When Top
Nollywood Practitioners converged on Ibadan for Beer Academy
Story by
Shaibu Husseini
(Who was in Ibadan)
The turn
out at the Nollywood Beer Academy which held in Ibadan, Oyo State between
Thursday and Friday last week may easily be regarded as the single largest
gathering of the movers and shakers of Nollywood in a allocation in the South
West. Nearly all the top and notable figures in the Nollywood industry
converged in Ibadan for what closed as a knowledge sharing and engagement
platform for celebrities in the Nollywood industry organised by Nigerian
Breweries Plc.
On the
roll call were notable Nollywood practitioners like the President of the
Association of Movie Producers (AMP) Zik Zulu Okafor, popular actors Prince
Jide Kosoko, founder of the Abuja International Film Festival and former President of the Director's Guild of Nigeria Fidelis Duker, Zeb Ejiro aka Movie Sheik, actor OC Ukeje, Segun Arinze, Emeka Ossai, humour merchant and film
producer Opa Williams, Honourable Desmond Elliot, Yomi Fash Lanso, Franca Brown
and Chairman of the Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS) Mahmood Ali Balogun.
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| Actress Sola Kosoko, Temitope Duker, notable marketer, Foluke Daramola, the Aneke Twins, an official of NBL and veteran actor Jide Kosoko at the Academy in Ibadan |
Dubbed
'Nollywood Beer Academy' the event, coordinated by TPT International for
Nigerian Breweries according to the Corporate Affairs Advisor of NBL Plc Kufre
Ekanem is organised in line with NBL's long-term vision of creating shared
sustainable value for its stakeholders. Ekanem explained that the Beer
Academy was designed to present the appreciation and understanding of beer as it
stands within the fabric of society. 'The academy is not necessarily about
educating people about our brands; it is about beer as a category. It is about
educating and presenting facts to the effect that beer consumption is not
dangerous. We realized that there is a gap in knowledge about beer consumption
and as stakeholders in the mindset of the country and as those who influence
thoughts and behaviours through their arts, we feel we should engage Nollywood
practitioners so that in their scripting and production they will be able to
convey the true value of beer to a healthy life style'' Ekanem said.
And the
presentation by experts that followed was direct to the point and the
participants said they grabbed every bit of the message they passed across. In
one of the presentations, foremost human nutritionist Professor Tola Atinmo of
the department of Human Nutrition of the University of Ibadan asserted that
there exist great opportunities for moderate drinkers as it contributes to
healthy lifestyle. He listed the benefits of beer consumption to include
reduction in the risk of heart failure, lower risk of kidney stones and for
formation of strong bone mineral density. ''Moderate alcohol consumption
protects heart and increases longevity' Prof. Tanimo reiterated. However,
Tanimo who is a Fellow of the Nigerian Nutritionist Association and Past
President of the Association advocated for moderate consumption in spite of the
inherent benefit of beer in the human diet. "Moderation is very important
and consumers must obey rules of hygiene and sanitization,” Tanimo advised
adding that ‘when you write your scripts you should be able to reflect these
facts that I have shared’’.
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| Temitope Duker, Publisher Azuh Amatus and Actress Franca Brown |
As part of
their participation in the academy, practitioners were taken through several
presentations and a guided tour of the Ibadan brewery and when the sessions
resumed, it was the turn of foremost literary scholar and activist Professor
Kole Omotosho to share his experience on the challenges of cinematic clichés in
film scripting and filmmaking. The Professor of Theatre Arts stressed the need
for practitioners to go beyond the cliché of assuming that a man with a glass
and a beer bottle is a drunk. He argued that ‘beer never created anti social
behaviours’ and noted that all art forms have clichés that practitioners strive
to go beyond. ‘’Painting has the easy pieces of facial expressions which all
writers strive to avoid and go beyond. In the cinematic art and stagecraft, the
easily recognizable character holding a bottle of beer, a glass half full and a
mien of disheveled self-representation, as the cliché for drunkenness is
common. Clichés help the lazy artist to say the ordinary and the predictable.
Clichés makes t possible for lazy artist to stream along without any
distracting distinguishing freshness of artistic endeavour. No wonder then that
most artistic endeavors pass without notice the rest of society’’ Omotosho said
while also charging practitioners to go beyond the cliché stating that the work
of arts makes vast impression if the work tries to overcome certain cliché. In
his words ‘’It is only when the artist attempts to break through the wall of
easy clichés that the work of art makes vast impression.
Like
Professor Tanimo, Omotosho asserted that there was nothing ‘poisonous or
unhealthy about drinking beer’. Rather he affirmed that beer contains
‘Reservatrol, an antioxidant found in certain nuts, berries and the skin of
grapes’’. In his words ‘’the chemical, because of its nature helps to ward off
certain types of cancer such as lung and prostrate cancer. This chemical helps
to thin blood and prevent blood cot and the consequent heart attack’’.
Omotosho
paid glowing tribute to the Nollywood industry and remarked that the youths who
make the films and constitute the audience that consumes the film and the
matter of alcohol must be helped through the narratives to appreciate the fact
that ‘beer is the only beverage that contains the quantity that gives
satisfaction and the healthy ingredients an individual needs to demonstrate the
goodness beer in the human day to day traditional ceremonies. These need to be
promoted for the goodness of a healthy society’’ he surmised.
Participants
thanked Nigerian Breweries for facilitating the knowledge sharing exercise and
they said variously that they are now well informed and that the knowledge they
have gained about the value of beer will be reflected in their scripts.
Notable marketer Otumba Rotimi Aina Kushoro, Sir Emma Nsikaku, Ralph Nwadike, Chinasa Onyechere, Mike Nliam, Tunji Bamishigbin, Abbey Lanre, Frank Dallas, Chico Ejiro, actress Bukky Wright, Foluke Daramola, Adebayo Tijani, were some of the other practitioners who attended the symposium in Ibadan.
The Organisers disclosed that a second diet of the 'Beer and Health' symposium will take place on November 24, 2015 in Lagos.
