The coveted Golden Jury Award for Overall Best Film at the 23rd Abuja International Film Festival has gone to the Chinese film, ‘The Shadow’s Edge’.
According to news reports, the awards were presented during the closing ceremony of the festival on Sunday in Abuja.
The 2026 edition of the AIFF, which ran from 20 to 25 October, was themed “Frames without Borders: AI, Ethics, and the Future of Filmmaking”.
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‘The Shadow’s Edge’ earned four nominations and secured three honours, including Outstanding Feature Film (Foreign), Outstanding Director, and the top prize, the Golden Jury Award.
The action-crime thriller, written and directed by Larry Yang, features Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai, marking their on-screen reunion after two decades. The film is loosely adapted from the 2007 Hong Kong film ‘Eye in the Sky’.
Larry Yang received the Outstanding Director award for the film at the festival.
The festival celebrated films from several countries, including Nigeria, China, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Germany, Cameroon and Russia.
Nigerian film ‘Evi’ won Outstanding Feature Film (Nigeria), while ‘Yellow Slipper’ claimed Outstanding Music Score.
Other Nigerian winners included ‘Siri and the Whispering Woods’ for Outstanding Animation, ‘A Night of Gold’ for Outstanding Experimental Film and ‘The Witnesses: Boys Who Lived with Violence’ for Documentary (Short).
‘With Immediate Effect’ won Documentary (Full Length), while ‘Dread’, a South African and British production, won Outstanding Narrative Concept.
Cameroonian film ‘Enjema’ won Outstanding Short Film (Foreign), while ‘Another World’ from the Russian Federation won Outstanding Cinematography.
Beverly Osu won Outstanding Actress for her role in ‘Ikenga’ (the last festival), while Uzor Arukwe won Outstanding Actor for ‘Evi’.
Rotimi Salami also won Outstanding Actor for his performance in ‘The Invincible Child (Kilanko)’.
The Outstanding Student Film category was won by ‘Wake the Flies’, a Germany-Nigeria production, and ‘Kilter’ from the United Kingdom.
The Audience Choice Award went to ‘Voice of Motherland’ and ‘Depth of Death’.
The 23rd AIFF also honoured legendary thespians Dame Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett and Grace Oyin-Adejobi with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Veteran actors Pete Edochie and Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, received Industry Merit Awards.
In his remarks, AIFF founder, Fidelis Duker, said the festival was established to encourage competition and improve filmmaking.
“The beauty of it is not winning, it’s that it gets us to begin to compete,” Duker noted.
He said the festival had helped filmmakers recognise the need to work together, adding that filmmaking required collaboration in production, scriptwriting and other areas.
Duker said the vision of the festival was to build an institution that would continue to grow beyond its founders.
“We want to see it running in the next 50 years as one the biggest festivals in the world and some of us might not be here,” he said.
He thanked participants and supporters for their commitment, noting that their presence had contributed to the success of the event.
The closing ceremony also featured comedy performances and a runway showcase, among other attractions.
NAN
