Two Nollywood films, The Wedding Party and 76, jointly received the 2017 NollywoodWeek Public Choice Award at the recently-concluded NollywoodWeek Film Festival that took place in Paris, France.

The festival trophy was given to Izu Ojukwu, the Director of 76, and Moses Babatope, who represented the director of the Wedding Party.

“I was not expecting this award. It’s an honour for me and for everybody who worked on the film,” said Izu Ojukwu.

In his acceptance speech, Moses Babatope expressed joy at winning this award and said that it was a good omen as the production of The Wedding Party 2 had just begun in Lagos and Dubai.

Journalists and film critics have praised the quality of the selected films for this 5th edition.

A total of 11 films were shown during the four days of the festival, including five films in competition: Dinner, Gidi Blues, Green White Green, The Wedding Party and 76.

The director of communication and co-founder of the festival, Nadira Shakur, said “The festival has really cemented its place in the Parisian cultural calendar. Each year we try to offer the very best of Nollywood to the Parisian public by bringing the newest developments in the industry. This year we screened a web-series from REDTV and for the first time, an animated short film from Anthill Studios called Play-Thing.

“The selection of the 2017 edition of NollywoodWeek was rich and eclectic. The Public Choice Award ultimately went to two very different films but both have left an indelible mark on the Nigerian cinema landscape over the past year.”

Since 2013, the Nollywood Week Festival, an initiative of the Okada Media Association, has offered the Parisian public the opportunity to view the gems of Nollywood cinema and has provided access to its popular actors and its talented directors at only 39 euros for the 4 day pass.

This year’s selection reflected the diversity of genres that now make up this industry. Festival-goers discovered the record-breaking comedy, “The Wedding Party” from Kemi Adetiba, “The Diner”, a drama from the director Jay Franklyn Jituboh, and also “Catch[dot]er”, a film from the newly styled NollyNoir genre, directed by the British-Nigerian film-maker Walter Taylaur. “Catch[dot]er”.

This year’s competition also had 5 movies in the running to win the prestigious People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Angénieux, one of the leading manufacturers of high quality optic cinema lenses for the broadcast and film industries.