Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) 2018[/caption] After eight days of educative and entertaining activities, one can comfortably say that the Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) 2018 ended on a great note. The closing ceremony took place at the Silverbird Cinemas, Accra Mall with a special screening of Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman which happened to be screening for the first time in Africa. Brief review of BlakKklansman BlackKklansman, which is based on a true story, tells the story of two undercover detectives; one black and the other of Jewish decent, who infiltrate the ranks of the White Supremacist group, Klu Klux Klan (a.k.a KKK) to expose the activities of “the organisation” as its members call it, and attempt to take it down along with its leaders. The movie exposes a secret agenda of the KKK; to get a pure white American who supports its philosophy into the White House and important positions in order to “cleanse” America. It ends with clips of recent real world clips of violence perpetrated by White Supremacists in America after the Trump’s election victory; hinting the fears African Americans and other Africans  in the diaspora currently live with. For me, it was a perfect climax for the festival, which has since its inception championed the the agenda to use film as a development tool and provided the platform for discussions on important issues that affect society. BlackKklansman lived up to the theme of BSIFF ’18 as it started a conversation about the development of Africa and it’s people right in the cinema. The selections for BSIFF ’18 were in line with the festival’s theme, as the various filmmakers told uniquely different stories of social issues through their lenses. Most of these films were not the sorts we regularly see in cinemas.That was a unique thing about the festival this year; guided by the theme, it gave the opportunity for filmmakers addressing important issues across the world the platform to show their works to the world. Black Star International Film Festival 2018 The festival started on 11th August with an opening ceremony at the Silverbird cinemas and Idris Elba’s film directing debut “Verdie” as opening Film. It was attended by the Second Lady of the Republic of Ghana, Hajia Samira Bawumia, who pledged her support to the festival. Each day of the festival saw screenings in the form of pop up cinemas, open air cinemas etc at venues such as Jamestown Cafe, Lokko House, Serallios, Silverbird cinemas, as well as panel sessions at the African Regent Hotel, Kempinski and NAFTI. Amongst other things, guests had the rare opportunity to meet and interact with filmmakers, learn from experts and establish networking connections. There was a Gala Awards Ceremony on the seventh day of the festival. It was attended by several known names and faces in the film, entertainment and tourism fraternities.The President of the Republic of Ghana, who was scheduled to be the Guest of Honour was conspicuously missing from the event. However, he was represented by the Honourable Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Mrs Catherine Afeku. For me (and others), the absence of the president was quite unfortunate as events of this nature that are striving to and actually putting Ghana on the map need to be supported by Government. The general public should be made to know that these events are endorsed and supported by government, not only in words but also in action; a message I believe the President’s presence would have loudly and clearly communicated. However, his absence did not mar the beauty of the night as he was well represented by the sector Minister, Hon. Catherine Afeku. The great musical and poetry performances during the night will not be soon forgotten. This year, BSIFF introduced a new non competitive category named after the theme of the festival. Films that made it into that category are,

1. Ghana for You – Adamas Mensah
2. Vagabonds – Amartei Armar
3. Survivors – Arthur Pratt
4. Corruption – Pascal Aka
5. Both Saved – Afotey

Some filmmakers in the competitive categories won awards during the Yaa Asantewaa Awards session for their brilliant works. In all, seven films/filmmakers were awarded in six categories. They are,

1. Best Women in Film:- Back to Natural: A documentary film
2. Best Documentary:- “DNA- Using Genealogy to Change My (Slave) last name” and “The Rescue List”
3. Best Animation:- A Kalaband Ate My Homework
4. Best African Rising:- Watu Wote
5. Best Short Film:- Little Fiel
6. Best Feature:- Cleft Lip

Throughout the festival the festival, Miss Juliet Asante who aside being the President of the Black Star International Film Institute, is also the Board Chair of NAFTI (amongst other roles), reiterated the aims of BSIFF – creating global connections through film and connecting the world to African cinema. She emphasised that filmmakers in the country could, without compromising on quality, tell stories of relevant social and other issues in exciting ways, citing films that made it to BSIFF ’18 as examples of films that discussed issues within their societies and were still great films. BSIFF Volunteers Another interesting thing about BSIFF ’18 was the dedication and hard work of the team. Apart from the BSIFF board, the team was mainly made up of young volunteers who dedicated their time and skill sets to the success of the festival despite all the challenges they encountered. While commending volunteers for their commitment and impressive contribution to the festival, Miss Juliet Asante stated that, Ghana did not traditionally have the volunteering spirit, and was particularly grateful and impressed that these volunteers had without expecting any pay, completely committed themselves to seeing BSIFF ’18 come to a successful end. She was also excited about the learning, networking and other opportunities the volunteers have benefited. She said, “no one leaves the festival the same”. On several fronts, I believe BSIFF ’18 has been a great success. It is my sincerest hope that more media houses would partner the festival in future to improve publicity, more filmmakers (local and international) would partake in future, the public would be more involved, government would honour it’s promise to include BSIFF in the 2019 budget and continue to support it, and that more sponsors would come on board to support the festival, in order to collectively help realise the aim of connecting the world to African cinema and creating global connections through film.   Written by Baba Labanti.]]>