“Filmjoint will become the go-to global platform for short films.” – Gbenga Adeoti
By Seyi Lasisi
A year later, I’m still haunted by the depth, brilliance, and age-long truth expressed by Robert Daniels, a Chicago–based film critic, in a review. Reviewing Aemilia Scott’s Help Me Understand, which premiered at the short film bloc of the Sundance Film Festival, Daniels remarked, “Some shorts exist solely as a premise, others play like a dry run for a feature, and others are just well-constructed examples of the form”.
Upon my constant exposure to and discovery of well–written and executed Nigerian short films, I have come to appreciate the depth of Robert Daniels’ words. His insight gained additional layers of meaning with the emergence of Filmjoint—a platform dedicated to promoting, premiering, and distributing short films—and through conversations with Gbenga Adeoti, its founder. There exists an expensive library of short films that are “well-constructed examples of the form” that are, sadly, not available and known to a wide range of audiences. Beyond their creators’ immediate community, short films rarely receive the widespread and enthusiastic responses they deserve.
Noticing the absence of a market for short films, the second-class treatment they receive, and the meagre recognition accorded to them and their creators, Adeoti, who is also a filmmaker, decided to create Filmjoint. In developing the platform, Adeoti had three primary objectives: promoting, premiering, and distributing short films from Nigeria and the international market. By establishing a thriving market for short films, Filmjoint aims to add value to these works and encourage both emerging and established filmmakers to create them. I listened intently as Adeoti spoke about Filmjoint’s mission. “At Filmjoint, we are on the mission of creating a film market for emerging and established filmmakers. Filmjoint allows filmmakers to make short films without being pressured to turn them into feature films or series”, the founder said.

Short films are known for their compactness in theme and vision. Guided by the creator’s pressing and personal story, a short film often involves a small cast and crew. With an average runtime of 20 to 40 minutes, the filmmaker has limited time to introduce characters, tell their story, and capture the audience’s attention. Not susceptible to excess, well–written short films are bare of superfluous scenes, dialogue, and trivial information.
Echoing E.B White’s divine writing advice in Element of Style, “Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences…”. Thus, the skilled short film filmmaker learns to omit needless characters, dialogue, and settings that don’t serve the story.
Nigerian director and production designer Blue Adekunle describes the unique essence of short films as a pure storytelling medium. “Feature film conditions filmmakers to think of making a financial return, which might clamp down on the filmmaker’s voice. But, in short, filmmakers are artists in their purest form”. Adeoti added thoughts to Adekunle’s opinion, saying, “Short films give filmmakers the liberty to be artistic and communicate your story without holding back.”
Filmjoint: A Haven for Nigerian and Foreign Short Film Filmmakers
However, despite its valuable role as a medium for making poignant statements, short films are often treated as afterthoughts. In film festivals and distribution channels, feature films tend to monopolise attention, leaving short films and their filmmakers scrambling for visibility and distribution. Sadly, the average short film often fades from the public eye after a successful festival tour. While feature films can potentially secure adoption by a distribution company or streaming platform following their festival runs, short films frequently lack clear distribution channels. It is this gap that Filmjoint aims to address, challenging the notion that there is no market for short films.
Nollywood film director Sonia John, who served as the premier manager for the recent Filmjoint premiere, describes the platform’s fundamental goal as fostering the monetisation of short films. She noted that everything undertaken by Filmjoint—including the Filmjoint Award, Filmjoint Premiere, and other planned programmes—aims to establish a viable market for short films.
“We are also trying to correct that cycle of, upon completing its festival circuit, filmmakers dumping their short films on any YouTube channel. At Filmjoint, we inform filmmakers of an alternative path. The Award is specially created to spotlight the filmmakers involved in the creative process of making a short film”, the director concluded.
The Filmjoint hosts the Filmjoint Premieres and the Filmjoint Awards (TFA) annually. The Premieres offer filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their unreleased short films to a live audience in grand style, complete with panel discussions for cast and crew members. The Awards, on the other hand, are an annual merit-based accolade that recognises excellence in cinematic short films globally, highlighting the significant value that short films bring to cinema.

Speaking further about the premiere and awards, Adeoti mentioned how short films are rarely premiered, unlike their feature film counterparts, and how, in mainstream award shows, short films are often secondary. Although included in the award list (Best Short Film Category), these shows do not fully acknowledge the cast and crew members involved in creating the films.
“We want to allow short film filmmakers to premiere their films in grand style, and the necessary glamour attached to a premiere. For the award, we aim to create a dedicated accolade specifically for rewarding filmmakers involved in creating short films. This award allows filmmakers to create films with the knowledge that they will be promoted and recognised”, Adeoti told me.
Obinna Okerekocha, one of Filmjoint’s jury members, expressed how vital Filmjoint is not just to the Nigerian film industry but to global cinema. Okerekocha believes that as more first-time filmmakers use the short film medium to express and develop their ideas, a new pool of talent will emerge. “Films are vehicles for cultural and historical expression. What Filmjoint is doing through the appropriation, premiering, and curating of short films will keep the film space alive and increase the repository of Nigerian short films,” the juror told me.
Among the reasons that attracted Michael “Panda” Okolie, founder of Panda Media and one of Filmjoint’s partners, to the platform, two are prominent: collaboration and creating market value for short film filmmakers. Okolie, an ardent advocate for collaboration, believes that to propel industry growth, young and emerging filmmakers need to prioritise working together creatively.
Additionally, Okolie, also a film director and producer, is interested in spotlighting young emerging creatives. “Filmjoint is positioning itself as the voice of the voiceless for short film filmmakers by creating avenues for marketing and networking opportunities for short film filmmakers”, he told me.
Filmjoint is Discovering, Promoting, and Spotlighting New Voices
Speaking on the cultural and industry importance of Filmjoint, Adekunle explained how the platform is creating an enabling environment for emerging filmmakers to experiment and thrive. Adekunle believes the future of Nigeria’s short film industry is the future of Nollywood. The director opines that Nigerian filmmakers making short films are often shying away from telling personal stories.
There has been a spike in the quality of storytelling in Nigerian short films. Over time, people will continue to embrace the growth of Filmjoint. “Culturally and industry-wise, when a young filmmaker makes a short film, and you’re guaranteed an audience and platform for distribution, it creates an environment for genuine truthfulness to craft and style. Because you’re not thinking of being overtly commercial, Filmjoint existence will make other short film filmmakers comfortable telling stories they want to tell”, the director and production designer told me.
John said Filmjoint is correcting emerging filmmakers’ mindset into seeing short films as not just a means to an end but a commercially and artistically rewarding pathway. “We tell filmmakers that making a feature film isn’t what qualifies you to become one. And because they have a short film to their name, they aren’t mini filmmakers. This is a way to correct that mantra of short films being a means to an end.”
Besides elevating the importance of short films and their filmmakers in the industry, Filmjoint strives to bridge the talent and opportunity gap in the Nigerian film industry. The absence of surplus opportunity often limits emerging filmmakers.
Reminiscing other advanced film industries, in the Nigerian film industry, the stars and celebrities are primarily being called for jobs by film executives and producers. And from a market perspective, this is justified. But, as Adeoti implies, this monopoly limits emerging filmmakers from climbing the ladder. In the industry, everyone — both emerging and established filmmakers, is scrabbling for the same meagre opportunities.

However, Adeoti believes Filmjoint is creating an alternative pathway for growth that benefits the industry on a large scale by giving filmmakers and creators an alternative platform to scramble for opportunities in the film industry. “Feature films aren’t the only pathway. Filmjoint is making the industry broader. Feature films should be what you want to do not because you must do it but because the story world fits for it,” Adeoti mentioned with much conviction.
What Does The Future Hold?
What’s the future of Filmjoint and Nigerian short films? Netflix has a small library of award-winning short films. From Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe co-directed Two Distant Strangers, Misan Harriman’s The After, Will McCormack and Michael Govier co-directed If Anything Happens I Love You, Marielle Woods’ Heart Short, and Wes Anderson adapted and directed The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, the archive for short film is expanding.
Adeoti is confident that Filmjoint will get to this position soon as he believes the platform will inevitably change short films’ narrative in light of how they are perceived and produced. In partnership with TNC, a production company interested in promoting African storytelling, Filmjoint has signed a distribution deal to actualise Filmjoint’s tripartite objective. Abiodun Odu’s Ihunanya’m, and Nwamaka Chikezie’s My Mama na Ashewo are already streaming to commendable reception on TNC’s YouTube channel. With this deal, Adeoti believes the future will be fulfilling for short film filmmakers.
Projecting into the future, Adeoti said he sees Filmjoint as the go-to global platform for short films. In fact, he is optimistic about cinema and streaming platforms, accepting and showing short films. He said, “There is no market for what a market isn’t created for. But, once there is a market for short films, there will be a market.”
Seyi Lasisi is a Nigerian creative with an obsessive interest in Nigerian and African films as an art form. His film criticism aspires to engage the subtle and apparent politics, sentiments, and opinions of the filmmaker to see how they align with reality. He tweets @SeyiVortex. Email: seyi.lasisi@afrocritik.com.