The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has said the Edo State International Film Festival (ESIFF) was initiated by his administration to create a marketplace for films and movies.

The governor made the remarks at the 2024 ESIFF Grand Finale & Awards Night, held at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub, in Benin City.

He noted that his administration created the festival to serve as a platform to bring stakeholders in the entertainment industry together to transact business in the creative sector.

Obaseki noted: “This event is to help create a marketplace for films and movies. We know a lot of you, particularly young people in the creative industry in this part of the country, have done a lot of work and your products and production are not seen.

“So we felt as a government, we should support the creative industry, ensuring that festivals like this are held where we bring together youths with creative talents and people that will help you distribute your production across the world.”

The governor commended the sponsors of the festival, noting, “I thank our sponsors who have worked with us over the years to improve the quality we see here today and need them to help sustain the festival. This is a government initiative to help launch ideas and can only be sustained by the creative industry.

“This international film festival belongs to the industry and from next year it will be run by the Trust made up of a spectrum of players and people from the creative industry while we will support from the sidelines and hope that our sponsors and all of you interested and those that would benefit from it take it up from there.”