‘Sunset in Makoko’ Shines Bright as It Sweeps Awards at The 2023 Annual Film Mischief

TAFM’23’s second edition was a resounding tribute to the beauty and richness of eclectic cinema. The four-day festival held physically across Accra, Abuja and Lagos, came to a close on Sunday, April 30th 2023 with Awaiting Trial – a documentary by Chude Jideonwo.

The festival involved physical screenings, a virtual day for virtual film screenings, Q&A’s with filmmakers, and a groundbreaking FilmTech Conference (which included a VR experience).

A section of festival attendees at TAFM Lagos

Accra Festival Executive, Dela Aderanti

TAFM Abuja attendees

FilmTech startups; TalentX (Victoria O. Popoola), Nollydata (Chidinma Igbokweuche), The Casting Place (Omowunmi V. Samson), Albantsho (Julie O. Ako), Filmmakers Mart (Chioma Paul-Dike) from the ‘Connectors & Community Builders‘ panel at the FilmTech Conference

VR Experience at the FilmTech Conference sponsored by JB Multimedia Studios

Outstanding filmmakers were acknowledged for their work during the award ceremony. Several presenters, including filmmakers Tolu Ajayi and Oge Obasi, were called upon to do the honours with Chief Juror, Nwakaego Boyo, presenting the night’s most-anticipated awards via virtual call.

‘Sunset in Makoko’, a documentary by filmmaker Allen Onyige, took home four Grand Cheese Prizes: Best Editing, Best Directing, Best Cinematography and Best Documentary, leaving the remaining five Grand Cheese Prizes to fellow filmmakers. Chude Jideonwo’s ‘Awaiting Trial’ won the Best Feature award, Kagho Idhebor‘s ‘Broken Mask’ for Best Short Film and Best Film Poster, Emmanuel Mang Eme in ‘Gold’ for Best Screenplay, while Chris Ikechi Anyanya claimed the award for Best Acting Performance for his exceptional work in ‘Chukwu Martin‘s ‘We Are Not Men Anymore’.

Not leaving the festival attendees out of the fun, the decision of which film would go home with the Grand Mischief Prize (Audience Choice) fell to them as voting went on over the four-day event. Unlike the other nine awards which had been personalised to their winners, the Grand Mischief Prize would remain blank until its winner was chosen. Atoka, a film by Seun Afolabi, was the Belle of the Ball.

Atoka cast and crew with Director, Seun Afolabi

Allen Onyige, Director Of ‘Sunset in Makoko’

See the full list of Grand Cheese Prize Winners below

Best Editing: Allen Onyige for ‘Sunset In Makoko’
Best Cinematography: Adeniyi ‘Taj’ Joseph for ‘Sunset In Makoko’
Best Screenplay sponsored by Albantsho: Emmanuel Mang Eme for ‘Gold’
Best Film Poster: Niyi Okeowo for ‘Broken Mask’
Best Acting Performance: Chris Ikechi Anyanya for ‘We Are Not Men Anymore’
Best Directing: Allen Onyige for ‘Sunset In Makoko’
Best Short Film (Narrative): ‘Broken Mask’ by Kagho Idhebor
Best Documentary: ‘Sunset In Makoko’ by Allen Onyige
Best Feature: ‘Awaiting Trial’ by Chude Jideonwo
Grand Mischief Prize (Audience Choice): ‘Atoka’ by Seun Afolabi

TAFM’23 winners (L-R): Allen Onyige, Seun Afolabi, Chris Ikechi Anyanya, Adeniyi “Taj” Joseph, Kagho Idhebor, Charles F Solomon (for Emmanuel Mang Eme)

Festival Director pair, Uche Chika Elumelu and Tomi Folowosele thanked sponsors, media partners, festival participants and attendees for the success of the festival and brought the festival team out to take a final bow for TAFM’23.

TAFM is a program of Film Rats and was proudly sponsored by Viva Cinemas Nigeria, Silverbird Cinemas Ghana, Impact Hub Lagos, Albantsho, mPharma, Uber Nigeria & Cadbury.

Official media partners were BellaNaija, Nairametrics, WhatKeptmeUp, Phoenix Tribe Africa, In Nollywood, Nollywire, Tech Economy, Radio Now, The Casting Place, Kraks TV, JB Multimedia Studios, VR360STORIES, Take One Productions, VOP TV, Tobide Productions, Coalians Photography, Jide Pounds Ibitoye, SwitchFocus, GhMovieFreak, and Games Hut.