Mr. Alex Eyengho, President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP).
When Mr. Frank Dallas, notable Nollywood producer and front-line member of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and the PRO of the Actors Guild of Nigeria ( AGN ) dismissed the Association of Nollywood Core Producers ( ANCOP ) over their disagreement on the plans for the much awaited centenary celebration of Nigeria in 2014, many people did not know why. In February, Frank Dallas said ANCOP is an unrecognized group, because it is actually a faction of dissatisfied members of AMP.
"ANCOP is not relevant, neither is it recognized. They are just a group of charlatans who failed an election and went ahead to form a group to fool themselves’ Dallas was quoted by Olamide Jasanya on Trends Nigeria on Feb 5, 2013, 7:32am. But four months later, the President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP), Mr. Alex Eyengho has become the first African to be made Vice-President of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) after an election held at the last General Assembly of FIAPF in Cannes, France on Saturday, May 18, 2013.
"My election is not about me or ANCOP. It is about deepening the Nollywood brand. It is about attracting maximum respect to Nigerian film producers at the international level. It is about Nigeria. It is about Africa. This is a confirmation and testimony to the fact that we are on the right track in Nollywood," Eyengho told journalists after his election in France.
The FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films) created in 1933 is an organization composed with only 30 member associations from 27 of the leading audiovisual production countries. FIAPF is also in charge of regulating international film festivals, including some of the world's most important ones. But FIAPF has only been more relevant to the European film industry and has not contributed anything to Nollywood. In fact, majority of the members of FIAPF have not participated in the Leap International Film Festival (LIFF) of Mr. Madu C Chikwendu of ANCOP and LIFF is not even on the list of the international film festivals in the directory of FIAPF.
It is even wrong for FIAPF to recognize a disputed faction of Nigerian producers without due verification from the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC). It shows the professional ignorance of the General Assembly of FIAPF and enough for me to dismiss it as being uninformed and misled by ANCOP that does not represent the leadership of Nigerian film and television producers.
The most accomplished film and television producers in Nigeria belong to the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and Independent Television Producers' Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) and they are yet to recognize the faction called Association of Nollywood Core Producers ( ANCOP ). Therefore ANCOP does not represent the body of producers in Nigeria.
Some Nigerian producers who have lost relevance in the mainstream leadership of the Nigerian film industry or Nollywood have a habit of rushing to form and join both local and international organizations that have contributed little or nothing to the development of the Nigerian film industry.
What has made Nollywood the largest and most popular film industry in Africa is our movies and numerous film projects and not joining international bodies without the consensus of the accomplished stakeholders in Nigeria.
Therefore, I will advise all serious Nigerian film and television producers and other practitioners in the motion picture industry to focus more on making quality movies and projects that will boost the Nigerian film industry and contribute to the socioeconomic development of Nigeria and not seeking relevance by forming or joining local and international organizations that only want to leverage on the success of Nollywood for their own partisan and selfish interests.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of Nollywood Mirror, Founder/CEO, Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema and Executive Director of the Screen Naija One Village, One Cinema Project.
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