Kano African Indigenous Languages of Africa Film Market and Festival (KILAF)

BACKGROUND TO THE KILAF '20 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Globalization broadly refers to an increase in the impact on human activities of forces That span national boundaries, linguistic and cultural diversities. These realities
suggest that African languages require a platform where they can stand up against
the looming foreign dominance or incursions that may be detrimental to their own
existence. And, because language sums up the whole cultural horizon, we must deliberately
work towards promoting African languages. Therefore, language promotion, maintenance
and sustenance are the impetus that led to the 2018 introduction of the annual Kano African
Indigenous Languages of Africa Film Market and Festival (KILAF).
KILAF is a festival promoted and hosted by Moving Image Limited in the ancient city of
Kano. It is primarily designed to promote film contents produced in indigenous languages
of Africa while encouraging their cross border sales in order to expand their revenue
generation base. Thus, KILAF is hinged on the philosophy of 'Africa First'. We hope to
ignite the African spirit and enterprise to melt into the brewing pot of globalization as a
strong and formidable player. The wisdom is to inspire and nurture African content
producers to live up to the challenges of representing the continent and its worldview or
narratives. After all, with the African Union (AU) slogan of “Africa rising,” 'no one can tell
your story better than you.’
With the digital switchover regime, the emerging ecosystem requires huge amount of
content. Thus, KILAF platform sets out to enlarge the exposure and marketing
opportunities available within the digital space. The 2018 and 2019 editions were very
successful. However, the coronavirus pandemic has seriously thrown us aback.
Consequently, the 2020 edition of the event has been scaled down to only KILAF '20
Virtual Conference. The event has the theme: RESEARCHING, SCRIPTING AND
TELLING STORIES IN AFRICAN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE FILMS and it has
gained the partnership of the Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano. It has
also attracted thirty (30) paper presentations that will be published. In the meantime, here is
the published compendium of the abstract. Always go to www.kilaf.africa for further
information.
KILAFhas the following objectives:
1. To give people access to a broad range of African indigenous languages' films on a
more regular basis.
2. To encourage intra-African co-operations in productions and marketing of films.
3. To serve as a platform of promoting professionalism and rewarding excellence in
African indigenous language films.
4. To imbibe African spirit and sense of purpose in film practitioners; thus, leading to
generating authentic African media content as per the dictates of African realities,
aspirations and needs.
5. To interface with other contents of the world for mutual benefits.
KILAFMISSION
To inspire, celebrate and promote African content through indigenous languages to enhance
“togetherness in diversity.”
KILAFVISION
By 2025, the impact of KILAF will be felt across the African continent; and beyond, via
Afrocentric media content.
Abdulkareem Mohammed
Founder/CEO KILAF
November, 2020