Wednesday, September 29, 2021

The Coca-Cola Company Unveils New Global Brand Platform for Coca-Cola Trademark


PRESS RELEASE

The Coca-Cola Company Unveils New Global Brand Platform for Coca-Cola Trademark

The platform refreshes the brand’s trademark promise – to unite and uplift people every day – with renewed relevance for the world we live in today.

ATLANTA, United States of America, September 29, 2021/ -- Brand Introduces Real Magic, its first new global platform since 2016 and reveals the “Hug,” a new perspective on the iconic Coca-Cola (www.Coca-ColaCompany.com) logo; brand launches “One Coke Away From Each Other,” the first global campaign under the Real Magic Platform

Coca-Cola today unveiled a new global brand philosophy and platform called Real Magic, which invites everyone to celebrate the real magic of humanity. 

The platform refreshes the brand’s trademark promise – to unite and uplift people every day – with renewed relevance for the world we live in today. The platform is built from lessons of the last 18 months: that we can find magic all around us when we come together in unexpected moments that elevate the everyday into the extraordinary. It also acknowledges the many contradictions experienced as new generations find harmony and human connection in a virtual and divided world. 

“Coca-Cola is a brand defined by dichotomies: humble but iconic, authentic yet secret, real yet magical,” said Manolo Arroyo, Chief Marketing Officer for The Coca-Cola Company.  “The Real Magic philosophy is rooted in the belief that dichotomies can make the world a more interesting place – a world of extraordinary people, unexpected opportunities and wonderful moments. At the same time, it captures the essence of Coca-Cola itself: a real taste that is indescribable, unique, a touch of real magic.” 

Coca-Cola is collaborating with artists, photographers and illustrators to bring the concept of Real Magic to life through the embrace of the Hug logo. Through their own distinct and unfiltered lenses, they will bring moments of everyday magic to life in ways that are inclusive and collective, yet also individual and expressive.  Design partners include Wieden+Kennedy London, KnownUnknown and Kenyon Weston. 

“Real Magic is not simply a tagline or a one-off campaign: It is a long-term brand philosophy and belief that will drive and guide marketing and communications across the Coca-Cola Trademark,” Arroyo said. 

Real Magic launches with a new campaign called “One Coke Away From Each Other.” Blending real and virtual worlds, “One Coke Away From Each Other” is a metaphor that speaks to the belief that what unites us is greater than what sets us apart and celebrates our common humanity. The film, which launched digitally on September 27th, asks what if Coca-Cola, as a symbol of togetherness, could bridge universes meant to be apart to create Real Magic. The film also features three well-known gamers – DJ Alan Walker, Team Liquid’s Aerial Powers and Average Jonas. 

Coca-Cola partnered with advertising agency BETC London to create the “One Coke Away From Each Other” campaign, as well as leading film director Daniel Wolfe and gaming and CGI specialist production partner Mathematic. 

The campaign also features social and digital executions, as well as out of home. In select markets, Coca-Cola is running a code hunt beginning Oct. 11 where people can win prizes, including gameplay sessions with celebrity gamers. There are 25 codes hidden within the film. Through collaboration with the Brand Partnership Studio at Twitch, the interactive livestreaming service, gaming creators on Twitch will unlock another 10 codes with their viewers, during livestreams on their Twitch channels. As a part of the campaign, Coca-Cola will award prizes to consumers who find and enter the hidden codes on a Coca-Cola micro-site, in participating countries.  Winners have the chance to receive their share of one of the largest ever prize pools of Bits, a virtual good used to show support for Twitch streamers, as a part of the sweepstakes administered by Coca-Cola.  

“Through the Real Magic platform, we ultimately want to engage people very differently through an ecosystem of unique and ownable experiences,” Arroyo said. “’One Coke Away From Each Other’ has been built for, and with, a community that demands something different than what they may have come to expect from Coca-Cola. In developing this campaign, we’ve partnered with the best creators, with gamers, with Twitch and with others to find our place in a reality unlike any we’ve known before. That’s tremendously exciting.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Coca-Cola.


About The Coca-Cola Company:

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. We sell multiple billion-dollar brands across several beverage categories worldwide. Our portfolio of sparkling soft drink brands includes Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta. Our hydration, sports, coffee and tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo Chico, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak, Honest and Ayataka. Our nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverage brands include Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del Valle, fairlife and AdeS. We’re constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We seek to positively impact people’s lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across our value chain. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide. Learn more at www.Coca-ColaCompany.com and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

SOURCE

Coca-Cola


Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood

Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood


Mo Abudu, the Founder and CEO of the EbonyLife Group and Chioma Ude, the Founder and CEO of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have the best international public relations profiles for Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
Both of them understand the importance and significance of international public relations for the promotion of Nollywood as a global brand of the Nigerian film industry. And that is why both of them are the  most recognised and have been attracting international partnerships with the leading film and TV entertainment companies in the world, including Netflix, Sony Pictures and Disney.

Mo was the first to gain international recognition with the influential Hollywood Reporter calling her Africa's answer to Oprah Winfrey and named her among Hollywood Reporter's MIPCOM's 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV.
Then the highly esteemed Forbes magazine named her Africa's Most Successful Woman. 
In 2021, She was selected to become a Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the annual Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.

Her international honours within 11 years have been really groundbreaking as a trailblazer for Nigerian women in the global entertainment industry.
Forbes Africa recognised Mo Abudu as the first African woman to own a Pan-Africa TV channel in 2013; Entrepreneur of the Year award by Women Week in New York in 2014; appointed a Director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences responsible for staging the annual International Emmy Awards.and later appointed her as the first African Chair of the 47th annual International Emmy Awards Gala, held in New York on Monday November 25, 2019; named on the Power list 2018 of UK's top 100 most influential people of African and Caribbean descent; the first African to be awarded the MIPTV's 2019 Médailles d'Honneur, in Cannes, France; named in the  Powerlist 2020 of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent and featured in the Greatest Blacks Ever: Top 100 Blacks Who Changed the World for (Peace: Progress: Prosperity).

Mo did not receive all the accolades of her outstanding achievements overnight. She started with her "Moments with Mo" on TV like the Oprah Winfrey Show that inspired her as she told the New York Times in her recent most comprehensive interview last week.
She talked about her influential family backgrounds, childhood dreams, education and top flight professional career as brand ambassador for AVON Cosmetics for the African market; HR consultant with Atlas Recruitment Consultancy firm in the UK; the Starform Group; Head of HR for Arthur Andersen and HR & Training for ExxonMobil. She was the Founder of Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited.

Her passion for the film and TV entertainment industry is powered by her vision to excel, succeed  and triumph in spite of the economic and societal challenges of Nigeria in competition with the best in the world. 


Chioma Ude has paid her dues before she became the first Nigerian woman to be in Variety's Annual International Women’s Impact Report for 2020

Before, Chioma became a trailblazer for Nollywood, she has been an Amazon in Corporate Nigeria as the Managing Director and CEO of JATA Logistics Ltd. Then she invested in the blossoming Nollywood as she co-organised and co-hosted the successful 6th ION International Film Festival (IONIFF) (a touring festival originating from Hollywood) in 2009 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State with the organizing committee of experts, including Peace Anyiam-Osigwe the founder and CEO of the annual AMAA Awards, Caterina Bortolussi, the co-producer of ION International Film Festival, Soledad Grognett, Ilaria Chessa, June Givanni, Alessandra Speciale and Celine Loader. Then the following year, 2010, she founded and organised the first edition of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in December and she has made it the numero uno of film festivals in Nigeria and West Africa.
She has invested her resources and quality time on the international profile of the film festival as I reported in my widely circulated "AFRIFF International Film Festival Brings Hollywood-Style Glitz and Glamour To Lagos"
https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2011/12/afriff-international-film-festival.

AFRIFF has awarded scholarships for international courses in filmmaking and film studies in America and France. 

In 2019, Chioma became the Co-Founder and Group CEO of Envivo Communications Limited, a multifaceted convergence of the entertainment industry, educational developments and technological applications for the fintech Industry.
Envivo launched the nVivo TV, a 
free video on demand streaming platform that offers diverse content from the best content providers in the world.

By their visionary leadership, Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude have shown us the Big Picture of Nollywood of the future as one of the most dynamic creative developments in the global entertainment industry of the 21st century.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor, 
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi




Monday, September 27, 2021

Happy 23rd Birthday Google!

 WOW!

Happy Birthday Google!
Thank you for bringing the whole world to our fingertips on the internet.
Thank you for giving us the widest space for every face to be seen and for every voice to be heard.
Thank you for promoting #democracy .
Thank you for promoting freedom of speech.
Thank you for promoting human rights.
Thank you very much.
We love you 24/7!


#Google #search #searchengines
#Googlebirthday #Googleat23
#humanrights #freespeech #internet



Sunday, September 26, 2021

Re: Abdulsamad Rabiu Gives the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, a N200M Worth Rolls Royce Car

https://www.nairaland.com/6772148/abdulsamad-rabiu-gives-emir-kano

The great Man of the Masses, Mallam Aminu Kano (9 August 1920—17 April 1983) would have wept over this elitist display of megalomania.

The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero already has official Rolls Royce car.

This is not a gift, but traditional political bribe that will soon be followed by receiving a new traditional title from the Emir and another selfish pursuit.

Billionaire Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu should have spent the N200 million on scholarships for the indigent students from poor families in Kano to sponsor them to go to tertiary institutions; provide safe drinking water boreholes for his village to prevent the recurrences of Cholera epidemic or build a well equipped Primary Heath Care Centre in his village.

They ruling elites of the Hausa Fulani political ruling class will never end their enslavement of the poor Talakawas and the millions of underprivileged children out of school in Kano and the rest of the predominantly Muslims states of northern Nigeria, because they need the poor and powerless commoners for the regular supply of cheap labour as underpaid housemaids, houseboys, messengers, drivers and factory workers in their institutionalization of poverty in the social class hierarchy of the society.

There are more than five million Alamajiri and Almajira in Kano in the so called Almajiranci system of Islamic education for children willingly sent by their parents. But only the underprivileged children of the poverty stricken poor Talakawas or commoners become Alamajiri and Almajira and not the privileged children of the elites who are enrolled in modern public and private schools.

The Alamajiri have become easy recruits of the Boko Haram terrorists and bandits who have been on rampage in northern Nigeria with incessant terrifying occurrences of killings and kidnappings. And as the saying goes, the Chickens have come home to roost.





Friday, September 24, 2021

Reading in Motion: The Most Popular Screenshot from a Nigerian Motion Picture



#Fridayvibes 💕💋✌🏼️ 💞

Reading in Motion showing beautiful Nollywood starlet, international pageant beauty queen and model Celina Ideh in "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity" documentary film of Ekeyerengozi Michael Chima. The screenshot of this scene has become the most popular screenshot from a Nigerian motion picture.  Screenshots or stills are important in the art of filmmaking and can be published as a photo book which I have done with "Lagos in Motion" and it is the first book of screenshots of a film or TV production in Nigeria, published and distributed by Amazon.


 

I have not completed the principal photography of panoramic views of Lagos City from sunrise to sunset and 🌃 nightfall.


Reading in Motion One of the most circulated film stills from a Nigerian documentary film and movie. I titled it, "Reading in Motion" showing #Nollywood actress,, Celina James reading, "Conspiracy of Lagos" by Bisi Daniels in."Lagos in Motion " I showed three beautiful young Nigerian actresses reading novels about Lagos and Nigeria. Because, any motion picture of Lagos without showing any aspect of the literary culture and literature and haute couture of the people in Africa's largest megacity is incomplete. There is no narrator and no narration in the documentary film. I simply showed Lagos and people in the people in the city in motion. 



Saturday, September 18, 2021

Video: Lagos Morning Rush Hour On Victoria Island



Morning rush hour traffic can be exiting to see in Lagos, Africa's largest megacity.
This is on the popular Adeola Odeju Street on Victoria Island from my documentary film, "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity" .


Friday, September 17, 2021

Where is the Beauty in Lagos City?


"The true beauty of a city is not defined by the buildings, but by the lives of the people living in the city.

Lagos, Africa"s largest megacity looks beautiful on postcards and travelogues, but when you visit the city and see the nauseating filthy environment, you will know how dirty are the lives of many people living in Lagos city.
Or is there any beauty in a filthy city?

What matters most in the beauty of a city is not the architecture, but the culture and nature of the people. "

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
author and producer of "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity".

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria


“…an agenda-setting collection and a major milestone in the history of Nigerian literature only comparable to what Wole Soyinka’s Poems of Black Africa is to students and critics of African literature.”

Weekly Trust

“…a large-scale anthology… Camouflage spots the work of [71]…writers. Some have already made their name internationally…What is remarkable, though, is how many fine and startling contributions there are from writers who—unlike Adichie and Habila—are still hardly known.”
The Sunday Independent of South Africa

“…an intricate literary nest woven with straws plucked from Nigeria’s large universe of artistic talents, scattered across the earth.”
— Sunday Sun

“[An] explosive confluence of contemporary voices deployed in various guises and tones to express individual perceptions of the Nigerian situation…a monumental achievement for Nigerian literature.”
— Daily Independent

“[ Camouflage] proves…the depth and richness of contemporary writing by post-Independence generation of Nigerian writers.”
— The Guardian

“…a ground-breaking anthology.”
— National Mirror

“Nigeria’s new writers, delicate and declamatory, intimate and political, immediate and global, imagine themselves into voice in this rich volume. The words are tender, agitated, beautiful, shapely—and breathed directly into the ear. Read this collection to grasp the scope and sophistication of contemporary Nigerian literature, yes, but read it firstly for its pleasures."
— Gabeba Baderoon, recipient of Daimler Chrysler Award for South African Poetry.

CONTRIBUTORS

* Afam Akeh * Adeiza Atureta * Ekene Atusiubah* Omale Allen Abdul-jab bar* Denja Abdullahi * Al-kasim Abdulkadir * Bolaji Adekeye * Wisdom Anierobi * Toyin Alli * Maryam Ali Ali * Felix Obi Abrahams * Pius Adesanmi * Nike Adesuyi * Chimanada Ngozi Adichie * Adolphus II Amasiatu * Amu Nnadi * Seyi Akinlolu * Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima* B. M. Dzukogi* David Diai * Amatoritsero Ede * Victor Ehikhamenor* James Eze * Chiedu Ezeanah* Ismail Bala Garba* Helon Habila* Kamar Hamza* Ogaga lfowodo * Nengi Josef Ilagha * Bina Nengi-Ilagha * Uduma Kalu * Victoria Sylvia Kankara * Toni Kan * Akeem Lasisi * Halima Lawal * Ahmed Maiwada * Mu'azu Maiwada * Razinat T. Mohammed * David Odinaka Nwamadi * Obi Nwakanma* Simeon Chibiko Nwakaudu * Uche Nduka* Angela Nwosu* Maik Nwosu * Nkechi Nwosu-igbo * Onyebuchi Nwosu *Uchechukwu G. Nwosu * Chinyere Obiobasi * Nonye Bethel Obiukwu * Sunday Enessi Ododo * Crispin Oduobok * Patrick Tagbo Oguejiofor * Tolu Gbenga Ogunlesi * Chux Okei Ohai * Sylvester Urdeen Omosun * Ernest Onuoha" Promise Okekwe * Onookome Okome * Ike Okonta * Pita Okute * Bolaji St Ramos* Lola Shoneyin * E. E. Sule * Sumaila lsah Umaisha * Uche Peter Umez * Chika Unigwe * Uzor Maxim Uzoatu * Emmanuel Onyedi Wingate *


ABOUT THE EDITORS

NDUKA OTIONO is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Supervisor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research including Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (2021). Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria and General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

————•❀✼❀•————

ODOH DIEGO OKENYODO is a poet and literary journalist whose collection titled From A Poem to Its Creator was shortlisted for The Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2008. Okenyodo coordinates the World Poetry Movement in Nigeria under the platform of the Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation, an NGO that uses poetry to engage development issues for awareness and sustainable behaviour change.


Saturday, September 11, 2021

September 11 : 3,000 Candlelights of My Memories of You



20th Anniversary of September 11 Suicide Attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia on September 11, 2001.

3,000 Candle-lights

We Will Never Forget

Will you remember me on every 9/11?
Will you light a candle for me?
For without the light we cannot see
What mortal eyes have never seen.

No. Don't weep for me anymore
No. Don't pray for the dead.
For the dead do not need your prayers.

"What I had, I lost; what I saved, I spent; but what I gave, I have."
~ Mattie Terri Shackelford

We Will Never Forget
No! Never ever.
Though the scarlet memories may linger
Though the flowers may wither
But we will never forget
Until this world will be no more.

Nosotros nunca nos Olvidaremos

¿Recordará me usted en cada 9/11? ¿Encenderá usted una vela para mí? Para sin la luz nosotros no podemos ver Qué ojos de mortal nunca han visto.

No. no llora para mí ya No. no ora para el muerto. Para el muerto no necesita sus oraciones.

"Lo que tuve, perdí; lo que salvé, gasté; pero lo que dí, tengo." -Mattie Terri Shackelford

¡Nosotros nunca nos Olvidaremos no! Jamás. Aunque las memorias escarlatas pueden demorar Aunque las flores
pueden marchitar Pero nosotros nunca nos olvidaremos hasta que este mundo no será más.



Nobody spoke a word as the credits rolled on the screen. But I could hear muffled sounds of sobs near me. Lesleen held my right hand tightly until they turned on the lights and we silently left the hall. As we entered our car and sat down, I used my fingers to wipe away her tears. The last time I wept was at the burial of my mother 14 years ago. And I made up my mind never to weep again. I comforted her for a while before I inserted the key into the ignition and jiggled the steering wheel as I turned the key to start the car. I drove out of the parking lot of Main Street Cinema with the head of LesIeen on my shoulder. I was still thinking about the closing scene of the film.
Why should the director include the 19 suicide bombers in his memorial candle lights?
And he showed us their bereaved families also mourning them. Those bastards killed
2,974 innocent people in a day and more died later from the respiratory diseases caused by exposure to WTC dust. Over 40, 000 people, including 10,000 firefighters from Fire Department of New York (FDNY) were exposed to environmental toxins at Ground Zero. And two years later, Ms. Reeve died of mesothelioma. Firefighters Stephen Johnson, Walter Voight and Joseph Costello and EMTs Timothy Keller and Felix Hernandez have died from cancers linked to respiratory diseases. And the unrepentant Al Quaeda is still thinking of repeating the catastrophe. The hijackers don't deserve any memorial. The devils are already burning in hell.
I hissed and turned back from the direction of our home.
"Where are we going?" Lesleen asked.
"To Gound Zero."
"I am tired and I want to go to bed," she said plaintively.
"There is enough time to sleep. Don't worry. I will make sure that you don't have nightmares," I said.
"How?"
"You just relax until we return home," I replied and smiled.

At Ground Zero, we were not alone. A memorial ceremony was in progress and I could count over a 100 people milling around with candlelights. We joined them and a man wearing a brown hat stepped out from the crowd and handed us two white candles.
"You have got a lighter?" The elderly man asked.
"Yes. Thank you sir," I replied.
"But, do you know the real figure of those who died?" He asked us.
"2, 993," I replied.
He shook his head.
He handed me a piece of white paper and we read what was printed on it.

CONFIRMED DEAD: 2948 •
REPORTED DEAD: 24 •
REPORTED MISSING: 24 •
TOTAL: 2996

"But we believe that 3, 000 must have died," he said.
Lesleen and I nodded.
Minus those 19 devils, I said within me.
We lit our candles and joined the procession.








Friday, September 10, 2021

VIFF Announces 40th Edition Festival Lineup

The poster of the Opening Film 

VIFF40Years_logo_Bl
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

VIFF ANNOUNCES 40TH EDITION FESTIVAL LINEUP,
A RETURN TO IN-CINEMA PRESENTATIONS
AND EXPANDED VIFF CONNECT ACCESS

 

40th Vancouver International Film Festival

October 1 – 11, 2021

 
VANCOUVER, BC (SEPTEMBER 8, 2021) Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) celebrates its 40th edition with a vibrant festival program that includes more than 110 feature films, 77 shorts, and 20 events. All films will be presented in-cinema, in strict compliance with provincial COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and select titles will be available for streaming across the province and Canada-wide on the festival’s online streaming platform, VIFF Connect. 

VIFF’s 2021 lineup showcases a kaleidoscopic collection of revelatory work, from provocative documentaries to elevated genre films. VIFF Talks take viewers behind the camera, and Totally Indie Day, VIFF AMP, and VIFF Immersed conferences support the local creative communities. VIFF’s 40th edition will officially open with an in-cinema screening of the inventive biopic The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, from U.K. director Will Sharpe, starring Benedict Cumberbatch who gives a bravura performance as the Victorian illustrator who found lasting fame with his knack for drawing cute cats. The festival will mark its closing with an in-cinema screening of Petite Maman, the latest from French director Céline Sciamma. A simple, subtle fairy tale about the mysterious bond between mother and daughter, the poetic film is realized with supreme delicacy and tact. 

"Perhaps more than any other art form, film has helped us through these past 18 months," says Kyle Fostner, Executive Director. "Isolated in our homes, we turned to movies for a connection to a larger world, full of perspectives, ideas, and culture. Our milestone 40th edition will be a celebration of cinema that shares the singular joy of experiencing incredible storytelling safely together, basking in the warm glow of the big screen. At the same time, we’ll continue to offer the opportunity and accessibility gained with last year’s model — with 85 per cent of our festival's vast and varied offerings available online via VIFF Connect. And for the first time, a large selection of films will also be available online across Canada."

VIFF Board Chair Lucille Pacey adds: "VIFF has always been a festival rooted in community and cinematic excellence. We mark this special edition by reconnecting with those who have supported us through the past four decades and with those who are only just discovering all that VIFF has to offer. VIFF's remarkable team has programmed an extraordinary lineup that highlights the voices of today and looks to the future of filmmaking."

“For our 40th edition, our programmers have curated a diverse selection of international cinema that includes work from dozens of countries and countless communities here in Canada,” says Curtis Woloschuk, Associate Director of Programming. “It’s a lineup that truly offers a plurality of perspectives. Many of this year’s selections are born of this era, as they share stories of reconnections with family and community, and employ structures that bend time. There are powerful narratives from Indigenous filmmakers, poignant stories from female perspectives, and bold work that confronts critical issues such as colonialism, racism, and the climate crisis. Likewise, there are films that testify to the transportative power of creativity and remind us that, even when it’s darkest, we can dream.”

Tickets are now on sale at viff.org. Single tickets are $15 for in-cinema presentations, $17 for in-cinema Special Presentations, and $10 for VIFF Connect. All-access VIFF Connect passes are $80, and will provide access to a selection of film titles and VIFF Talks streamed online. The Limited Edition Festival Pass is $725, and will provide access to all in-cinema and online screenings. While a selection of the film programming via VIFF Connect will remain geo-blocked to the province, a vast majority of films will be available across Canada. VIFF Talks, VIFF AMP, Totally Indie Day, and VIFF Immersed will be livestreamed Canada-wide and internationally, providing an unprecedented level of access to filmmakers and fans around the globe. 

 
Tickets and Information
 
VIFF Connect Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $10
VIFF Connect Festival Pass: $80 Regular / $110 Household
VIFF In-Cinema Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $15
VIFF In-Cinema Special Presentations: $17
VIFF Limited Edition Festival Pass: $725
40th Anniversary 4-Ticket Pack: $48 Regular / $32 Student / $44 Senior
VIFF AMP Pass In-person: $75 Regular / $25 Student
VIFF AMP Pass Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student
Totally Indie Day In-person: $45 Regular / $25 Student
Totally Indie Day Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student
VIFF Immersed: Free
 
Single tickets and passes available at viff.org.
 
To explore VIFF’s complete 2021 programming, visit viff.org.
 
VIFF’s health and safety protocols — in strict compliance with provincial health orders — can be viewed HERE.

With the generous support of these partners:

 

PressRelease_LogoStrip_18Aug

 

Founded in 1982, the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural society and federally registered charitable organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and the year-round programming at the VIFF Centre. VIFF produces screenings, talks, conferences, and events that act as a catalyst for the community to discover the creativity and craft of storytelling on screen. For its 40th edition, VIFF takes place both online and in-cinema, from Oct. 1–11, 2021, showcasing the top international, Canadian, and BC films along with creators and industry professionals from around the globe.

VIFF is presented on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil‑Waututh) Nations.

Media inquiries:
press@viff.org
Laura Murray | 
lmurray@mpmgarts.com | 604.418.2998
Ines Min | imin@mpmgarts.com | 604.440.0791
 

MPMG_logo-wordmark_blackblue_sm





Thursday, September 9, 2021

Who is the #1 Action Hero in Nollywood?


Who is the #1 Action Hero in Nollywood?

1. Daniel Kanayo Daniel in "A Soldier's Story" 2015, for which he won the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA) and the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) awards for Best Actor and in the sequel "A Soldier's Story 2" in 2021 acquired by Lionsgate.

2. JLeo Uche in "Rough Chase", 2015 and *A Trip To Libya", 2020.



JLeo Uche comes top of the league of action heroes for his outstanding expertise in martial arts and choreography of unarmed combat in duels.

3. Abbey Abimbola, aka Crackydon, in "BlackOut", 2021, his first Nollywood blockbuster action movie opening at the cinemas next month.



One of the three action thrillers will be the Best Nigerian Action Movie of the Year.

These three actors are currently the best Nigerian action heroes in Nollywood, the phenomenal first indie film industry in Africa that is rated the second largest in the world after the Bollywood of India in the annual quantity of movies. And has attracted Netflix, the #1 streaming video service in the world with more than 209 million subscribers so far.

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi.


Reply To The Threat From PalmCredit, A Chinese Capitalist Loans Company in Nigeria

CUSTOMER NAME:...........................................................

PHONE NUMBER:..............................................................


THE ABOVE CLIENT HAS DUPED A CHINESE LENDING COMPANY (PALM CREDIT) BY COLLECTING A LOAN AND REFUSING TO PAYBACK. THE PUBLIC IS ADVISED TO TAKE CAUTION OF HIM/HER, AS HE/SHE HAS PROVEN TO BE DUBIOUS UNTIL HE PAYS BACK THE COMPANY'S MONEY. HE WILL SOON BE APPREHENDED. 

INFORM HIM/HER TO PAY THE COMPANY'S MONEY. 

(PALM CREDIT].


NOTE: IN LESS THAN 24HRS WE ARE SENDING THE ABOVE MESSAGE OUT TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS, KINDLY DO THE NEEDFUL TODAY.

 

Hello Palmcredit!

Do you know what it means to dupe?

When I have been paying over 2% default fees on the loan of N21, 000 + and now over N28, 000, including the default fees.

When I have a reply to my plea for extra time to pay back the loan.

Your threat shows how idiotic you half  educated Nigerian errand boys and girls of Chinese capitalists are.

Chinese who claim to be ruled by a Communist Party in their country, China come to Africa to practice the worse form of Capitalism and scamming the corrupt and incompetent governments in Africa.

Another Chinese company, StarTimes has a questionable partnership with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) without declaring any profit to the NTA and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture; National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) without verified forensic audit in over 11 years of operation in Nigeria.

I have to publish your threat and my reply on my Nigerians Report Online and 247 Nigeria on Twitter. And I am calling for  a probe on all the Chinese companies in Nigeria and search of all the warehouses of Chinese companies in Nigeria within the next 48 hours.


Sincerely,

EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 

The CEO,

International Digital Post Network Limited.

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi


Wednesday, September 8, 2021

OPEN LETTER TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION

NIGER DELTA JUSTICE FORUM

No. 86 Nwaniba Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Telephone: +24 912 460 8050

OPEN LETTER TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION

September 7, 2021

The Hon. Attorney-General and Min. of Justice

Mr. Abubakar Malami

Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja.

Sir,

RE: NDDC FORENSIC AUDIT REPORT: MATTERS ARISING.

We write with reference to the mendacious and dissembling report submitted to you and disingenuously labelled ‘’forensic audit report on NDDC 2001-2019’’ by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

We decided to write this open letter to you because apart from being the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, you are a man with an incisive, deeply analytical legal mind and the so called report was submitted to you.

A cursory look at recent national news headlines betrays the malevolent intention of those who orchestrated the audit report. The mechanics employed by the planners was awful, the tactics deployed by the executors was dreadful and the metrics and barometer of the work of the forensic auditors were abysmal. They deliberately mismanaged the entire process and concocted a scheme to mislead you in order to achieve a predetermined outcome.

The exact amount of funding received by NDDC from 2001 to 2019 is a matter of public information and available in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and that of NEITI. If this basic but fundamental element of the forensic audit report can be intentionally misrepresented to create a baseless sensation, then the report leaves much to be desired.

For the avoidance of doubt, NDDC has received the following sums of money from 2001 to 2019:

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS:   N760,165,606,560.32

GOVT (OMPADEC ELECTRICITY FUND):          N2,500,000,000.00

STATE GOVERNMENT GRANTS:                       N18,175,000.00

OIL COMPANIES CONTRIBUTIONS:                 N1,623,690,225,765.07

OTHER INCOME:                                                 N19,566,957,137.81

TOTAL RECEIPTS:                                                N2, 405,940,964,463.20

(See link for attached PDF NDDC REVENUES )

Sir, the puzzling question that should agitate your mind is what mathematical abracadabra did the Minister and auditors employ to arrive at the N6 trillion figure which they presented to you when it is clear from the above table that NDDC received only N2.4 trillion between 2001 -2019 (a period of eighteen years)? Does it mean that the auditors don’t know the difference between income and approved budget or were they instructed to engage in deliberate misrepresentation? This misinformation is not only misleading, wicked and unconscionable but also inimical to future growth of the Niger Delta region. It is capable of inciting other regions against the Niger Delta now already being perceived as having frittered away a whopping sum of N6 trillion. To this end, we implore you, sir, to verify these figures and urgently correct this callous falsehood.

A forensic audit as a matter of practice must scale certain matrixes including planning, collecting evidence, writing a report with additional step of a potential court appearance to concur or disprove the fraud committed. Are the independent and dependent variable concepts/framework adopted by the auditors in the report submitted to you testable? Were the records they used appropriate to the problems or gaps they tried to fill? What type of data collection methods were used? Was there any rationale for the non-usage of technical tools and non-analysis of bills of engineering measurements to evaluate the extent of work done on projects? Was their observational guide sufficient to justify their reports? Were the contractors interviewed, who were the interviewers and how were they trained to minimize bias?

With due respect sir, the truth is that there was no forensic audit in the true sense of it. The report you have is the end product of a shambolic and scrappy exercise cleverly devised to deflate and buy time to continue to maintain absolute control over the finances of NDDC. It was pre-arranged to indict pre-determined targets.

The President ordered the forensic audit in October 2019 but the audit proper in the states started less than six months ago. It is noteworthy that about 40% of NDDC projects are located in riverine areas which the auditors could not access with gunboats because of low tide especially in Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta States. You may wish to independently verify this assertion. Some of the auditors complained aloud of censorship and lack of access to vital documents. The field auditors would spend less than 10 minutes at a 2 klms. shoreline protection project, 2 sq klm dredging site or a canalization project and use their observational guide to make a determination without the aid of technical tools such as total station, theodolite, fathometer or any form of sounding equipment. They would go to a 20klm road project completed more than 10 years ago in a challenging terrain, drive on less than 1klm distance of the road and without extracting the core for testing write a report as instructed by the orchestra conductor.

The auditors did not bother with funding issues, design issues, community and terrain challenges, legal disputes etc. They never interviewed a single contractor neither did they bother to relate with the engineers and consultants who supervised the projects. It is common knowledge that the auditors didn’t visit up to 30% of the advertised 13,777 abandoned projects they wrote reports on because of the constraint of time and terrain difficulties. How then can this report withstand the slightest legal scrutiny?

NDDC has had its audited report submitted to the Auditor-General of the Federation, the National Assembly, NEITI, The NDDC Presidential Reports and other regulatory agencies. It is unprofessional for the auditors not to have liaised with any of these agencies for independent confirmation of information.

The audit report is littered with intentional acts of muddling to control, scare, scandalize or bring to public opprobrium certain persons who have been targeted for embarrassment. This clearly explains the pre-audit allegations of a certain person who was receiving N1bn monthly as consultancy fees to collect debts from IOCs and another one who was accused of abandoning a $70m project which up till today have not been substantiated despite several challenges to prove same.

The recommendation of the report that board membership of the commission should be on part time basis in order to reduce costs should be ignored because it demonstrates clearly that the auditors did not even bother to read the Act setting up the Commission and they conveniently refused to question the thousands of people that management has surreptitiously employed in the last two years without recourse to due process.

While we recognize the need to diligently audit the finances of NDDC especially in the last two years and tackle the malfeasance that has bedeviled it and establish a credible template for efficient service delivery, it is our contention that the purported ‘’forensic audit report’’ submitted to you is not worth the Ghana-must-go bags in which they were delivered as the report cannot stand any basic accounting or legal challenge. The report should either be referred to the Auditor-General of the Federation for a review or be sent back to the Minister for his continuous entertainment.

Sir, please do not lend the weight of your office to the antics of desperate plutocrats who want to keep on embarrassing the government.


Thank you.

Bassey Ime Idongesit

Conve Iner.


Tuesday, September 7, 2021

247 Nigeria is 11 years on #Twitter

 #nigeria #education #africa #people #children #school #women #students #news #information #education #masscommunication #communication

WOW!
HALLELUJAH!
247 Nigeria is 11 years on #Twitter
September 2010 - September 2021!
I thank Almighty God for the abundance of His infinite grace every day by day since September 2010.
@247nigeria has been one of the leading blogs for aggregation, publication and circulation of news and information on Nigeria and Nigerians and on current affairs in the world. And fully committed to the Corporate Social Responsibility for the advocacy of the education of the millions of underprivileged girls out of school in Nigeria by coorganising the Nigerian premieres of "Girl Rising" in 2013 and "He Named Me Malala" in 2015 to celebrate the annual United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child on every October 11. We rescued a secondary school girl trafficked from Nigeria to #Libya in 2016 and successfully supported her rehabilitation with professional skills acquisition in Benin of Edo State.

 
We will continue doing our best for public enlightenment and human development.

We need the cooperation and support of all good people, companies and organisations.

- Ekeyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

247 NIGERIA

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter



Sunday, September 5, 2021

Please, Don't Return Nigerian Artworks in Foreign Art Galleries and Museums

Please, Don't Return Nigerian Artworks in Foreign Art Galleries and Museums

#art #history #gallery #contemporaryart #painting #artgallery #fineart #heritage #nigeria #artist #education #arts
#museums #artcollection #curator #conservation #preservation #drawings #artexhibition

If you see the dilapidated buildings in the National Museum and National Gallery of Arts in Lagos, you will not want the Nigerian artworks in foreign museums to be returned to Nigeria.Because, Nigerians cannot preserve or protect our artworks. They are better preserved and safer in American and European art galleries and museums.

My masterpiece of painting, "Blessed Mother" I made live in the Education Unit of the National Museum in Onikan on the Lagos Island was later missing from the museum and never found till date. Some of my colourful illustrations were missing at the UNICEF in Nigeria in 1988 and not found till date.

The private art galleries don't have the funds and management for the preservation of artworks and many of the galleries have incompetent staff without certification in art curation or preservation. Many galleries have  closed without any any records of the whereabouts of the artworks. I have lost priceless works without trace when custodians relocated without notice.

Nigerians cannot preserve our artworks.
Please, don't return them to Nigeria.


- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi