A Filmmaker and Director, Martin Gbados has urged government at all levels to create a film commission for the industry to strive and contribute more to the country’s GDP.

Gbados made the appeal, as a panelist, at the ongoing 2022 AfricaNXT Technology Conference, on Thursday in Lagos.

The theme for discussion was: “How to use movie to tell the Nigerian story to an international audience.”

According to Gbados, all the states in the USA, have a film commission, which makes production convenient for filmmakers in such climes.

“It is only Lagos that has a film commission. The absence in other states makes it a bit difficult for an expanded film production across the country.

“So, it is pertinent for government at all levels to create a stable and enabling environment for film production to thrive,” he said.

Gbados said the enabling environment could also be in the provision of loan at a low interest rate to encourage more investment in the sector.

He said that Nigeria’s film industry had been projected to worth $6.4 billion, producing about 2,500 films on a yearly basis.

Gbados listed budget, quality, Africanis and the environment where the film was produced, as some of the determinants of a good movie.

According to him, many streaming platforms are coming to Africa because they have seen the potential in Africa, but budget remains a big determinant for the success of any production.

He harped on the need for filmmakers to add the African culture in their production.

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Gbados said standards must be met for any film to travel far and wide and should not be compromised.

“The story around Ibeji (Twins) can be made to have elements, for example, God creates twins, Africans kill them, sort of contradiction.

‘’Such stories will fly far, or look at the story of Sango, the god of thunder, they will fly highest.

‘’Our focus should be to concentrate on our struggles and how we are overcoming them,” he said.

He said the quality of work from Africa should be able to match any other from other part of the world, adding that this was the best time to be creative because people are looking for films from this part of the world.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AfricaNXT 2022, formally called Social Media Week, is a five-day event, which commenced on Feb. 28  and will end on March 4.

It had over 200 sections. This year’s theme is: ‘Reimagine Now: Co-create Next.

(NAN)