Edo State International Film Festival

The Edo State International Film Festival was a new platform with an ambitious proposition: bring filmmakers, investors, distributors and creative industry professionals from Nigeria and around the world together in Edo. For a first edition, the challenge was not simply to announce a festival. It was to create awareness, credibility and excitement around a new cultural property while positioning Edo as a serious destination for film, creativity and investment.

Live With Latasha led the festival's media, PR and communications, building the narrative around the festival and translating its ambition into a story that could resonate with media, the creative community and wider audiences.

• Build awareness ahead of the festival and establish the event as a significant new film platform.
• Position ESIFF as an international festival rather than a state-based cultural event.
• Generate national media visibility and create credible conversations around the festival.
• Use the voices and profiles of filmmakers, actors, partners and creative industry stakeholders to build relevance.
• Communicate the festival's international reach, programming and opportunities for industry engagement.
• Connect the festival to the wider story of Edo's growing creative economy.

The campaign brought together media relations, publicity, stakeholder communications, talent amplification and storytelling. Live With Latasha helped create a public-facing narrative around the festival, its participants, partners and wider ambition. Communications highlighted the international dimension of the event, the calibre of its participants and the opportunity to place Edo within a broader conversation about the future of African film. The campaign also drew on the strength of the festival's network, including filmmakers, actors, industry professionals and institutional partners. The festival announced participation from prominent Nollywood figures and partnerships with organisations including Edojobs, GIZ, SDC, Phoenix, Presco and Accelerate TV.

The maiden edition attracted significant international participation, with 1,551 film submissions from 94 countries. The festival brought together filmmakers, investors, distributors and industry enthusiasts, with programming that included film screenings, masterclasses, panel discussions, premieres and virtual sessions.

A new festival needed a narrative that could establish relevance quickly, attract attention beyond its immediate geography and communicate its ambition to an international audience. Live With Latasha approached the assignment as a communications and positioning challenge: create the story, identify the voices that could carry it, and make the festival part of a larger conversation about the future of film and creativity in Edo.