Premiere (and screening schedule) of Nowhere to Run: Nigeria’s Climate and Environmental Crisis

Here is the screening schedule (to the best of my knowledge) for Nowhere to Run: Nigeria’s Climate and Environmental Crisis by location. Most recent date listed first with earlier screenings in descending order.  Check the ‘Yar Adua Centre  Facebook page for more details. Scroll down for the original post about the film and its premiere:

On 3 April 2016, Nowhere to Run won the Grand Jury Prize at the Green Me Film Festival, Lagos.

On 3 July 2016, Nowhere to Run won the award for the Best Documentary Short at The African Film Festival (TAFF), Dallas.

Nigeria

Abuja:

7 July 2016 – One Environment Conference, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, 18 Libreville Street, Wuse II, Abuja. 2:30-4:30pm. Screening and Panel Discussion.

5 July 2016 – One Environment Conference, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, 18 Libreville Street, Wuse II, Abuja. 3:30-5pm. Screening and Panel Discussion.

6 June 2016 – ‘Yar Adua Centre  (in partnership with the National Gallery of the Arts) to commemorate UN World Environment Day.

22 April 2016 – Ekiti Hall, U.S. Embassy (Earth Day)

22 April 2016 – Canadian High Commission, Abuja

1 March, 2016 – Justice Development and Peace Commission, Catholic Secretariat

28 November 2015, 6pm – Institut Francaise

17 November 2015 – Green Carpet Premiere, Yar Adu’a Centre

Adamawa:

16 March 2016 – Library Auditorium, American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola (Leadership report, This Day Report)

Bauchi:

18 April 2016 – American Corner, Bauchi

Kaduna:

Between 21 March -15 April 2016 – Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

28 April 2016 – Conference Hall A, Gusau Institute, Kaduna

Kano:

18 April 2016 – American Corner, Kano

7 March, 2016 – Bayero University, Kano

Kwara:

2 June 2016 – Kwara State University, Malete, Auditorium, 12 noon (before convocation play)

Lagos:

7 June 2016 – PEFTI Film Institute, 5/7 Joy Avenue, By UBA Bank, Off Isolo Way, Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos. 1pm

2-3 April 2016 – Green Me Film Festival, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Ahmadu Bellow Way, 5pm, Saturday and Sunday. WON Grand Jury Prize.

Ogun:

29 March 2016 – Covenant University Chapel, Ota

15-19 November 2015 – Ake Arts and Book Festival, Arts and Culture Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta

Oyo:

11 July 2016 -IFRA-Nigeria Post Cop21 Conference “Ecological Crises in Nigeria.” Draper’s Hall, University of Ibadan, 12 noon.

21 April 2016 – American Corner, Ibadan

Plateau:

28 June 2016 – American Corner, Jos, 11 Murtala Mohammad Way (UniJos Consultancy Building) 10am prompt. RSVP: 0803-718-4414.

2 April 2016 – RURCON Conference Hall, Nigerian Bible Translation Trust

27 March 2016 – Miango Rest Home, Miango

Rivers:

28 April – Alliance Francaise, Port Harcourt, 12 noon

Overseas

France:

9-12 December 2015 – Africa Pavilian, COP21, Paris

 

United States:

California

11 February 2016 – Blum Centre for Developing Economies, University of California, Berkeley

22 February 2017 – Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA. Adams 216, 7pm

Illinois

31 August 2016- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs sponsor a screening to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 5pm check in, 5:30 film screening, 6:30pm Conversation with Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., Jackie Farris, and Kole Shettima, 7pm reception. To attend sign up online.

New Jersey

8 July 2016 – Rodo African Cuisine, Linden, New Jersey. The film will screen at Rodo African Cuisine, 1600 East Saint Georges Avenue, Linden, New Jersey, Friday, 8 July, 8-10pm. Free Entry. For more information, call 347-200-2509.

Texas

2 July 2016 – The African Film Festival (TAFF), Dallas. Nowhere to Run will screen at the Angelika Film centre, Dallas, Theatre A, on Saturday, 2 July around 8:45pm. The VOA article on TAFF featured Nowhere to Run. To buy a ticket and vote on the trailer, see this site. On 3 July, Nowhere to Run won the TAFF award for best documentary short.

Washington, D.C.

7 July 2016 – Nigerian Embassy, Washington DC.Nowhere to Run will screen at the the Nigerian Embassy, 3519 International Ct. NW, Washington, DC 20008, Thursday, 5 July, 6pm. To RSVP please respond at this link.

6 July 2016 – John Hopkins University in partnership with American University, Washington DC. Nowhere to Run will screen at John Hopkins University-SAIS, 1619 Masssachusetts Avenue, NW, Rome-806, Washington, DC 20036. 5-7pm. Please RSVP to African Studies, saisafrica (at) jhu.edu or 202-663-5676

6 July 2016 –  International Republican Institute, 1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 800, Washington DC, will screen the film at 2-4pm. To register for the event, click here.

 

Original Post:

At 6pm in Abuja at the Yar’Adua Centre today, 17 November, there will be a “green carpet” premiere of the documentary film Nowhere to Run: Nigeria’s Climate and Environmental crisis. Watch the trailer here:

 

The film was sponsored by the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, narrated by Ken Saro Wiwa Jr., and directed (shot, partially edited, etc) by my brother Dan McCain, who is the Managing Director of the Lagos-based Core Productions. I have also worked with Dan last year and this year on the project and came up with the first part of the title “nowhere to run,” which is a sentiment we heard over and over again in the interviews of people who talked about the effects of environmental degradation on their communities. Dan and his production team travelled all over Nigeria gathering stories about the environmental devastation in Nigeria and interviews with Nigeria-based experts and professionals such as Nnimmo Bassey, Ken Wiwa, Liza Gadsby and Peter Jenkins, Muhammad Kabir Isa, Paul Adeogun, Hannah Kabir, Saleh B. Momale, Michael Egbebike, Fatima Akilu, Joseph Hurst Croft, Alagoa Morris, Inemo Samiama, Ekaette Ukobong, Michael Uwemedimo, Godknows Boladei Igali, and others. What we came to find over the process of making the documentary is that as climate change creates global changes in the environment, many of the natural defense mechanisms that could alleviate some of the harm done by the changing environment are being destroyed through human activity.

For example, flaring is a major contributor of greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming. Although flaring is illegal in Nigeria, oil companies continue to flare because the fines are lower than the cost of capping off the flares and redirecting the gas (and if the gas were captured, it could do a lot to contribute to Nigeria’s massive need for electricity).  The mangroves and rain forests that absorb the greenhouse gases that cause global warming are being destroyed through oil pollution, logging and construction. These same mangroves and wetlands could also help absorb and manage the sea level rise that is occurring as polar ice caps melt, and yet they are shrinking every year. So, there is ocean encroachment along the coast, massive erosion in the southeast related to heavy rains and forest clearing, and desertification in the north. Environmental crises also contribute to conflict. For example, as Mohammad Kabir Isa of Ahmadu Bello University points out in the film and in this interview, the shrinking of Lake Chad (caused both by human interventions that remove massive amounts of water for irrigation and changing rainfall patterns that no longer fill the lake as they used to) has caused massive migration into Maiduguri in the past 20 years. Once people get to Maiduguri, there were few jobs available so the social welfare provided by Boko Haram attracted members. Desertification is also pushing people further south, and the expansion of farming into migration routes formerly used by pastoralists is behind some of the conflict we are seeing between pastoralists and farmers.

This is not a simple story, but instead one of multiple diverse complications both on a global and local level that are contributing to much of the environmental and political crises in Nigeria today. We made a point of making this a “Nigerian” documentary, and the interviews in the documentary are all with people based in Nigeria.

There are some things being done to reduce dependence on oil and to better use the land, such as wind energy project in Katsina and cook stoves and ovens that reduce dependence on firewood. But much more needs to be done.

You need a ticket to get into the premiere, but you can get them for free at this link. Unfortunately, because of a family emergency, I am unable to be there, but I hope it goes well and does some work to raise awareness among those who have the power to make the kinds of infrastructural changes in Nigeria that are needed to reduce the pressure on Nigeria’s environment. Another reason to go is to see my brother’s gorgeous cinematography, which captures the environmental devastation in Nigeria as well as the great beauty that still remains. If you miss the premiere, the Yar’Adua Centre is planning to sponsor a series of screenings around the country, and I will try to post updates here.

Some Core Productions images taken during the shooting for the documentary: