Film
Chinese film ‘The Shadow’s Edge’ has emerged topmost winner and received the coveted Golden Jury Award (Overall Best Film) at the 23rd edition of the Abuja International Film Festival (AIFF).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the awards presentation was made at the closing ceremony of the festival on Sunday in Abuja.
The 2026 AIFF held from Oct. 20 to 25, with the theme “Frames without Borders: AI, Ethics, and the Future of Filmmaking”.
‘The Shadow’s Edge’ was nominated for four categories of the awards but clinched three, including the award for Outstanding Feature Film (Foreign), Outstanding Director and the highly coveted Golden Jury Award.
The action-crime thriller, written and directed by Larry Yang, stars Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai, marking their onscreen reunion after two decades.
The film is loosely adapted from the 2007 Hong Kong film ‘Eye in the Sky’.
Larry Yang won the Outstanding Director award for the film at the AIFF.
The festival recognised films from several countries, including Nigeria, China, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Germany, Cameroon and Russia.
Nigerian film ‘Evi’ won the Outstanding Feature Film (Nigeria), while ‘Yellow Slipper’ clinched the Outstanding Music Score.
Other Nigerian winners included ‘Siri and the Whispering Woods’ for Outstanding Animation, ‘A Night of Gold’ for Outstanding Experimental Film and ‘The Witnesses: Boys Who Lived with Violence’ for Documentary (Short).
‘With Immediate Effect’ won Documentary (Full Length), while ‘Dread’, a South African and British production, won Outstanding Narrative Concept.
Cameroonian film ‘Enjema’ won the Outstanding Short Film (Foreign), while ‘Another World’, from the Russian Federation, won the Outstanding Cinematography.
Beverly Osu won the Outstanding Actress for her role in ‘Ikenga’ (the last festival), while Uzor Arukwe won the Outstanding Actor for ‘Evi’.
Rotimi Salami also won the Outstanding Actor for his role in ‘The Invincible Child (Kilanko)’.
The Outstanding Student Film category was clinched by ‘Wake the Flies’, a Germany-Nigeria production, and ‘Kilter’, from the United Kingdom.
The Audience Choice Award went to ‘Voice of Motherland’ and ‘Depth of Death’.
The 23rd AIFF also honoured legendary thespians Dame Ajayi-Lycett and Grace Oyin-Adejobi with the Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Veteran actors Pete Edochie and Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, received the Industry Merit Awards.
In his remarks, AIFF founder, Fidelis Duker, said the festival was established to encourage competition and improve filmmaking.
“The beauty of it is not winning, it’s that it gets us to begin to compete,” Duker said.
He said the festival had helped filmmakers recognise the need to work together, adding that filmmaking required collaboration in production, scriptwriting and other areas.
Duker said the festival’s vision was to build an institution that would continue to grow beyond its founders.
“We want to see it running in the next 50 years as one the biggest festivals in the world and some of us might not be here,” he said.
He thanked participants and supporters for their commitment, saying their presence had helped make the event successful.
The closing ceremony also featured comedy performances and a runway showcase, among other attractions.(NAN
