The IFA Kids Film Workshop Builds Film Culture in Ibadan

In 2017, Nigerian filmmaker and actor, Chukwu Martin and some friends bonded over their shared interest in cinema and founded The Film Rat Club, a growing community of cinephiles across Nigeria. They herald the gospel of cinema, and celebrate African filmmakers who make it possible. Five years later, The Annual Film Mischief (TAFM) and Ibadan Indie Film Awards (IFA) were launched. In March 2022, TAFM, which centered Nigerian independent filmmakers held physically and simultaneously in Ibadan and Lagos, as well as virtually. IFA, developed in collaboration with Demas Nwoko’s New Culture Studio with Moses Ipadeola and Georgina Duke, as team members, held its inaugural edition in November 2022. Although both festivals are intimate, indie-focused, and champion indie cinema, IFA, in its positioning, is screening, conversations, community, award driven, and importantly, Ibadan-based. 

In the late 1960s and early ’70s, Ibadan, courtesy of the University of Ibadan, Nwoko’s New Culture Studios, and the Mbari Club, was both a Nigerian creative haven and intellectual capital. Literary figures including Chinua Achebe, Flora Nwapa, Wole Soyinka, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Duro Ladipo, and countless others, converged, workshopped manuscripts, debated literature, and were published,  defining literary magazines including The Black Orpheus and New Culture Magazine. Playwrights and performers created a dynamic, indigenous, and traveling theatre movement, utilizing Ibadan’s spaces to stage socially conscious plays. Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), established by the Western Region government under Premier Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Minister of Information Anthony Enahoro, launched operations in Agodi, Ibadan. WNTV has been credited as the  first successful sub-Saharan African television station. Nigerian filmmaker Taiwo Egunjobi, in an unpublished essay described this as “a generation that defined Nigeria’s postcolonial cultural soul.” Thus, from literature to theatre to cinema, Ibadan has been a thriving hub for creative expression. 

In 1970, Ossie Davis’s Kongi’s Harvest, an adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s play, was shot in Ibadan. A year later, Hansjürgen Pohland and Ossie Davis’s Bullfrog in the Sun, based on Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease, was also filmed there. Francis Oladele and Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) laid the groundwork for indigenous media and film production in the region. KS Cinema, Queen Cinema, Odeon, Rex, Scala, and others attracted audiences with local and imported films. The weight of economic decline has converted these film houses into industrial and religious sites. But, the community-driven, socio-conscious, and uninhibited-creative spirit that roamed the early 60’s Ibandan is still very much present. “By the 2010s, a new generation began to rise, filmmakers, artists, and curators shaped by global media but grounded in Ibadan’s intellectual and cultural tradition. The University of Ibadan’s film and arts scene once again became a breeding ground for experimentation. 

Studios like Rare Edge, led by Leye Fabusoro, produced ambitious television projects such as Awon Aladun De and Borokini, showing that independent production could balance cultural authenticity with modern storytelling.” The student arm of the Film Rats Club, the Thursday Film Series at the Institute of African Studies, and contemporary filmmakers like Ipadeola, Martin, Okwong Fadamana, Egunjobi, Isaac Ayodeji, and others continued building a creative community similar to that of the 60’s. Thus, that IFA is conscious of its Ibadan history and keen on knowledge-sharing and creation in the Nigerian film industry is an admirable and historical move. Admirable for its intention to rekindle the intellectual and communal spirit that once besieged Ibadan. Historical for its attention to children. From inception, the attention has been monopolised by adults. But with the IFA Kids Film Workshop, that’s shifting. 

Martin, in private conversations, has generously spoken about his intent to launch a kid-focused cinema club. In the Nigerian educational system, extracurricular clubs including, Press Club/ Debating & Literary Society,  Junior Engineers Technicians Scientists (JETS Club), Cultural /Dance Club, exist to push children’s imagination beyond academic dogmas. These clubs are introduced to build skills including leadership, teamwork, and practical talents in science, arts, or sports. For Martin, the kid-centered film club will sample these established clubs and focus on showing, discussing, and critiquing films. Film education and culture are synonymous with Martin’s practice as a filmmaker, curator, and theatre practitioner. Through IFA, he and the team are keen to educate and bring kids close to IFA (the last festival had a film programme dedicated to Ibadan-based children) and make the quasi-festival a home for creatives across different age groups and audiences. “The two-day workshop was a chance to explore and expand that initiative. We are trying to grow a film culture ecosystem in Ibadan. That’s one of IFA’s goals. For four years, we have done IFA and seen adults take charge. We’re trying to see what these kids have in store,” Martin articulated the motivation. 

Held over two days in April 2026 at Lakeshow Entertainment Studio, the free programme introduced 17 children from the Idi Ape community to the basics of filmmaking, storytelling and script development, camera handling and on-set collaboration. The IFA Kids Film Workshop joins the likes of Anthill Studios, increasing space for kids. The Anthill Family Vacation School is a paid, practical, creative vacation school by Anthill Studios for young storytellers, actors, filmmakers, animators, and future VFX artists. These are quasi-film schools targeted at Nigerian children of various economic backgrounds. Traditionally, for Nigerian children, religious spaces have been the sole space to exhibit theatrical skills (there’s a longlist of Nigerian actors who started their acting careers in churches) within the confines of religious dramas and moralist stories. But, IFA is “pushing” the kids outside the confines of religious houses (church) and religious stories to tell quotidian stories that mirror those experiences. Martin mentioned that what’s important is the skills and stories these kids acquire in schools and communities that matter, not adherence to a strict genre or story type. “We want to explore their experiences as children, and IFA Kids is helping them experience those stories and bring them to life.  We want to dig into their experiences. It’s why, during the workshop, we asked them to tell us about themselves, their familial and school-linked experiences. The produced film, Egbon Mi, was one of those experiences which we developed into a film.”

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These programmes suggest a deliberate attempt to widen access to film education across age groups and demographics, for children in low-income communities who might be seeking technical entry points into the industry. For IFA Kids, it’s mostly about the freedom to create. In the maiden edition which is a two day workshop, they ideated a film in a few hours. This is to give the children the idea that something can be done, regardless of how fast-paced or rough the idea is. “Having to not get stuck on technicalities, that you forget about the possibility of carrying out your art in different ways. For us, it’s giving them that idea that they can carry out ideas without waiting for a big budget. It’s that freedom to create and not wait. That freedom can be transferred to various firms. As a filmmaker, you can be a creative writer, thinker, customizer, painter, and designer. Indie is communal. And at the workshop, we are teaching them to do that amongst themselves and in their community,” Martin expressed. 

The workshop ended, and their produced film was screened. For the next phase of the project, the participating children will be showing their films at the 2026 edition of IFA. The writers, cinematographers, directors, content creators, and other creatives who provided mentorship during the workshop and guidance during the film production were sourced within the IFA community. Last year, they received 500 thousand naira in donations from International School Ibadan, which was used to fund some of  their ideas. For the next phase of the programme, they are seeking sponsors who can help grow the initiative from a two-day to one or more week workshop.