The second edition of Mashariki African Film Festival (MAFF) has officially opened in Kigali. Movie lovers swarmed the opening ceremony which took place at Grand Pension Plaza on Sunday.

The show, which was hosted by comedian Arthur Nkusi, had two sessions in the same evening, and the screening session was the most anticipated. However, there was also a cocktail session that was basically for people to socialise and watch music performances.

The cocktail kicked off at 6pm, followed by the screening of Abderrahmane Sissako’s film dubbed Timbuktu which started at 8pm.

A 2014, 96-minute film which starred Malian Ibrahim Ahmed as a Tuareg herder called Kidane, appealed to a number of people as it illustrated life in a city under the control of violent Islamists.

Ahmed, who was also present at the event, said, "I’m a Tuareg; I’ve faced everything taking place there. The film is a true interpretation of the whole situation.”

He added that cinema is a big business which every African should embrace.

Jean Kwezi, the festival coordinator, said that the main aim of such an event is to help promote and develop local and regional film industries.

"What we want is to develop and promote the regional cinema industry, but most especially the Rwandan film industry. We are giving a platform to actors and other people in the industry to showcase their potential. We are trying to make people understand why they should support their local film industry so as to help us take it to the next level,” he said.

He added that steps are being taken to help other film-makers improve the standards of their movies. The local movies submitted last year were not to the standards of those from the other countries.

This year’s edition under the theme " Cinema Unites Africa” will screen only short films from Rwandan film makers, while their counterparts will screen in the other categories; feature films and documentaries.

The festival which will run until March 12, 2016, will also see workshops for filmmakers taking place at Goethe Institute every day.

"Throughout the festival, filmmakers will get a chance to be trained on how to work on film projects and how they can make them compelling. We are having these workshops about pre-production and acting as well post-production,” Kwezi noted.

Kwezi, however, urges movie fans to come and see what the rest of Africa is producing and also take part in developing the country’s film industry as supporters and critics.

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