"Dahomey" is More Important to Me than "Emilia Pérez"
I have ignored posting on the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards, because I was disappointed that Mati Diop's critically acclaimed multiple award winning documentary film, "Dahomey" was not included among the nominees after it was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature category and the Best International Feature Film category.
This is the second time that her award winning film has not made the nominees after winning a highly coveted award at one of the Big Five international film festivals in the world.
She won the Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for her feature film debut, "Atlantics" and was the entry of Senegal for the Best International Feature Film category of the 2019 Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. And her second feature film, "Dahomey" that won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival and the entry of Senegal for the Best International Feature Film category was not nominated.
The most likely predicted winner is of course, Jacques Audiard's controversial musical romantic crime drama, "Emilia Pérez" with the record of 13 nominations, the highest number for the 97th Academy Awards to be held on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. But I doubt if the film can win up to five Oscars.
I don't know how the nominees are chosen, because the judges and specific criteria are not known to the public, except the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) whose membership of the academy is based more on being recommended than on the merit of professional criteria. So, membership can be influenced by the familiarity with influential members of AMPAS.
The content and context of "Dahomey" as an anticolonial historical film on repatriation have a more universal theme than a romantic crime thriller of sexual orientation and personal insecurities and sentiments.
It will be better and more meritorious if the winners of the highly esteemed critically juried Palme 'Or and Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival; Golden Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival or Berlinale; Golden Lion of Venice Film Festival; People's Choice Award and the FIPRESCI Prize, or International Film Critics Awardt at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic, Directing Award Dramatic, Grand Jury Prize Documentary and Directing Award Documentary at Sundance Film Festival qualify for the nominations for the annual Academy Awards.
I agree with the following statement by Tim Dirks, editor of AMC's Filmsite, has written of the Academy Awards:
Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight. Especially since the 1980s, moneymaking "formula-made" blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven't necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards
-;By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Founder, Publisher and Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers.
Since 1988, I have completed my comprehensive research for the historical film on Mary Slessor, the famous Scottish missionary and heroine and saviour of twins among the Efik and Ibibio tribes in now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States of south-south region of Nigeria.
I met with the Mr. Lai Arasanmi of blessed memory, who was the Manager, Programmes, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) , Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos whose resume included B.Sc. Broadcast Journalism, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA, 1975; M.A. Speech Communication; Cert. Public Entreprise Management, ASCON. Member: Nigerian Guild of Producers/Directors with several awards. But I abandoned the project and became an evangelist on the streets and public transport buses in Lagos.
There have been attempts of both film and TV productions of the dramatic life of Many Slessor. But none has been successful, because of poor research, poor characterization of her personality and erroneous art direction and production design. Jeta Amata's "Mary Slessor" was not well done in casting and storytelling as can be seen in the video on https://youtu.be/ospsnFdqsck?si=CQIjzAHamcCaFhA8.
Any "Mary Slessor" without her Scottish accent is wrong characterization and should not have been done.
In my research, I had access to copies of the letters of Mary Slessor, especially the personal letters to her sister.
Presently, no Nollywood actress can play Mary Slessor, because none of them has attained that standard of intellectual acumen and professionalism in acting historical figures of such magnitude.
Nastassja Kinski can play the leading role in the film adaptation of Mary Slessor.
I was convinced by her role as "Tess", the 1979 epic drama film by Roman Polanski, the film adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 classic novel, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles". that was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and won the Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
Nastassja Kinski met Roman Polanski at a party in 1976.e He urged her to study method acting with Lee Strasberg in the United States and she was offered the title role of Tess.
In 1978, Kinski underwent extensive preparation for the portrayal of the English peasant girl and she had to learn and acquire a Dorset accent through elocution studies:
"I was given the book almost a year prior to read, I then had to transform myself and lose my German accent completely. I worked with a coach from the National Theatre in London, Kate Fleming. It was almost an intellectual voyage. I went to live in the countryside of the deep part of England, on a farm, did everything they did, and learned it. When the time came in Paris to do my test, it was with our director and our producers Claude Berri and Timothy Burrill, I had done a screen test with Roman prior to that, for Dino DeLaurentis, but now this was for Tess. Preparation is an amazing thing. It, somehow, after all the work, carries you if you are fully present, it carries you through like a bird, like big inner and outer wings."
Nastassja Kinski can undergo the same preparations for the role of Mary Slessor and I am convinced that even at the age of 64 years, she will bring out the great personality of the iconic Scottish missionary and also learn to speak the native languages of the Efik and Ibibio tribes she loved and lived with till her breath in their midst on earth.
The awesome life of Many Slessor would be most appreciated in the historical film based on the facts she documented in her dairies and letters.
Mary Slessor stands just outside Ikotobong court house, which can be seen with its thatched roof on the right side of the photograph.
Mary Slessor with her adopted children.
Mary Slessor stands with a number of villagers outside her house in Ekenge
Pots in which twin babies were exposed due to the superstitions of the natives (photo c. 1880)
In 1889 the British Government established a Protectorate in Calabar and, on account of her unique influence, she was invited to take up the office of Magistrate and Superintendent of the district court. It had already become customary for locals to refer their disputes to her for settlement.
During her forty-year ministry in Africa, Mary Slessor contracted malaria (which never left her), as well as other fevers and health-wracking illnesses. She ministered to head-hunters and cannibals.
She interceded in inter-tribal warfare and she saved countless babies who were left to die in the jungle due to the superstitions of the natives. The birth of twins among the Efiks had always resulted in infanticide because they believed it was the result of a great sin by the mother and evidence of a curse. They would be abandoned in the jungle to wild animals. Mary rescued a number of twins and raised them herself, saving numerous lives. On one occasion she nursed a chief back to health, to the great relief of his wives, all of whom would have been sacrificed if he had died. They gathered around her to ask about her wonderful powers and she replied:
“I have come to you because I love and worship Jesus Christ, the Great Physician and Saviour, the Son of the Father God who made all things. I want you to know this Father and to receive the eternal life which Jesus offers to all those with contrite and believing hearts. To know Jesus means to love Him, and with His love in our hearts we love everybody. Eternal life means peace and joy in this world and a wonderful home in the next world. My heart longs for you to believe in Jesus, to walk in His paths, and to know the blessings of eternal life through Him.”
The natives said Mma Mary Slessor was a mother, a teacher, a court President, and a Consul of the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria who traversed the area as far as Arochukwu in Abia State preaching the gospel.
“Mary Slessor came from Scotland to Calabar and then moved to Okoyong. She stayed at Calabar and even built a wooden storey building house there but now they are trying to renovate that place.
“After that, She left Okoyong to Use Ikot Oku. From Ikot Obong village where you have the district court sign board to Use Ikot Oku where you have the bridge, that bounds Ibiono Ibom and Itu local government areas, her tombstone is about half a kilometre from here.
“I have had her oral history from one of our longest Chiefs, Chief Etim Udoudo who reigned over 30 years. That man even sang the song the woman sang before she died. I have gotten the history from my grand father’s second wife, Adiaha Akpan Usung (nee Adiaha Akpan Ekarika). She told me stories about her. I have also gotten oral evidence from one of the twins that she nurtured, late Elder Mrs Ceecee Akpaninyang who happened to be my aunt.
“The woman stayed here and worked. She built her house on that hill, that was her base. According to Chief Udoudo, she used to move and she was carried on what was called ‘amake’, a sort of swing, where young men would put her on their shoulders and travel across this bridge through Arochukwu. The bridge links Atan, Onoyom to Arochukwu to Ikpe Ikot Nkon; that was the route she used to travel,” he said.
According to Elder Usungurua, it was during one of such trips that Mma stumbled on the Long juju shrine where people were used for sacrifice. Mma Slessor was said to have informed the British government of the activity there which led to the destruction of the shrine.
Her advance into Ibibios territory was aided by the fact that the British government was building roads in that region. “Get a bicycle, Ma,” government officials said, pointing to the road, “and come as far as you can. We will soon have a motor car service for you.” At fifty-seven years of age Mary gamely learned to ride a bicycle after a government official presented her with a brand new model from England.
The early months of 1909 found Mary covered with painful boils from head to foot. “Only sleeping draughts keep me from going off my head,” she related. She later became severely ill from blood poisoning. She was taken to Duke Town near the coast where members of the mission attentively nursed her back to heal. But after five weeks of such care she was eager to resume her ministry responsibilities inland, and did so before some officials and doctors thought it fully advisable.
Eventually her health declined to the point that the Mission’s doctor forbad her to travel by bicycle. Hearing of her need for an alternative means of transportation, a group of ladies in Scotland sent her a Cape cart, a basket-chair on wheels capable of being maneuvered along quite easily by two boys or girls.
In the closing years of her life Mary established churches and schools in the villages of Ikpe, Odoro Ikpe and Nkanga further up Enyong Creek. She carried out ministry at those locations unaided by fellow missionaries. To her deep disappointment, the Mission had already concluded that health conditions were not safe enough in that region to place other missionaries there. To the end, however, she continued to be assisted by several African girls who lived with her as foster daughters.
An Epitome of Beauty by Taiye Ajakaiye, 2024| Light in the Dark by Buchi Okeke, 2024| Gist With Us by Ogochukwu, 2024| Makoko Series 4 by John Adediran, 2024
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"Kisses and Roses on Amazon To Open Offline Stores in Nigeria
Kisses and Roses eStore on Amazon will open offline stores in Nigeria to be located in the cities of Uyo and Lagos in 2025.
People can walk into the stores and order for the trending fashion, beauty and lifestyle products of different popular brands, including COVERGIRL, Chanel, D&G and Gucci distributed by Amazon and their orders will be delivered within a week in Nigeria.
Kisses and Roses will also cosponsor two beauty pageants in Uyo and Lagos for the promotion of Nigerian beauty, fashion and culture for the local and international entertainment industry.
With all the thanksgivings to Almighty God for the best going forward to higher grounds of greater heights of triumph and Victory in the mighty name of our Lord JESUS Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.
Multiple award winning Senegalese filmmaker, Mati Diop has made history by becoming the first filmmaker from Senegal and Africa to have a film shortlisted in two different categories for the highly coveted annual 97th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.
Her critically acclaimed documentary film, "Dahomey" has been shortlisted for both the Documentary Feature Category and Best International Feature Film Category, making Diop the first African filmmaker to have a film shortlisted for two Oscars.
"Dahomey" won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival.
Oscar Shortlist 2025:
International Feature Film
I'm Still Here, Brazil
Universal Language, Canada
Waves, Czech Republic
The Girl with the Needle, Denmark
Emilia Pérez, France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany
Touch, Iceland
Kneecap, Ireland
Vermiglio, Italy
Flow, Latvia
Armand, Norway
From Ground Zero, Palestine
Dahomey, Senegal
How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies, Thailand
WOLE SOYINKA - ENI OGUN, An Accomplished Biopic on the First African Nobel Laureate of Literature
Joshua Ojo with Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Joshua Ojo's vivid biopic, "WOLE SOYINKA - ENI OGUN"is an outstanding historical film on the phenomenal life of the most lionized African writer, Prof. Wole Soyinka, the first African winner of the highly coveted Nobel Prize for Literature.
This is the only one of the few films on the life of Soyinka to capture the essence of the spirit of the art and persona of his iconic genius in motion picture. And the first to be produced in his beloved mother tongue of the Yoruba language. The biopic produced to celebrate his 90th birthday is a must see and the film has been authorized by the Nobel laureate.
It chronicled his trials as a fearless sociopolitical human rights activist and triumphs as an intellectual luminary of the literary world with critically acclaimed books of poetry, drama and prose for which he became famous and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 for with his writings, Soyinka "in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence."
The cinematic beauty of the film with outstanding portrayal of Soyinka by the award winning Nigerian actor, Lateef Adedimeji and other accomplished actors, including Jide Kosoko, Femi Branch, Segun Arinze, Dele Odule, Funky Mallam, Haffiz Oyetoro, Bimbo Oshin, Joke Muyiwa and Olaiya Igwe showed the accomplishments of the director in the art direction with the production design, casting, characterisation, cinematography and soundtracks based on the historical facts of the celebrated author with important emphasis on Ibadan and other locations of his life and the political circumstances of his imprisonment in the Kirikiri Prison for 22 months during the Nigerian-Biafran war from 1967-1970.
"This is my most challenging film production so far. Because of the historical importance and significance of the legacy of Prof. Wole Soyinka, I have to make sure of the accuracy of the sets used for the period in the history of Nigeria. KIRI-KIRI PRISON was built from the scratch in the studios. Soyinka's house was equally built with over 98 percent of the set built by the crew, except for the scenes of the roads and the other scenes shot outside Nigeria," the director said.
"I did the casting myself, because I really wanted actors to look like the real characters in his life. For the production design, I took my time as well to draw and sketch out how I wanted them to look and the guys in that department brought life to it.
I've been to Soyinka's house, so it was easy for me to recreate it."
"I had an accident two days to shoot. I was given two options: either to cut off my right leg or I do an emergency surgery, which I did. And I went back to location a week after the surgery, with an ambulance on stand by everyday. I'll shoot for 2 to 3 days and rush back to the hospital for check-up. That was how we shot for two months to complete the principal photography."
The film certainly is an outstanding achievement in filmmaking in Nollywood and African Cinema. It will attract millions of Yorubas in Nigeria and the Diaspora; especially in Brazil where hundreds of thousands of people are devotees of the Yoruba OGUN traditional religion which Soyinka has celebrated in his life and works. Millions of others who have read his popular plays, novels and essays will be anxious and curious to watch the film subtitled in English and should be widely available in other popular languages for the global distribution.
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
Oscars international feature race 2025 guide: the contenders from Africa and the Middle East
BY BEN DALTON
Two spots on the Oscars shortlist of 15 last year for African and Middle East countries represented a modest improvement on recent years — but entries this year are down. Screen surveys a region that has made halting progress.
Africa
After 11 entries for last year’s award — just one down on the record of 12 from 2021 — African submissions for the 2025 international feature Oscar have dropped to nine. It is now four years since Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin made it all the way to awards night for Tunisia — the only title to do so since 2015. For comparison, over the past nine years, there have been 29 European nominees, 11 from Asia-Pacific and four from the Americas region.
The paucity of African titles at Oscar’s international feature shortlist stage suggests the problem starts early in the process, especially for sub-Saharan Africa. Ben Hania’s Four Daughters for Tunisia and Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies for Morocco both made it to the shortlist of 15 films last time around, but Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan for Morocco was the only African selection for 2023, and there were none for 2022. No Black director has ever won the Academy’s international feature film award.
Golden tickets
Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, representing Senegal, offers the best chance of breaking that barrier. The Berlinale Golden Bear winner dramatises the return of 26 royal treasures from France to the Kingdom of Dahomey (in modern-day Benin). Backing from Mubi in territories including North America and UK-Ireland should guarantee it visibility. Two previous Golden Bear winners have gone on to take the international feature Oscar: Vittorio de Sica’s The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis for Italy in 1972, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation — also the winner of Bafta’s equivalent award — for Iran in 2012. It is French director Diop’s second time representing Senegal, after Atlantics made the shortlist for 2020 but missed out on a nomination.
Effective Content Marketing in Nigeria Must Target the Gen Z
You cannot do effective content marketing if you are ignorant of the demographics of your target audience.
The target audience for online entertainment, e-commerce and fintech industry are the Generation Z, or Gen Z of people born between 1995 and 2010. The 'Z' in the name means "zoomer", as this is the first generation known to 'zoom' the internet.
Majority of them make up the population of 65 million Nigerians using social media platforms.
They spend $975m daily on online betting.
Data from the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) has revealed that over 65 million Nigerians actively engage in betting, spending an average of $15 daily. This is just as it disclosed that everyday, 14 million bet takes and payments are made online in the country.
According to one of the fast rising upwardly mobile Nigerian Gen Z techies, Benjamin Unah, Co-Founder & Chairman - Primeries
https://primeries.com/, the #1
streetwear marketplace that connecting shoppers to the hardest streetwear brands and creatives in Africa, "they are the most active shoppers online and subscribers of entertainment providers for streaming music and movies."
According to the report on Understanding the Gen Z in Nigeria: Trends and Insights - Sagaci Research
"Trends among the Gen Z in Nigeria: more likely to go to physical shops and use cash Male Nigerian consumers aged 18-25 exhibit different shopping behaviours compared to older ones. A significant 58% of them would rather go to a shop than buying products online versus 47% of the older group. This result stems from young people’s preference for a physical experience; they want to visit stores, see the product firsthand, and make their choice in person. Additionally, 26% of these younger consumers prefer using cash, a higher percentage than the 16% observed in the 26+ demographic.
In contrast, older consumers are more inclined to use debit cards, with 41% opting for this payment method compared to 29% of the younger age group. Following recent banking issues in Nigeria, younger people now prefer to keep physical cash on hand for added security and to avoid potential problems.
Read the complete report on https://sagaciresearch.com/gen-z-nigeria-insights/ " .
The Road Map for the Nominations for the Annual Academy Awards for Nigerian Filmmakers
There is a Road Map for the Nominations for the annual Academy Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the route is common knowledge to those who truly know the criteria for filmmaking of international standards in the quality of the content and context of filmmaking and the benchmarks of the most coveted international awards and prizes for filmmaking.
Making the nominations for the almighty Oscars from the long list to the short list is beyond the mere selections of the official entries for different countries in the competition for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Academy Awards which is the most competitive, because of the challenges of competing with the best filmmakers from other countries you may not know their works.
In my own opinion, any film that has not made the Official Selections for the annual Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival should not be the official selection of Nigeria for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Academy Awards. Because in the history of the Oscars,most of the nominees and winners were in the Official Selections of the most highly esteemed and highest ranking international film festivals as I have listed them above. And only the majority of them that won the Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Lion and Silver Lion of the Venice International Film Festival, Audience Award of the Toronto International Film Festival, Golden or Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Sundance Film Festival made the nominees and winners of the Oscars.
Any Nigerian filmmaker who cannot or has not competed for the best international awards in the global film industry should not be considered for the representation of the Official Selection of the entry for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Oscars.
Only the best should represent Nigeria, because only the best is good enough for us.
Nigerian filmmakers have not even won the prizes for the Best Feature Film at the annual Durban International Film Festival of South Africa, the highest ranking international film festival in Africa and only one Nigerian filmmaker, Newton Aduaka has won the Étalon d'or de Yennenga" (Golden Stallion of Yennenga) at the Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) for his critically acclaimed film, "Ezra" in 2007.
The problem of Nigerian filmmakers is the fact that they don't like being told the truth and when you tell them the truth, they become upset and even stop communicating with you in their unprofessional and unintellectual attitudes. But the fact is majority of them don't even know that filmmaking is not for those who are intellectually challenged, because the Art of Filmmaking is beyond the mere craft of shooting a movie.
Majority of the filmmakers in Nigeria don't know what is Art Direction and many of them have not studied Production Design.
Many of them don't know what is the aspect ratio of a movie for the cinema and most of them don't know what is a shooting ratio.
They don't even know how to use lighting for storytelling; costume for storytelling; the nuances of
characterisation and music for storytelling in filmmaking.
I have advised the film schools in Nigeria to use nominees and winners of the Oscars for case studies in filmmaking to teach their students on how and why the nominees and winners got the nominations and won the Oscars.
The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Oscars should know that to make the nominations for the Oscars is more than the mere selection of the official entry.
Is there a budget for the promotion of the selected film?
Promotion for reviews in the highly esteemed and rated international news media such as the New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Indiewire, Screen International, CNN, BBC and Underurrents of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI)
Read How Much Does It Cost To Win An Oscar? - BBC News
Just two of the most high-profile attempts to influence what must be the most select group of voters on the planet, the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Estimates for the total amount Hollywood spends on Oscar campaigns range from $100m right up to $500m in a single year.23 Feb 2016