Ogundaisi
offers ‘Pardonable Unforgiveable’ at a time of ‘Bail Out’
Stories by
Shaibu Husseini
Veteran motion
picture producer and director Yinka Ogundaisi’s new movie ‘Unforgiveable
Unpardonable’ is not about politics or politicians and so it has absolutely
nothing to do with the current agitation for bail out funds by some state
governments. But it has a lot to offer couples that are in search of a bail out
from a horrendous to a sustainable happy married live.
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| Ogundaisi |
Star studded
and an industry wide cast that includes Taiwo and Yomi Obileye, Uche Macauley,
Aisha Abimbola, Taiwo Hassan, Gloria Young and Dejumo Lewis of the village
headmaster fame, Pardonable Unforgivable is about domestic violence,
perspective on marriages and on the key to sustainable married life.
Produced and
directed by Yinka Ogundaisi for Ogundaisi’s Universal Films and Communication
Limited, the story revolves round Josephine, Segun, Abimbola, Edwina, Chief
Willoughby and 70-year-old Deola who have different tales of betrayals, lust and
adventures to share. Josephine leads in the movies rising moments when she
shuts the door on her marriage but could not seek a divorce because her only
son could not cope with living without a father. She also could not consummate
another relationship no matter the pressure from the opposite sex. Segun on his
part, nibbles at the bait of his ex-wife’s wealth to save his ailing business
to the detriment of his loving family while Abimbola had a bitterly contested
divorce and instead of borrowing a cue from the likes of Josephine she finds
solace in partying and consummating other affairs. Elsewhere, Edwina is born to
into wealth but that could not guarantee her a steady home as the fellow she
divorced found a steady soulmate. Chief Willoughby’s headache is having to
contend with his 70 years old wife Deola who is having a side kick with his
best friend. On her part, Deola too draws blood when she stumbles on her
husband’s open affair with a young lady she considers a daughter. And the rest of the story is devoted to
how the intrigues and conflicts play out.
Laced with
folklore music, songs and dances by three ancient masquerades from the old Oyo
Empire, Ogundaisi who is reputed to have produced the first English language
movie in 1990 titled ‘Give and Take’ said he decided on a love story at this
time because of the rampant cases of divorce and domestic violence. According
to Ogundaisi ‘’most of what you read on social media now and in the magazine
section of our print media are majorly issues around domestic violence and so
on. So we thought we should contribute our quota to the narrative on how we can
best handle marriages and relationships’’
Ogundaisi
confirmed that post-production work on the movie which features entertainment
editor Victor Akande in lead role is completed and that what remains now is a
formal premiere and a cinema release of the movie. ‘’We are done with post-
production. We are marketing now and talking to distributors to see how we can
exploit the cinema route before we do other platforms and finally release on
DVD. We have an assurance of a
premiere and we are working on the details. But what is sure is that we are
ready for cinema release after which we shall exploit other platforms’’ he said.
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| movies poster |
With the
National Distribution Framework (NDF), which Ogundaisi conceived for the
National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) now moribund, is Ogundaisi whose
most recent effort ‘Omoge’ was sold to a cable station recently, not scared
that pirates may feast on his new movie. ‘’It is the reason we are thinking of
a cinema release first before we can consider other routes’’ Ogundaisi,
producer of the longest running but now rested television series Feyikogbon
submitted.
He explained
why the NDF walked into a snoozing state: ‘’Nigeria is a huge country, officially on the constitution, there are
774 local governments, so even if you want to transverse the local governments,
estimate the cost, so the board had financial problem to execute the policy.
The second was that censorship is on the concurrent list, which means the
federal government does not have exclusive say on it. So we had to look for a
strategy to incorporate the state governments into what we wanted to do. But of
course the state governments, because of political reasons, had their own
agenda. Anyway, the NFVCB decided to promote that shared responsibility by
giving out different states to those on the committee. It was going well, the
last bit was that in 2011, what has been mitigating against that distribution
policy which would have effectively help solve the problem of piracy is that
till today, there is no link between the license distributors at the regional
and national level with the various community distributors. Ideally, the way
the distribution policy was programmed to work is that you break the entire
country into smaller manageable territory. So when a film is released, it is
only in the territories that the distributors say that they want to distribute
this film for their communities, those are the legitimate places you will find
the movie. The other challenges is Emeka Mbah’s exit from the NFVCB. The new DG
(Patricia Bala) came in, a director in the board before then, but started
singing a new song, as the board was not going to renew my consultancy. The
long and short of it is that nobody knows if distribution framework is still
on. And it is the reason piracy is currently thriving in Nigeria’’.
Ebonylife ‘Fifty’ gets Ambode Endorsement
The Lagos
State Government through its Ministry of Culture and Tourism have announced
their partnership with EbonyLife Films in the build-up to the film’s worldwide
premiere on the 13th of December 2015.
The Lagos
State Government confirmed its support for the film in an official letter to
EbonyLife Films signed by the Honourable Minister for Culture and Tourism, Foli
Coker. In the letter, the commissioner stated “we appreciate the rich showcase
of our great city through FIFTY’s celebration of the pulse and energy of this
fast developing metropolis and its people through the lenses of its four
leading women. We can proudly say Lagos State is the movie’s fifth character.”
Speaking on
the partnership, Executive Producer, Mo Abudu said “we are thrilled to have
Lagos State endorse our movie. FIFTY is a celebration of all that is good in
and about Lagos and Africa as a continent. Our hope is that our great city
continues to be an iconic backdrop for many more stories in the near future.”
This
endorsement is another great feat for the EbonyLife Films production which
continues to rally local and international support. Earlier in the year, the
film was selected to screen at the 59th BFI London Film
Festival – the only Nigerian film and one of five African films – alongside
some of the year’s biggest titles.
Directed by
Biyi Bandele and executively produced by Mo Abudu, FIFTY, captures a few
pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their
careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are forced at midlife to take
inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against
the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Lagos.
‘FIFTY’ which
stars Ireti Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli and Nse Ikpe-Etim. will
premiere in Nigeria with a special grand Lagos premiere on the 13th of December
2015 at The Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and will be released
in cinemas nationwide on the 18th of December 2015
