The long-awaited Yoruba World Film Festival is here and the unveiling of the festival logo is taking place today at the Airport Hotel Ikeja, Lagos at 11.00 a.m.

Speaking with Roll Tape during the week, President of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP), Prince Jide Kososo, said the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, will unveil the festival logo as the royal father of the day and of the festival.

He said the festival will involve practitioners and visitors from Brazil and Cuba, where the Yoruba have a strong influence and cultural affinity.

Kosoko added that the rendezvous would afford practitioners within the Yoruba film festival sector to get feedbacks from their kith and kin in South America and the Carribean, to share ideas in order to improve the quality of Yoruba language films.

Already, the Nigerian Film Cooperation and the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board are throwing their full weight behind the festival. With support from these two bodies, the festival is placed in good stead to improve the quality of Yoruba films, “so that they can be the best in the country”, Kosoko told RT. Part of the objectives of the festival, apart from improving on the quality, is to improve also on the distribution and marketing of Yoruba films.

Though the festival proper is not coming till September, the unveiling of the logo today is the starting point, while other events will follow until the September gathering.

The Yoruba movie industry is a vibrant sub sector in the Nigerian film industry, predating the so-called Nollywood. Practitioners like Moses Olaiya,(Baba Sala) as well as the late Chief Hubert Ogunde and Ade Afolayan(Ade Love) were icons of the early days of the industry.