Filmidele

Filmidele is a set of projects initiated by the Nigerian Federal Government in 2005, with the goal of increasing access to domestic films produced in Nigeria. The name, "Filmidele," literally translates to "home film" or "our film" in Yoruba language. The project aimed to create a platform for showcasing Nigerian movies and promoting local filmmakers.

Under the Filmidele initiative, selected films were uploaded onto a dedicated website for public viewing. The project's objective was to complement existing film industries and create a new market for Nigerian filmmakers. Filmidele collaborated with private sector entities to finance and distribute the movies.

To participate, filmmakers submitted their films for consideration. A review committee evaluated the submissions based on technical quality, storytelling, and cultural significance. Selected films were then broadcast on the website and later transmitted via television. The project also provided a platform for online audience feedback, allowing viewers to rate and comment on the films.

While the Filmidele project received positive attention for its efforts to promote local film production, its impact was limited due to the flooding of the website with an extremely high volume of submissions. As a result, the quality control measures started to fall short, with the resulting entry of subpar films into the platforms mainstream.

Although Filmidele commanded an influential platform with immense audience engagement in the decade that it existed, it ultimately appears to have been ill-equipped to maintain quality control on the site, one issue of which is whether participants entered their work on the platform partly to become noticed or out of interest genuinely, nevertheless critically speaks to the wiring of the flow of skills and material used in attempts at filmmaking.