is actively used by committed talents from the South and emerging countries.
This year’s workshop will include selections from other African countries like Senegal, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Egypt. The 15th edition of La Fabrique Cinéma will take place at the Festival de Cannes, from May 17 to 26, 2023.
La Fabrique Cinéma de l’Institut Français is a program designed to help talented and promising young directors from emerging countries to increase their international exposure. The program, which is developed by L’Institut Français, in partnership with France Médias Monde- RFI, France 24, Monte Carlo Doualiya, the Sacem and the International Organization of La Francophonie every year, invites 10 directors working on their first or second feature films to attend the Festival de Cannes along with their producers.
With this program, young directors and producers benefit from personalized support adapted to their project and professional experience. After being selected for the program in March, they receive guidance from a personal coach who helps identify their needs, including co-production, distribution, and sales, among others, and schedule meetings with professionals who might be interested in co-financing their project.
The program usually covers 223 directors and producers coming from 65 countries, including 23 francophone countries in the first or second category of long feature films.
From 2012 till date, the program has signed 70% of their projects with coproduction agreements and 40% of these projects have already been shot and selected in great festivals or released in many theatres. Between 2019 and early 2022, 10 Fabrique films were released in France and some were presented at major festivals.
The British-Nigerian filmmaker, on his Twitter handle, also narrated what has motivated him while working on the film.
“When the script was nearing an advanced stage last year, it became my top priority to get into a lab of some kind, and La Fabrique Cinema was at the top of my list. I feel very fortunate that they liked the project enough to accept it, and it’s a huge honour to be one of the 10 projects on the programme. I’ve also never attended Cannes Film Festival, so to be going there as part of La Fabrique Cinema with a project is a dream of mine come true.”