Vanessa Obioha
Nollywood veteran actress Hilda Dokubo at a recent workshop organised by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) in Port Harcourt clamour for a special film classification for films that reflect the good virtues of Nigeria and protect the female gender.
Speaking to participants of the two-day workshop tagged ‘Media Literacy Capacity Building On Film Classification & Empowerment For Youth’ facilitated by Hon. Boma Goodhead in the Asari Toru/Akuku Toru Federal Constituency, the actress frowned at stereotype contents in Nollywood movies.
She pointed out that as a way of changing the narrative, producers must desist from stories that portray the police as bribe collectors, soldier as civilian beaters, the girl-child doing the home chores while the boy-child plays football, as well as movies that portray career woman as endangering their home and marriage, while the full-time housewife is seen as the ideal women.
While presenting her paper on Film Classification, Dokubo enumerated some of the categories of classification, calling for the need to adhere strictly to the rules.
“If there is a breach of classification rule, there is a problem. The problem is however not for the filmmaker but for the person that allowed the breach, because classification plays the role of informing, plays the role of healing and places responsibility on everyone, including the producer and adults.”
The workshop in Port Harcourt is part of the 2019 workshop series organised by the regulatory body. It kicked off in Lagos on the first week of January and continued in the South-south and South-east zones of the country.
In Nnewi, the industrial nerve of the South East geo- political zone, it was a gathering of notable stakeholders in the creative industry from Nnewi North/South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituencies.
The event which held on Thursday, January 17, was an empowerment workshop for youths in the movie and entertainment industry from that area. They include actors, script writers, movie producers and directors, marketers, costumiers, editors and other crew members within the movie production chain.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director of NFVCB, Adedayo Thomas urged participants to avail themselves of this rare opportunity to carve a niche for themselves within the creative industry. He noted that the essence of the training was to develop participants’ interest and understanding of classification; make participants ambassadors of film classification by letting their children know what to watch and what not to watch; and assist in lobbying policy makers on important classification recommendations.
In a bid to create a solid foundation for the participants, NFVCB’s Zonal Coordinator, South-East, Mr. Hubert Odeh presented a talk on the Rudiments of Classification, giving brief background history and workings of the board.
Responding on behalf of participants, Chief Ossy Affason of Ossy Affason Distribution Company encouraged filmmakers to always take advantage of such golden opportunities to develop themselves, while urging those within the creative industry to close ranks in order to build a virile and formidable industry.
High point of the workshop was the distribution of grants to participants by the Executive Director of NFVCB.
