iRep screens documentary on Badagry at international festival

A documentary film titled Badagry: A Journey Back in Time has been shortlisted for screening at the fifth edition of the iRepresent international documentary film festival in Lagos.

According to a statement released by Pelu Awofeso, managing editor of Waka-about, the documentary is scheduled to screen at the freedom park museum, Victoria Island and at the Goethe Institute, city hall, Lagos at 1:09pm on March 19 and 9:02pm on March 20.

Shot and directed by photographer and broadcaster, Wome Uyeye, the film follows a busload of Nigerian tourists on a daylong excursion to Badagry, the historic town situated on the western tip of Lagos.

The excursion, tagged #VisitBadagry held in May 2014 and was organised by @TravelNextDoor, founded Awofeso, a CNN award-winning travel journalist, author and publisher, to promote domestic tourism and encourage Nigerians to travel within their country.

Besides Badagry, @TravelnextDoor takes regular excursions to Abeokuta, Epe, Akure, Lokoja and other touristy towns and cities in Nigeria.

While in Badagry, tourists visited attractions and relics associated with the slave trade, and the tour included stops at the Badagry heritage museum, the Brazillian baracoon (slave-holding cells), Vlekete slave market, the Agia tree monument as well as the palace of the Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu Toyi 1.

The festival organising committee said the documentary film festival would hold at the Freedom Park, off Broad Street, featuring more than 50 documentary film screenings, panel discussions, workshops and networking, with filmmakers attending from countries such as USA, Germany, South Africa, Egypt, Mali, Ghana, Cameroun and Gabon.