For emerging filmmakers, completing a film can be only the beginning of an even more difficult journey.
After months or years of writing, shooting and editing, many are left asking the same question: where does the film go next?
For filmmaker and Blue Unicorn Studios founder Precious Okpala, popularly known as The Happy Director, that question was one of the reasons he created the Blue Unicorn Film Festival Africa (BUFF).
Okpala, who is also the festival’s founder and festival director, said his own experience navigating the film industry exposed him to the limited opportunities available to emerging voices, particularly filmmakers struggling to find platforms for their work.
“One of the biggest gaps I think I discovered from my own journey is the fact that there are not much opportunities for emerging voices, emerging really creative voices to really thrive,” Okpala said.
“Many creative filmmakers make films, but because they are emerging, they barely find their home for their films. So not just Nigeria, Africa as a whole.”
Now in its second edition, BUFF is positioning itself as more than a festival for screening completed films. According to Okpala, the platform was designed to create a space where filmmakers can meet, collaborate and develop opportunities that continue beyond the festival.
“We wanted to bridge that gap and create a space where conversations can turn into collaborations,” he said.
For Okpala, that philosophy also means creating a festival where a filmmaker’s level of experience or access to resources does not determine whether their voice deserves to be heard.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a guerrilla filmmaker and you’re just trying to wing it. As long as you have a voice and you are pushing and you’re doing something, it’s a friendly space. There’s no gatekeeping here.”
BUFF receives about 1,968 submissions
The scale of interest in BUFF’s platform was reflected in its selection process for this year’s edition.
Okpala said the festival received about 1,968 film submissions for the 2026 edition, although limited screening capacity meant only a fraction could be selected for the festival.
To manage the process, the festival constituted a jury and left the final selection to its artistic direction team.
Although Okpala said he watched many of the submitted films, he deliberately kept himself out of the final decision-making process.
“I didn’t have a say. I left that to the artistic direction department of our film festival for them to handle,” he said.
He said this was particularly important because some films he personally enjoyed were ultimately not selected due to the need to accommodate other filmmakers.
“I had some films that were submitted to personally that were really great. But because we did not have enough screens, my team had to say, ‘You know what, no, we have to make space for other people as well.’”
The selection process, he said, prioritised African voices, particularly those of young and emerging filmmakers.
For this year’s edition, the festival also leaned towards family-friendly films, a decision Okpala linked directly to its “Finding Your Community” theme.
“We believe that the audience is part of the community,” he said.
The approach informed the festival’s decision to include an open family day, which Okpala said was designed to encourage families to experience a film festival together.
He also believes exposing filmmakers to audiences is important because it gives them an opportunity to see the immediate response to their work.
“We often hear things like, ‘Oh, this film is a festival film, this film doesn’t go to cinema.’ And, you know, but we believe that that’s not true,” he said.
“We believe that the audience can watch a good film. Every film is about story. And I feel like if the story is good, and if it’s told well, the audience can watch it.”
Why another film festival?
With an increasing number of film festivals and creative industry platforms emerging in Nigeria, the need for another festival could appear questionable.
Okpala, however, believes the continuing shortage of distribution and exhibition opportunities makes the case for more platforms rather than fewer.
“There are not much platforms for films to be seen,” he said. “Distribution platforms are very few, and there are many filmmakers that are making films now, but the biggest question on their mind is where will my film go to?”
He argued that film festivals can help address that problem by providing filmmakers with opportunities to connect their work with audiences and potentially find buyers or other avenues for distribution.
“Filmmakers need space, need a place where they can show their films and where they can possibly sell their films,” he said.
For Okpala, the value of such platforms is particularly important because cinema is not an accessible route for every filmmaker.
“If that’s what every other film festival is doing, then I think it’s a good thing, as not every filmmaker can go to cinema,” he said.
Finding the community behind the film
The theme of this year’s BUFF edition, “Finding Your Community,” reflects another challenge Okpala believes emerging filmmakers face: trying to navigate the industry alone.
While collaboration is frequently discussed in the creative sector, he said the concept is sometimes reduced to working together on a single project rather than building relationships that continue afterwards.
Okpala said finding the right community can help filmmakers overcome challenges ranging from funding and developing ideas to executing, marketing and selling their films.
“Finding the right community that can help you come together and say, ‘OK, you know what, we support you,’” he said.
That support, he explained, could involve helping a filmmaker make a film, market it or find ways to sell it.
But beyond the practical benefits, Okpala believes creative community provides emotional and professional support in an industry that can be demanding.
“It’s important that you do film with people you love because our film business will stretch you. But finding your community makes it easier.”
For Okpala, community is ultimately about reciprocity.
“It means I show up for you, you show up for me. It means together we collaborate. And like I said, we team up to make the dream work.”
Building opportunities beyond BUFF
Okpala’s ambition for BUFF extends beyond the days of the festival.
He said the organisers have introduced initiatives intended to create a continuing pipeline for filmmakers and young creatives, including BUFF Teens, which provided teenagers with masterclasses led by people with industry experience.
Some of the participants were subsequently brought into the BUFF talent structure, with plans to continue developing and managing them.
The festival is also building a wider community and database of filmmakers, while developing projects that will involve members of that community after the festival.
“The BUFF community we’re creating here is a community that is open to every filmmaker,” Okpala said.
“We want you to come into this community. And even after BUFF, post-BUFF, we have projects that we’ve rolled out.”
One of the projects currently being developed will involve teenagers, with filmmakers from the BUFF community participating in the production and gaining exposure to different aspects of the filmmaking process, including marketing and promotion.
According to Okpala, the intention is to make BUFF a continuing ecosystem rather than a once-a-year event.
“We have a database of filmmakers,” he said. “We tell people, you walk into BUFF with an idea and you walk out with a complete film. So that’s what BUFF does for you.”
Funding and the challenge of building community
Behind the festival’s ambitions, however, Okpala said building BUFF has come with significant challenges.
The first, he said, is finding people who are willing not only to collaborate but to remain committed to the vision.
“We talk about collaborations a lot, but people think that collaborations ends when it comes to a project,” he said.
Okpala said filmmakers can work together on a short film or other project and then simply go their separate ways once it is completed.
“But collaboration is a long-term process, it’s a long-term thing,” he said.
That long-term commitment becomes even more difficult when funding is limited.
“Number two is funding,” Okpala said, identifying the search for brands and other financial supporters as another major challenge.
He said mounting BUFF requires substantial resources, while the festival’s status as a growing platform can make it difficult to convince potential supporters to invest.
“Everything that we needed to do with BUFF needed a lot of money,” he said.
For the festival director, however, support is not limited to sponsorship.
He pointed to smaller actions such as reposting the festival’s work, sharing information, following the platform and buying tickets as ways audiences and members of the creative industry can contribute to the growth of emerging platforms.
“Getting people to support is one of the most difficult things in our space,” he said.
Okpala believes the issue deserves more attention because emerging filmmakers and creative platforms require support from both established industry figures and audiences to build sustainable careers.
‘I struggled to get into this industry’
Perhaps the most personal part of Okpala’s vision for BUFF comes from his own experience entering the Nigerian film industry.
He said his journey involved volunteering and experiences where he felt he was taken advantage of, a reality he believes is shared by many emerging creatives but is rarely discussed publicly.
“I struggled to get into this industry. I volunteered. I was taken advantage of, and I think that many of us have that story, but we don’t share it a lot,” he said.
That experience has shaped his desire to make BUFF a more accessible entry point for filmmakers who may otherwise struggle to find their way into the industry.
“BUFF is not going to do that,” Okpala said. “BUFF is here. We’re here to be your friends. We’re here to be your community. We’re here to hold you hand by hand.”
His vision is ultimately centred on access.
Okpala wants a young filmmaker with an idea, regardless of whether they have spent years developing it or are only beginning to find their voice, to see a pathway from that idea to a finished project.
“I have to tell you that that vision is valid,” he said. “Whether you’ve been writing that story for five years, 10 years, it’s possible, and there are means.”
What success would mean
For Okpala, the ultimate measure of BUFF’s success will not simply be the number of films screened or attendees recorded at the festival.
He hopes it will change how emerging filmmakers gain access to the industry.
“I think it will change the process for access to many people,” he said.
“It will provide instant access, you know, very positive parts for anybody who has a dream, who has a vision to achieve anything in film. It will make it easier for you.”
That vision is what Okpala believes should distinguish BUFF: not simply providing a stage for filmmakers to present finished work, but creating a community that can help them move from having a voice to finding the resources, people and opportunities needed to act on it.
For a filmmaker who once struggled to find his own way into the industry, BUFF represents an attempt to make that journey less lonely for those coming after him.
