Taiwo Ajai-Lycett and other Celebrities Grace Closing Day of LABAF

Dame Taiwo Ajai-Lycett

Taiwo Ajai-Lycett and other Celebrities Grace Closing Day of LABAF

Renowned Nigerian actress and muse of the Arts, Dame Taiwo Ajai-Lycett and other celebrities added glamour to the fanfare of the closing day of the 13th Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) Sunday evening at the Freedom Park in Lagos, Nigeria. Her 70th birthday was given a special party as one of the connoisseurs and dignitaries who were celebrated in a special combined LABAF Birthday Party for icons of Nigerian Art, music and literature including the grand old man of Nigerian music Fatai Rolling Dollar at 85, famous novelist and civil servant Chukwuemeka Ike at 80, the encyclopedia of Nigerian music Benson Idonije at 75; Prof. Ebun Clark at 70; the iconoclastic musician and showman Charles Oputa, aka Charly Boy at 60; popular actor Richard Mofe-Damijo at 50; first daughter of the late Afrobeat King, Yeni Kuti at 50; actress Joke Silva at 50; entertainment writer and publisher Femi Akintunde-Johnson (FAJ) at 50; Lindsay Barret at 70; Duke Asidere at 50; Gabriel Olatunde Babawale at 50; Sunmi Smart-Cole at 70; Sola Olorunyomi at 50 and Remi Raji at 50.



Tunde Kuboye of the famous Jazz 38 fame, popular writers Toni Kan and Chike Ofili and other notable members of the Art and Culture community joined the celebrants, participants, guests and visitors at the closing events. Many people from within and outside the country sat together in the open air under the stars for the Nigerian premiere of Gudrun F. Widlok’s ADOPTED, the German/Ghanaian documentary in the small amphitheatre of the Freedom Park. It was the monthly screening of the iREP International Documentary Film Festival Forum in association with the Goethe Institut.


The audience at the outdoor screening of ADOPTED at the Freedom Park on the closing day of the 13th Lagos Book and Art Festival on Sunday November 20, 2011.

With its roots in an art project, the organization ADOPTED finds African Godparents for Adult Europeans. Ludger has recently become aware of ADOPTED. Frustrated by his emotionally cold environment and isolated from friends and family, he signs up and is immediately chosen. Thelma, on the other hand, waits with impatience for the moment of her departure. A family in Accra (Ghana) has already agreed to be her Godparents and she’s ready to go. Gisela’s decision to leave followed the death of her husband, who left her alone and without prospects. The film highlights the protagonists’ situation observing them as they travel to West Africa where they approach their new Godparents – misunderstandings are, of course, unavoidable.


A scene from ADOPTED.

The annual Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF)is a prime cultural revival project of the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) in Nigeria.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Tweet