For six days, forty-four Christian film creatives from Nigeria participated in the 2026 Africa Gospel Film Project to improve on their creative and spiritual prowess in telling faith-based stories. The project closed with worship and impartation, film pitching, screening of short films produced by participants, and awards to the deserving groups. Tomisin Faoye has been a screenwriter for four years. She pitched a short film to a three-man panel on the last day.
Participants were divided into four groups for their film project – House of David, Joshua, Gideon and Caleb. Their task was to produce short films as part of the exercises for the film project. Closing the ceremony, House of Joshua got the prize for best screenplay, best editing, best director and best actress for their short film titled ‘Confidence’.
Faith Uloaku Ohuoba, a participant and best actress winner, says the experience was intense, learning about funding and collaboration. According to her, getting a standard story is key but also letting God take the lead. For her, this film project has been a total mind shift.
Just like Faith Ohuoba, team lead and director for House of Joshua, Philip Oyeleye shares similar thoughts to Faith. Despite being addressed as a filmmaker, he described the film project as a fresh experience. The group’s short film idea was to create a social impact film with a spiritual foundation in God, creating a realistic film exploring integrity. With his experiences so far and winning awards at this film project, Philip is grateful to team members, and this validates the value in his spiritual gifts of telling impact-based stories.
Dumisani Adonai Chitwa was the only foreign participant at AGFP 2026. Dumisani travelled from Zambia to Nigeria to get more training, network and collaborate. Back in Zambia, Dumisani has been acting for about 20 years and producing for about 10 years. He says Zambia being largely a Christian nation makes it easier for its citizens to align with gospel films and music. According to him, the country is a fast-growing media space when it comes to filmmaking, and the feedback is overwhelming. ‘People are eager to see where the stories are going and where they are coming from.’
Dumisani describes his experience at AGFP as transformational, mind-blowing and very impactful. Returning to Zambia, Dumisani feels prepared to stand firm, share his experience, and align himself without compromising standards as a Christian in the film space.
Other winners at AGFP 2026 include House of Caleb with a prize for sound editing, House of David with a prize for cinematography and a prize for best picture. House of David had five of their stories rejected, and that affected their working time, reduced to 24 hours to shoot and edit, but they emerged the best winner at the end of the day.
The convener, Bright Wonder Obasi, who is an experienced filmmaker in the Christian community, known for faith-based films like Chains, encouraged participants to build integrity and reputation. He adds that upcoming filmmakers should consider the value they are bringing to a collaboration rather than what is to be gained.
