Shirley Frimpong Manso's Love or Something Like that as a headline film of Nollywodweek 2015
Message sponsored by www.nollywood-our-nollywood.com
Sunday, 28 June 2015
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Shaibu's MovieRUN!:
Light
dims on Pa Oladele, Pioneer Filmmaker
By Shaibu Husseini
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| Late Pa Francis Oladele |
The Nigerian motion picture industry
has been thrown into deep mourning again. The industry was still mourning the
untimely demise of veteran actor and social crusader Femi Robinson who passed on May 20 and
was interred on June 12, 2015 in Lagos when news broke that a pioneer of the
Nigerian Film Industry, a former newspaper columnist, photo journalist and the first Nigerian to Head the Film
Unit of the defunct Western Nigeria Television in Ibadan Pa Francis Oladele had
died after a brief illness. Pa Oladele who produced ‘Kongi
Harvest’, the first film that is recorded in Nigeria history as the first full
length feature film to be produced in Nigeria was aged 82 and would have been
83 years this August. Ironically the late Femi Robinson who died at 75 featured
as an actor in ‘Kongi’s Harvest’, which Pa Oladele produced in 1970.
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| Late Chief Femi Robbinson who died last month in Lagos. He starred in the 1970 production of Kongi Harvest. |
The news of the death of the pioneer
filmmaker was made public by his close associate ace filmmaker Tunde Kelani on
his facebook page. The terse facebook message read: Sadly, we lost one of the greatest pioneers of the
Nigerian Film industry, our uncle Francis Oladele who produced Kongi's Harvest with Prof Wole Soyinka
in 1969, passed early this morning. Kongi's Harvest is the first indigenous
film in Nigeria. I remember when I visited him in 2013 to re-present his i-Rep
award; he was very cheerful and charming. Full of anecdotes as he conducted us
round his rich library and wooded compound, ending the tour with his prepared grave
of more than fifteen years, right by his late wife's grave. Incidentally, Femi
Robinson (Village Headmaster) who acted in Kongi's Harvest was buried in Lagos
last week. May their gentle and creative souls rest in peace’’
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| When Ace Filmmaker visited Pa Oladele in his Oyo home last year |
Tributes flowed freely for the master filmmaker who
passed on in his hometown Oyo minutes after Kelani hit the send button. Although the cause of his death was yet to be ascertained, a close
family source simply said that the octogenarian filmmaker died ‘after a brief
illness’. .
Born to Oyo parentage and christened Francis
Adetunji, Pa Oladele started out as a photographer and later as a
photojournalist with the Daily Times. He left for the United States in 1955
where he studied photography at the New York Institute of Photography. He worked
briefly with Technicolor (USA) before returning to Nigeria to work as the first
Nigerian or African Head of the Film Unit of the then Western Nigeria
Television (WNTV). He later resigned in 1965 as soon as he was done setting up
his production company---Calpenny-Nigeria Films Limited. He also set up an
artiste rendezvous in Ibadan called Kongi Club at Adamasingba which became a
rallying point for artistes especially artistes of the University of Ibadan
acting company.
Clearly a pioneer of the film industry in Nigeria
and a master of adapting literature to film, Pa Oladele’s was the producer of the first
indigenous film in Nigeria, which was a screen adaptation of Prof. Wole
Soyinka‘s play titled Kongi’s Harvest. Produced in 1970 and directed by the Afro-American director
Ossie Davis, Kongi Harvest is based on Wole Soyinka’s dramatic epic of the same
title. Shot on location in Nigeria with a rich Nigerian cast and a mixed
technical crew of foreigners and Nigerians. Oladele’s next big production
credit apart from several documentaries that he produced was the 1971
production of Things Fall Apart,
which is also based on an amalgam of Chinua Achebe’s novels-- Things Fall Apart
and No Longer at Ease. But it was conveniently shot under the title Bullfrog in the Sun due to the raging
civil war then. His last major effort as a filmmaker was the production of the
1988 big budget film project ‘Eye of Life’. However ‘Eye of Life’ couldn’t be
released because of the collapse of the economy, which brought about the devaluation
of the Naira. His documentary credit includes Ballard Dubar, Meet Olu and a documentary on the late Head of
State, General Murtala Mohammed, sponsored by the United Nations.
A source of inspiration to the second
generation of filmmakers in Nigeria, Pa Oladele would be remembered as a
pioneer of the industry that has a name carved on gold, being the first
Nigerian to go into film production.
Sunday, 7 June 2015
iREP Executive Director Odugbemi at Munchen Conference on Docu films
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| Femi Odugbemi is fourth from left |
The Executive Director of iREP International Documentary Film Festival Femi Odugbemi was a panelist at the just held Munchen International Conference on Documentary Filmmaking. The Conference attracted documentary filmmakers from all over the world and it provided an opportunity for Odugbemi who has made several award winning documentaries to brief the conference participants on the progress so far made to encourage documentary filmmaking in the continent.
The i-Represent International Documentary Film Festival is easily one of Africa's most successful Documentary film. It has grown to become an annual film festival dedicated to promoting awareness about the power of documentary films to serve as a means of deepening and sharing social and cultural education as well as encouraging participatory democracy in our societies. The maiden edition held in January 2011, in Lagos, Nigeria and since then it has continued to bring together a pool of veteran filmmakers, film scholars, critics, Arts enthusiasts, and students from different parts of the World. No doubt, the festival has provided completely invaluable opportunities for all participants to appraise cogent issues that are germane to the future of filmmaking in Africa, and indeed, the World. Activities at the festival have been carefully designed to cover a wide spectrum of knowledge areas and interest, and it includes paper presentations, Training and Workshops, Interactive panel discussions, film screenings, and Networking. Details on the festival can be sourced at www.irepfilmfestival.com
Curtain falls on Nollywoodweek Film Festival Paris today!
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| Stephanie Okereke-Linus directing 'Dry' |
Dry is Stephanie's second movie. She had made 'Through the Glass' in 2008 which earned the reputation of being the first movie to gross over 10 million naira in its first week of release.
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| Marie Mungai, Inya Lawal, Mahmood Ali-Balogun and Lala Akindoju at the opening of Nollywoodweek Festival |
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| The opening ceremony line-up......Festival Director Serge Noukhue introduces the festival guest |
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| Popular Ghanaian actress Jocelyn Dumas shortly before the festival opened on Wednesday |
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| OC Ukeje takes his turn on the red carpet photos courtesy: INYA LAWAL |
Friday, 5 June 2015
Nollywood Films light up Paris!
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| Festival Director Serge Noukue, Rita Dominic, Mildred Okwo and Mahmood Ali-Balogun at the 2014 edition |
For four days beginning
June 4, the best of Nigerian films will be on showcase at the annual
Nollywoodweek Film Festival in Paris, France. Organized by the association
Okada Media, the festival, which is in its third edition aims at providing
access for Nollywood films in mainstream France and in Europe. It has also
helped in popularizing Nollywood films beyond the effort of Nollywood TV, a
dedicated pay channel that was launched in France a few years ago. But more importantly, the festival has
provided a platform for fostering
distribution opportunities in Europe.
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| Notable filmmaker Kunle Afolayan and Nollywoodweek director Serge before the 2013 edition |
For most informed observers, Nollywood may have tapped
into theAfrican market but the market in Europe, particularly France has
remained untapped market. ‘’So the festival brings distributors, and the real
filmmakers from Nigeria together and we are witnesses to the fact that many
deals have been brokered and sealed and a few co-production agreements entered
on the grounds of the festival since we started’ says festival’s
Executive Director, Serge Noukoué who also disclosed that all the films that were curated
for this edition will be screened at L'Arlequin Theatre in
Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The Cinéma l’Arlequin located at 76 rue de
Rennes is now
home to the festival. It has served as space for the other festival events,
which include a VIP cocktail with the filmmakers, panel discussions and a
crafts marketplace.
As a build up to this year’s edition, the organisers had
announced
weeks back that the Haitian actor, Jimmy Jean-Louis, will serve as
the festival ambassador for 2015. “Jimmy is a perfect representation of the
open spirit that the festival advocates,” Noukoué said adding “after making his
mark in the United States playing various roles in Hollywood, he headed to
Nigeria where he acted in several movies with this will to contribute to the
development this new industry and today, he sports his director’s cap with his
documentary, Jimmy Goes to Nollywood, which will be presented on opening night
on Thursday June 4th.”
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| Ace Filmmaker Tunde Kelani..already in Paris for the festival |
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| 2015 Festival Ambassador Jimmy Jean Louis. His documentary 'Jimmy Goes to Nollowyyod opened the festival on Wednesday |
This year, ten films will
be screened for the Parisian audience to discover and eight of those films are
in competition to win the Audience Award. The official selection line up
comprises ‘A Mile From Home’ directed by Eric Ameghien, ‘The Last Three
Digits’ directed by Moses Igwang, ‘Dazzling Mirage’ directed by Tunde
Kelani and ‘Gone Too Far’ directed by Destiny Ekaragha. The other films on
official selection are ‘Love or something like that’ directed by Shirley
Frimpong, ‘Ojuju’ directed by C.J. Obasi, ‘October 1’ directed by
Kunle Afolayan, and ‘Thy will be Done’ directed by Obi Emelonye. Serge
disclosed that several Nigerian actors such as OC Ukeje, Ramsey Nouah and Lala
Akindoju would be in attendance while all the directors of all the films will
be present to discuss their films.
According to Serge ‘we have made arrangement for the filmmakers and the
actors to be around. We have also moved from just having seven films last year
to showcasing ten films. It means that we are growing every year and we will
continue to expand. We are also expecting over 5,000 festivalgoers this year to
be part of this unique event dedicated to this phenomenal industry’’. More
information on the festival can be found on www.nollywoodweek.com
Thursday, 26 February 2015
For
Kelani, birthdays are for watching movies
By
Igalaman
It
was the birthday of foremost cinematographer Tunde Kelani on Thursday February
26 and rather than call an ‘owambe’ party even though it is not typical of him,
the prolific filmmaker called out his friends, colleagues and fans to a small
film screening ‘soiree’ at one of the cinema’s screening his latest feature
‘Dazzling Mirage’.
By the way the movie ‘Dazzling Mirage’
is still showing in cinemas across the country. It is about the life of a
typical sickle cell disease sufferer who by reason of her peculiar genotype is
sentenced to bouts of crises which makes life very unpredictable. It is a story
of travails and triumphs against the odds of physical pains and psychological
traumas which a lady experiences in her journey towards self fulfillment and it
exposes and challenges received myths about Sickle cell sufferers in a hard...
indifferent and calculating environment.
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| Kunle Afolayan and Lala Akindoju on the set of Dazzling Mirage |
It stars Kemi Lala Akindoju, Kunle
Afolayan and Yomi Fash Lanso in lead roles.
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