No Nigerian Filmmaker is Among the Best and Greatest African Filmmakers
I am currently doing research on my article on "African Cinema in the Eyes of the World".
No Nigerian filmmaker is among the best and greatest filmmakers in African Cinema since 1925 to date. None of them is on the list of the to 10 African Filmmakers.
Only Newton Aduaka's multiple award winning film,"Ezra" that won the most prestigious award of the "Étalon d'or de Yennenga" (Golden Stallion of Yennenga) at the 2007 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou or FESPACO) (held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. "Ezra" also other sspecial awards; including the Oumarou Ganda Prize, given for the best first film, and the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director of the African diaspora named in honour of the major 20th-century American actor, singer and civil rights activist in the United States.) and C.J Obasi's cinematic masterpiece, "Mami Wata", the 2023 sci-fi drama based on the mythology of Nigerian marine spirits are included in the best 100 African films so far.
"Mami Wata"'s cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition and won three awards at FESPACO - Prix de la Critique Paulin S. Vieyra (African Critics Award), Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleur Décor (Set Design Award).
The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène Ousmane's "La Noire de (Black Girl). It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966. Ousmane is recognized as the Father of African Cinema.
Only one African film has won the highly coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Chronicles of the Years of Fire" (1975) by Algerian director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina.
Then Mati Diop of Senegal became the only African woman to win the Grand Prix, the second-most prestigious award, for her film "Atlantics" in 2019.
"Tsotsi", a South African film is the first African film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 actually, the first non-French language film from Africa to achieve this honor. It was directed by Gavin Hood, based on a novel by Athol Fugard.
The first African film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival was "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha", a South African drama directed by Mark Dornford-May, in 2005.
"Dahomey, directed by Mati Diop won the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in 2024, the first Black filmmaker to win the award.
No African films has won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. However, "Mother, Mother" by Somalian filmmaker K'naan Warsame did receive the FIPRESCI Jury Award in 2024.
The Golden Globes celebrated a century of Egyptian Cinema in 2021. I have been working on "A Century of Nigerian Cinema: from Palaver To Nollywood - 1926-2026".
- by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, The Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
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.
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
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
Nigeria's phenomenal filmmaker, C. J. "Fiery" Obasi's multiple award winning film, "MAMI WATA" has become the first ever Nigerian film to be nominated for the Best International Film of the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards which have been pointers for the nominations for the annual Academy Awards, popularly called the Oscars. This is first in the history of filmmaking in Nigeria.
"MAMI WATA", a 2023 West African mythological fantasy film shot in black-and-white written and directed by Obasi, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition for the cinematography.
The film has won several awards, including three awards at the FESPACO - Prix de la Critique Paulin S. Vieyra (African Critics Award), Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleur Décor (Set Design Award). It was acquired by Dekanalog for North American distribution.
It is currently the Nigerian film with the widest Internatonal theatrical release in the history of Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
"MAMI WATA" is Nigeria's entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations 2024
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
Anatomy of a Fall
France
Director: Justine Triet
Godland
Denmark/Iceland
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Mami Wata
Nigeria
Director: C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
Tótem
Mexico
Director: Lila Avilés
The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom, Poland, USA
Director: Jonathan Glazer
The 39th Spirit Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 on the beach in Santa Monica, CA hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant.
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, The first book series on Nollywood and Nigerian film industry.
The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is not responsible for the selections of the members of the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the annual Academy Awards (Oscars).
The brouhaha over the lack of honesty and transparency in the rejection of any of the two acclaimed Nigerian films as the country’s official submission for the IFF Award last year caused the resignation of Mildred Okwo and Shaibu Husseini from the selection committee and I don't know if they have returned. But there should be a defined criteria for the membership of the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) based on international professional achievements and accomplishments in filmmaking and being on the jury of highly rated international film festivals and awards. So, some members of the NOSC are not qualified to be members of the committee. And I mean every word in my statement.
I was dragged into the mess of the NOSC last year that caused the local and international embarrassment of Nollywood, because after my investigation I discovered that Nigeria should have submitted an entry for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the last Oscars. But personal antagonisms and not professional criticisms caused the rejection of the two films from which one should have been submitted.
The two major contenders for the submission as Nigeria's entry were "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" , Yoruba-language historical drama film directed by Biyi Bandele based on Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka's "Death and the King's Horseman", a stage play he wrote while in Cambridge and "Aníkúlápó", a Yoruba epic fantasy film by Kunle Afolayan. Both of them were good enough; therefore one of them should have been submitted for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the annual Academy Awards (Oscars). But the antagonism between those who wanted "Aníkúlápó" and those who wanted "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" resulted in the rejection of the films.
Selfish opportunism has done more harm than good to professionalism in Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
To me, any Nigerian film that fails to be accepted for the Official Selections of any of the following annual international film festivals: Sundance Film Festival; Berlin International Film Festival: Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) should not be in the consideration for the submission by the NOSC.
- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, The Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, Nigeria Daily Nigerians Report Online on Blogger and Facebook New Nigeria on Pinterest Vuulr Program Partner, Cinewav affiliate partner
l am studying Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" of 1960. A classic masterpiece in psychological crime thrillers of the cinema.
Film critic, Roger Ebert's summary of the film in a 1998 review said it all.
"What makes Psycho immortal, when so many films are already half-forgotten as we leave the theater, is that it connects directly with our fears: Our fears that we might impulsively commit a crime, our fears of the police, our fears of becoming the victim of a madman, and of course our fears of disappointing our mothers."
The biographical romantic drama, "Hitchcock" of 2012 by Sacha Gervasi, a film adaptation of Stephen Rebello's 1990 non-fiction book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" on the dramatic moments between Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville played by Academy Award winning actress, Dame Helen Mirren DBE during the making of "Psycho" in 1959 is also a masterpiece. And the subtlety of the acting genius of Academy Award winning actor, Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE as
Hitchcock should have won him an Oscar for Best Actor. The most dramatic moment was the scene of Hitchcock in the lobby conducting to the soundtrack in the reaction of the audience during the gripping shower scene in "Psycho".
I see a Big Picture of myself winning the Oscar for the Best Picture, widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the annual Academy Awards of AMPAS.
Yes, I can win the Best Picture Oscar with my my first feature.
The original screenplay has been cowritten by me and by the accomplished multiple award winning filmmaker, Dr. Chika Christian Onu, director of "Living in Bondage" 2 and famous for directing "Glamour Girls", in 1994, the first romantic comedy in the history of the phenomenon of Nollywood.
I have shortlisted two cinematographers I believe have the experience and expertise for the cinematography. My preferred director remains classified.
Locations are in Port Harcourt and Bonny Island in Rivers State.
The research for the screenplay took four years, including the time that Dr. Chika Christian Onu came to the Nigeria LNG RA 1 on Bonny Island where I was staying from 2004 to 2008.
I published the screenplay as a book in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Tems' Symbolic #OscarsSoWhite Costume at the 95th Oscars
Tems, the co-writer of Rihanna’s Oscar-nominated song, “Lift Me Up” was the talk of the annual 95th Academy Awards held on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
Her spectacular white costume blocked the view of those sitting behind her.
Of course, she and the designer deliberately wanted to raise eyebrows at the Oscars and make news headlines and they succeeded.
The white Lever Couture gown “stole the show" and became the talk of Tinseltown from Hollywood to Nollywood of her own country, Nigeria.
To me, Tems' awesome all white costume echoed the #OscarsSoWhite first tweeted in 2015 by activist April Reign in response to the 20 acting nominations for the Academy Awards all being granted to white actors. The hashtag raised the question of white racism of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and called for diversity and inclusion in the nominations for the Academy Awards. But as much as AMPAS has tried to end the dominance of Whites in the American nominees, we can see that the Oscars are still So White.
Eystein Young’s "The Planter's Plantation" is going to become one of the classics of African cinema.
I will not be surprised if Cameroon's entry for the Best International Feature Film category of the 2023 annual Academy Awards makes the final nominees for the highly coveted award and also gets nominated for the Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
This is a masterpiece of cinematic beauty in storytelling and cinematography.
Famous Nigerian actor, Nkem Owoh in the leading male role of The Planter may end up becoming the first Nollywood actor to be nominated for an Oscar for his outstanding performance and Nimo Loveline as Enanga is a strong contender for the Oscar for Best Actress.
"The Planter's Plantation" set in a West African Plantation in the 1960s tells the captivating story of a young determined girl who must battle family and external forces to preserve her late father's legacy, a colonial plantation willed to him by his white master at independence. Disagreements , betrayal and secrets bring back the colonial master's daughter to the helm of the Plantation. An allegory of Neo colonization.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will announce the 15 shortlisted contenders for the international feature Oscar on December 21, 2022. The five nominees will be announced on the 24th of January, 2023 and the 95th annual Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on 12 March, 2023.
Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman, Anikulapo and the Obsession for Netflix in Nollywood
Planning is everything and everything is planning in achieving our goals in our occupations and professions.
Nobody is too big, too high or too old to learn.
The films, ‘Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" by Biyi Bandele and "Anikulapo" by Kunle Afolayan should have been in the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in competition with the best new films by other filmmakers in the world.
Both of them were produced for Netflix and the producers were fixated on seeing them in competition for the global Top 10 movies on Netflix.
The obsession of Nigerian filmmakers for Netflix deserves to be studied by psychologists.
Being on Netflix has become a status symbol for bragging rights by local filmmakers in Nollywood and their second obsession and status symbol is Amazon Prime Video SVOD.
To them being on either Netflix or Amazon Prime Video SVOD is like winning an Oscar at the annual Academy Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Once they are on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video SVOD, they have arrived, even though they are among the lowest paid filmmakers compared to the American, European, Australian and Asian filmmakers on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video SVOD.
Hundreds of the local filmmakers can stampede over themselves to be on either of the two leading streaming platforms for even US$20, 000. Yeah, they have become so cheap that many of them are giving their new movies to MultiChoice for less than US$1, 000 per movie! In fact, they fast and pray and do night vigils of praise and worship to be accepted by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video SVOD and MultiChoice.
They are doing more harm than good to the international reputation and valuation of Nollywoood and the Nigerian film industry.
If the focus of the producers of "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" and "Anikulapo" has been on making the Official Selections of the biggest international film festivals and the Academy Awards, there would not have been any controversial rejection of the films by the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Best International Feature Film category of the 2023 annual Academy Awards. Their focus on Netflix distracted them from following the road map to the Oscars.
Film at Lincoln Center presents King Vidor, a retrospective of the Academy Award®-winning director’s work, from August 5–14.
Tickets are now on sale! Save 20% on membership and get $5 off all tickets year-round.
A fascinating and prolific figure whose career bridged the silent and sound eras of Hollywood, King Vidor completed over 50 feature films during a career that spanned nearly seven decades. Vidor’s cinema, rich with idiosyncratic takes on well-trod Hollywood forms, arced across a wide range of genres, from the Western to the musical to the maternal melodrama (late in his career, he even produced a philosophical primer on metaphysics). These movies also made a considerable impression on the critics-turned-directors of Cahiers du Cinéma and the French New Wave, namely Luc Moullet and Jean-Luc Godard. Yet, for all his on-screen achievements, Vidor is seldom given his due as one of the studio system’s enduringly great auteurs. Join us at FLC as we seek to change that with a long-awaited retrospective, a survey of his vast body of work that highlights his most celebrated pictures alongside undersung efforts.
Notable films include but are not limited to: Vidor’s most acclaimed film, The Big Parade, often considered a model for numerous future war movies; Vidor’s adaptation of Olive Higgins Prouty’s 1923 novel Stella Dallas, featuring Barbara Stanwyck as of one of the most indelible heroines of Hollywood’s Golden Age; Comrade X, part spy film, part screwball satire starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr, which prophetically anticipated the invasion of Russia and Ukraine by Germany less than a year after its release; and Duel in the Sun, a Western staged as a grand, Freudian frenzy.
As a special treat for filmgoers and Vidor fans alike, there will be live musical accompaniment to select screenings of four silent films in the retrospective: La Bohème, The Crowd, The Patsy, and Show People, performed by Donald Sosin, well-known for creating and performing music for silent films.
Global Top 10 on Netflix Begins on Netflix and Ends on Netflix
FEATURE FILM & TV
THE GLAMOUR GIRLS REMAKE IS A FLAT TAKE ON A NOLLYWOOD CLASSIC
POSTED ONJUNE 30, 2022 BY THELMA IDEOZU
https://culturecustodian.com/the-glamour-girls-remake-is-a-flat-take-on-a-nollywood-classic/
Global Top 10 on Netflix begins on Netflix and ends on Netflix.
The popularity of a movie from the street to the internet is more about publicity than quality.
Yes, it is a basis for bragging rights, but if your movie makes the Global Top 10 of Netflix, but fails to qualify for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Berlinale, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and fails to qualify for the nominations for the Academy Awards, you are still lagging behind the filmmakers who belong to that Ivy league of the best filmmakers in the world.
Moreover, Nollywood movies making the Global Top 10 have not stopped Netflix from losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers and not even up to 50, 000 of the millions of the followers and fans of the stars on Instagram have subscribed to Netflix to watch their movies, except clicks of Likes and Thumbs Up for movies they have only seen the trailers. Because if all of them subscribed, Netflix will be celebrating gaining millions of new subscribers in Nigeria and not lamenting over loss of millions of subscribers worldwide.
I rate and regard the outstanding filmmakers who have made official selections and nominations and won awards at major international film festivals above those who.have not done so, but competing for bragging rights, Likes and Views on Instagram.
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Founder/Producer,
Screen Naija YouTube Channel,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry,
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://shadowandact.com/author/MichaelChima
Nollywood Still Missing at the Cannes Film Festival
30 years since the production of the blockbuster home video, "Living in Bondage" in 1992 and 20 years after the New York Times coined the word #Nollywood in 2002 for the phenomenal guerilla film industry in Nigeria with over 2000 movies produced annually and rated as the second largest film industry in the world after the #Bollywood of India and ahead of #Hollywood of America, no Nollywood movie has ever been chosen for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival when filmmakers from other African countries have competed with the best for the highly coveted Palme d'Or and have won it a couple of times.
Morocco, Senegal, Ghana and Mali are among the countries with films in the Official Selection of the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival beginning on Tuesday, 17 May and ending on Saturday, 28 May.
While, the ambitious filmmakers in the world are going to be in competition for the highly coveted Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Nigerian filmmakers are hyping themselves on Instagram and competing for bragging rights in Nollywood.
Nollywood filmmakers are lagging behind in the biggest competitions in the global film industry. That is why none of them has qualified for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival and nominations for the Academy Awards.
India will be the official ‘Country of Honour’ at the upcoming Marche’s Du Film which will be organized alongside the Cannes Film Festival 2022 in France. And this is the first time that such honour has been bestowed on any country.
Nollywood, where art thou?
- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima, The Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
Unknown to majority of people, we made history by breaking new grounds for #Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry in the first quarter of 2022 through Vision Films Inc of California (the home state of #Hollywood). Two filmmakers from the same Benue State in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have made history with their in-depth analytical films of different genres, "The American King" by Dr. Adah Obekpa is the first Hollywood and Nollywood comedy to have theatrical release in movie theaters in the United States of America (USA) with thanks to Vision Films Inc and "Eagle Wings" by Paul Apel Papel is the first Nigerian film to have the biggest global film distribution in the history of the Nigerian film industry since the making of "Palaver", the first feature film shot in NIgeria by the Academy Award winning English filmmaker, Geoffrey Barkas in 1926.
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima Publisher/Editor,
Why #Bollywood and #Nollywood Have Not Won the #Oscar for the Best International Feature Film
#Oscars #academyawards #movies
In nearly 75 years, the Oscar for best international film has only gone to an African production three times and a Bollywood production has never won. Europe dominates the category. Why?
Bollywood also snubbed by Hollywood
Half of the Asian-winning films are Japanese productions. Despite the size of Bollywood's film industry, India has never won the best international film award.
Another reason is the lack of financial means to promote Indian films to the Academy, says Namrata Joshi, an Indian film critic and author who has served on international film festivals juries in Toronto, Moscow and Cluj.
Even though Nigeria's internationally renowned Nollywood industry produces around 2,500 films a year, it hasn't won a single foreign film Academy Award.
Nollywood productions often do not meet the technical requirements of a cinema film since the focus is on home television. According to Ayorinde, streaming services like Netflix could change the situation significantly. Netflix is raising the bar, he says, by requiring cinematic standards even for films made for home viewing.
Nollycasting.com Secures Major International Role for Rising Actress Onyinye Odokoro in Sky Original TV Series which is Directed by Oscar nominated Oliver Hirschbiegel.
Proudly, Nigerian rising actress Onyinye Odokoro has landed a major international role in Unwanted, a new TV series from Sky Original through Nollycasting, Africa’s largest casting site for film and TV. The young and beautiful actress will star alongside Marco Bocci, Jessica Schwarz, Dada Fungula Bozela, Sylvester Groth and other international stars in this production which is currently being filmed in Italy.
“Unwanted” is produced by Sky Studios, Pantaleon Films and Indiana Production and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It is set to air on Sky and streaming service Now in all Sky territories.
Onyine joins a growing number of African stars who are realizing their dreams of snagging major roles through Nollycasting. With hundreds of jobs in acting, modeling, commercials and music videos listed daily, Nollycasting is the ideal platform for both new and seasoned talents in the film and TV industry. In partnership with its subsidiary, Next Page Talents, the platform also provides customized talent management services for creative individuals who want to take their career to the next level.
It's easier than ever to cross that gap between having the right skills and finding the right job on Nollycasting.com! Creative individuals such as actors, models, music artistes and more can upload their profiles and highlight their skills, thereby positioning themselves to be discovered by casting directors who are actively recruiting for such roles.
Upload your profile on
www.nollycasting.com today and get one step closer to achieving your dreams!
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