The NollywoodWeek film festival, which takes place in Paris, France, kicks off about a week from today, running from June 2-5, 2016.

NollywoodWeek is a film festival organized by the French-based association Okada Media, headed by Serge Noukoué and Nadira Shakur. The festival was created to fill the void of quality Nigerian cinema in the French market.

“This year we received an unprecedented amount of submissions of great quality which made the selection process very difficult”, Executive Director Serge Noukoué stated. “A great sign that the industry is heading in the right direction.”

This year’s official selection includes:

• “FIFTY” by Biyi Bandele: “Fifty” follows four African female lead characters into a riveting exploration of life’s paradoxes; love and lust, faith and logic, power and vulnerability, wisdom and youth, all culminated against the tropically insatiable backdrop of Africa’s fastest growing city, Lagos, Nigeria.
• “Falling” by Niyi Akinmolayan: “Falling” tells the story of Imoh and Muna who believe nothing can come between them until Imoh has an accident that leaves him comatose for months. Will Muna hold out for him or will she pull the plug?
• “The First Lady” by Omoni Oboli: A Cinderella like story about a prostitute hoping to one day meet a Prince Charming who will rescue her from it all, and who gets more than she bargained for when she does.
• “Stalker” by Moses Inwang: A psychological thriller about a stalker on the loose.
• “Gbomo Gbomo Express” by Walt Taylaur: A comedy centred on the kidnapping of record label boss and a socialite he meets at a club.
• “Lunch Time Heroes” by Seyi Babatope: The film tells the story of a high school teacher posted at a new school who has to gain the respect and attention of students and faculty that don’t want her around.
• “Taxi Driver” by Daniel Oriahi: The story follows a 31-year-old naive village mechanic who comes to Lagos for the first time after the sudden death of his estranged father, who was a taxi driver, and has to navigate Lagos and get accustomed to the streets.
• Also, director Kunle Afolayan will premiere his much anticipated new film, “The CEO,” at this year’s festival. The film is about five top executives from across Africa who are dispatched on a one-week leadership retreat to determine who gets selected as the new CEO. Things go awry when one by one the executives are eliminated in sudden death circumstances.

Also scheduled this year, for the first time, the festival will showcase a selection of short films; the seven shorts include “Hex,” “Prey,” “Joy,” “The Encounter,” “Keko,” “Ireti” and “The Good Son.”

NollywoodWeek Paris 2016 takes place from Thursday June 2 to Sunday June 5 in Paris, France at the Cinema l’Arlequin.

More information, including how to attend the festival, can be obtained on their website: www.nollywoodweek.com.