The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) has officially announced the return of the Decasia Heritage Film Festival to Lagos. This four-day cultural event will be held from Sunday, July 27, to Wednesday, July 30, at the NFC’s Lagos office in Ikoyi.
Decasia 2025 is a collaborative effort involving the NFC, the Lagos Film Society, and several prominent German institutions, including the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Arts (Berlin), the Deutsche Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Frankfurt), Goethe University Frankfurt, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), and the Goethe-Institut Lagos. This festival is dedicated to rediscovering, preserving, and reimagining Africa’s cinematic heritage in a creative and innovative way.
Dr. Ali Nuhu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NFC, emphasised that this year’s festival promises to be a significant gathering for filmmakers, archivists, historians, scholars, and cultural stakeholders.
In a statement released by the NFC’s Director of Public Affairs, Brian Etuk, Dr. Nuhu mentioned that the festival’s program will feature screenings of rare archival films, panel discussions focused on preservation strategies and the role of cultural memory in national development, as well as networking sessions aimed at fostering policy dialogue.
“This edition of Decasia will facilitate discussions surrounding the draft National Film Archive Policy and highlight the necessity of protecting our audiovisual heritage in an increasingly digital world,” Dr. Nuhu stated.
The festival will also explore how digital technologies impact preservation efforts and the connection between film archives and festivals. One of Decasia’s main objectives is to enhance the profile of Nigeria’s National Film, Video, and Sound Archive (NFVSA) as the primary audiovisual repository in the country while reinforcing its partnerships with academic institutions such as the National Film Institute (NFI) and the University of Jos, which offers a Master’s degree program in Film Culture and Archiving Studies.
By engaging filmmakers, government bodies, the private sector, and the general public, Decasia 2025 aims to create sustainable frameworks for audiovisual preservation and extend the reach of cultural diplomacy.
Initially launched in Lagos in 2019 as the “1st Berlin-Lagos Archival Film Festival,” the festival’s 2020 edition took place in Berlin, Germany, under the theme “Reclaiming History, Unveiling Memory.” The 2025 edition’s return to Lagos is anticipated to further solidify Nigeria’s commitment to heritage preservation, skill development in archiving, and global cultural engagement.
