Showing posts with label Cannes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cannes. Show all posts

Friday, December 15, 2023

"Breath of Life" is an Unforgettable Journey of Discovery of the Power of Faith, Love and Triumph of the Human Spirit


A breathtaking masterpiece of  storytelling in motion picture.


"Breath of Life" is a period drama set in Ibadan in the 1950s. It is about "Timi", a gifted clergyman who turns into an "old lonely curmudgeon when his family is tragically taken from him. Until Elijah, a humble man with big dreams of becoming a priest, comes into his life. Through Elijah, Timi not only learns to live again, but also realizes purpose for all his gifts and wealth."

The Oscar performance of Wale Ojo as "Timi" has proven that he is indeed  more than an actor of actors, but also an auteur of genius in his excellent interpretation of one of the greatest portraits of unique and unforgettable characters in Nigerian drama. 
No other actor in Nollywood would have been able to play a better  challenging role of such an iconic character of "Timi" as Wale Ojo did exceptionally well.
He is among the best actors in the world in the same class with Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins of Hollywood for his mastery of being absorbed in the personality of every character he has played the leading role in different movies. This is a rare  accomplishment among actors in Nigeria, because only few of them have such command in characterization and intellectual depth.

Overall, in concise and precise analysis, the "Breath of Life" is a breathtaking cinematic drama of intellectual and spiritual insights on the triumph of faith, love and the human spirit in the conquest of the existential realities of life in the world. The survival, triumph and victory of the human spirit in the vicissitudes of the trials of life.

The director, producer, cinematographer, screenwriter, composer of the soundtracks and production designer have made a film that will become one of the timeless classics of filmmaking in Nigeria. "Breath of Life" is more than the typical Nollywood movie. It is a beautiful story in motion picture that will resonate with people in different societies in the world, because it is a universal journey of discovery of the true essence of human existence on Earth.
It would be more appreciated dubbed in other languages for the rest of the world to share in the beauty of this drama of the worth of every breath of life.

"Breath of Life" is one of the best films of the year and the kind of Nigerian film that should have been in the Official Selection of the annual Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or.

Principal cast:
Wale Ojo, Bimbo Manuel, Sam Dede, Tina Mba, Sambasa Nzeribe, Genoveva Umeh, Chimezie Imo, Demola Adedoyin, Melly Atari and others.

Produced by 
Eku Edewor and Aderinola Adeyokunnu.
Written and directed by BB Sasore, Ola Cardoso is the Director of Photography and Kelechi Odu is the Creative Director.

A must on the watchlist of everyone who loves great movies.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry since 2013, printed in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America and distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers in paperback, hardcopy and Amazon Kindle.






Saturday, October 22, 2022

Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman, Anikulapo and the Obsession for Netflix in Nollywood

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.


- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOOD MIRROR® Series,
New Nigeria on Pinterest





Tuesday, May 17, 2022

2022 Annual Cannes Film Festival : Live Updates

 #Cannes2022
#CannesFilmFestival
#Cannes
#France


View daily updates on the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival streaming live from 17 to 28 May, 2022 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres.

Vincent Lindon is the President of the jury, and the winners will be announced on 28th May 2022.

View daily updates on 
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

CANNES 2022 OFFICIAL SELECTION

COMPETITION
Les Amandiers, dir: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Holy Spider, dir: Ali Abbasi
Crimes Of The Future, dir: David Cronenberg
Stars At Noon, dir: Claire Denis
Frère Et Soeur, dir: Arnaud Desplechin
Tori And Lokita, dirs: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Armageddon Time, dir: James Gray
Close, dir: Lukas Dhont
Broker, dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda
RMN, dir: Cristian Mungiu
Triangle Of Sadness, dir: Ruben Ostlund
Showing Up, dir: Kelly Reichardt
Decision To Leave, dir: Park Chan-wook
Nostalgia, dir: Mario Martone
Tchaikovski’s Wife, dir: Kirill Serebrennikov
Boy From Heaven, dir: Tarik Saleh
Leila’s Brothers, dir: Saeed Roustaee
Eo, dir: Jerzy Skolimowski

UN CERTAIN REGARD
*Les Pires, dirs: Lisa Akoka, Romane Gueret
Burning Days, dir: Emin Alper
*Metronom, dir: Alexandru Belc
All The People I’ll Never Be, dir: Davy Chou
Sick Of Myself, dir: Kristoffer Borgli
Domingo And The Mist, dir: Ariel Escalante Meza
*Plan 75, dir: Hayakawa Chie
*Beast, dirs: Riley Keough, Gina Gammell
Corsage, dir: Marie Kreutzer
*Butterfly Vision, dir: Maksim Nakonechnyi
The Silent Twins, dir: Agnieszka Smocynska
The Stranger, dir: Thomas M Wright
*Joyland, dir: Saim Sadiq
*Rodeo, dir: Lola Quivoron
Godland, dir: Hlynur Palmason

CANNES PREMIERE
Nos Frangins, dir: Rachid Bouchareb
Nightfall, dir: Marco Bellocchio
Dodo, dir: Panos H Koutras
Irma Vep (series), dir: Olivier Assayas

OUT OF COMPETITION
Z (Comme Z), dir: Michel Hazanavicius
Top Gun: Maverick, dir: Joseph Kosinski
Elvis, dir: Baz Luhrmann
Novembre, dir: Cédric Jimenez
Three Thousand Years Of Longing, dir: George Miller
Mascarade, dir: Nicolas Bedos

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Hunt, dir: Lee Jung-Jae
Moonage Daydream, dir: Brett Morgen
Fumer Fait Tousser, dir: Quentin Dupieux

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
All That Breathes, dir: Shaunak Sen
The Natural History Of Destruction, dir: Sergei Loznitsa
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind, dir: Ethan Coen

*Denotes first film, eligible for the Camera d’Or

2022 Short films and La Cinef Selections

The Short Film Palme d'or will be awarded on Saturday, May 28 during the closing ceremony of Cannes Film Festival. 

TSUTSUE Amartei Armar 

Ghana/France - 15'

PO SUI TAI YANG ZHI XIN (A SHORT STORY) Bi Gan 

China - 15'

LORI (MELANCHOLY OF MY MOTHER'S LULLABIES) Abinash Bikram Shah 

Nepal/Hong Kong - 14'

HAI BIAN SHENG QI YI ZUO XUAN YA (THE WATER MURMURS) Story Chen/China - 14'

UOGOS (CHERRIES) Vytautas Katkus 

Lithuania/Italy - 15'

SAME OLD Lloyd Lee Choi 

United States - 15'

LE FEU AU LAC (FIRE AT THE LAKE) Pierre Menahem 

France - 15'

GAKJIL (PERSONA) Sujin Moon 

South Korea - 6'

LUZ NOCTURNA (NIGHT LIGHT) Kim Torres 

Costa Rica/Mexico - 14'

For its 25th edition, La Cinef has selected 13 live-action and 3 animated shorts directed by 6 male directors and 10 women directors, from among the 1,528 submitted by film schools all over the world. 

The 3 La Cinef prizes will be handed at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday 26 May, in the Buñuel Theatre.

CHLIEB NÁŠ KAŽDODENNÝ (LIQUID BREAD) Alica Bednáriková

FTF VŠMU-Film and Television Faculty - Slovakia  - 26'

MUMLIFE Ruby Challenger

AFTRS - Australia - 15'

TOUT CECI VOUS REVIENDRA (ALL OF THIS BELONGS TO YOU) Lilian Fanara

La Fémis - France - 29'

LES HUMAINS SONT CONS QUAND ILS S'EMPILENT (HUMANS ARE DUMBER WHEN CRAMMED UP TOGETHER) Laurène Fernandez

La CinéFabrique - France - 4'

IL BARBIERE COMPLOTTISTA (A CONSPIRACY MAN) Valerio Ferrara

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Italy - 19'

THE PASS Pepi Ginsberg

NYU - United States - 15'

SHEHERUT (KINSHIP) Orin Kadoori

The Steve Tisch School of Film & Television Tel Aviv University - Israel - 24'

NAUHA Pratham Khurana

Whistling Woods International - India - 26'

JUTRO NAS TAM NIE MA (WE ARE NOT THERE TOMORROW) Olga Kłyszewicz

The Polish National Film School in Łódź - Poland - 8'

DI ER (SOMEWHERE) Li Jiahe

Hebei University of Science and Technology School of Film and Television - China - 23'

FENG ZHENG (THE SILENT WHISTLE) Li Yingtong

Emerson College - United States - 18'

MISTIDA Falcão Nhaga

ESTC - Portugal - 30'

GLORIOUS REVOLUTION Masha Novikova

London Film School - United Kingdom - 20'

100% FLÅET KÆRLIGHED (THAT'S AMORE) Malthe Saxer

Den Danske Filmskole - Denmark - 49'

HAJSZÁLREPEDÉS (CRAZE) Bianka Szelestey

Eötvös Loránd University Department of Film Studies - Hungary - 22'

SPRING ROLL DREAM Mai Vu

NFTS - United Kingdom - 9'

https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/communique/articles/2022-short-films-and-la-cinef-selections




Wednesday, September 29, 2021

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




Sunday, July 18, 2021

Nigeria is Still Far Behind South Africa in Film and TV Productions

 


Nigeria is Still Far Behind South Africa in Film and TV Productions

South Africa has the biggest film industry in Africa, followed by Egypt and Morocco in terms revenues in international film distribution and acquisition.

From the Academy Award winning "Tsotsi" of 2005 directed by Gavin Wood that grossed more than US$11 million from a budget of US$3 million to "District 9" of 2009 directed by Neill Blomkamp that had four nominations for the #Oscars. The film made more than  US$210 million from a budget of US$30 million.
There are several other outstanding South African films of global success.


In spite of the popularity of sociocultural phenomenon of Nollywood, the first indie film industry in Africa ranked as the second largest film industry in the world after the Bollywood of India and ahead of Hollywood in the quantity of movies produced annually, we are still waiting for a Nigerian film that can make up to US$5 million from the box office or qualify for nominations at the Academy Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

 

When it comes to TV, of course the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is more advanced than the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), both in content,  programming and administrative management in structure and manpower. Without Multichoice in Nigeria,  both the local public and private TV stations are lagging behind South African TV stations. The private TV stations in Nigeria don't produce enough programmes and the programmes are often running without any proper programming. And the programmes have discordant audio caused by bad audio boards or incompetent audio engineers.
No need to discuss the quality of the TV productions with bad sound.
They have badly produced local movies, documentaries and reality TV shows, because of low budgets and insufficient revenues to produce or buy premium content. So, they resort to having cheap content of low quality.

There are more entertainment on some Nigerian blogs than the local private TV  channels in Nigeria.  And they even  compete for bragging rights to winning local TV awards with programmes that cannot be sold internationally.


- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

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

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


-

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Julia Ducournau's "TITANE" Wins the Palme d'Or of the 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival in France



Julia Ducournau's "TITANE" Wins the Palme d'Or of the 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival in France

 
Director Julia Ducournau, center, winner of the Palme d'Or for the film 'Titane' poses with Agathe Roussell, left, and Vincent Lindon during the awards ceremony at the 74th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, July 17. AP-Yonhap.

 

#cannes2021
#cannesfilmfestival
#74thcannesfilmfestival
#palmedor
#Cannes
#Awards
#winners
#julia
#leos
#bestdirector
#bestfilm
#jury
#spikelee #Juliaducournau

#Annette #leoscarax

@festivaldecannes
74th Annual Cannes Film Festival
Winners Announced 

I wanted "Annette" by Leos Carax to win the highly coveted Palme d'Or, but "Titane" by Julia Ducournau won it while Leos won the prize for the Best Director.
See my article on Leos Carax Makes "Annette" Masterpiece of Modern Cinema on https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2021/06/leos-carax-makes-annette-masterpiece-of.html

Palme d’Or
Titane, dir: Julia Ducournau

Grand Prize (TIE)
A Hero, dir: Asghar Farhadi, (Farhadi has received two Oscarsfor Best Foreign Language Film for his films A Separation, 2011 and The Salesman, 2016.)


Compartment No. 6, dir: Juho Kuosmanen
Best Director
Leos Carax, Annette
Best Screenplay
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Best Actress
Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person In The World

Jury Prize (TIE)
Ahed’s Knee, dir: Nadav Lapid
Memoria, dir: Apichatpong Weerasthakul
Best Actor
Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram
Camera d’Or
Murina, dir: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
Short Film Palme d’Or
All The Crows In The World, dir: Tang Yi
Special Mention: August Sky, dir: Jasmin Tenucci

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Film Financing is Not the Priority for the Nigerian Film Industry


The Nigerian film industry has no film market. Nigeria does not buy or sell films. We went to Cannes and Toronto and returned without selling or buying any film. And we lie that Nollywood employs 1 million people. Where?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Hyper-Endemic Typhoid in Africa Takes Spotlight at Cannes

14 Sep 2011 04:10 Africa/Lagos


Hyper-Endemic Typhoid in Africa Takes Spotlight at Cannes

CANNES, September 13, 2011/PRNewswire via African Press Organization (APO)/ -- New evidence draws attention to unrecognized burden in the region


Important new evidence revealing hyper-endemic typhoid in Africa will be presented by global health experts and scientists at the 6th International Conference on Vaccines for Enteric Diseases (VED) 2011 on September 14-16 in Cannes, France. The findings, presented by the Sabin Vaccine Institute's Coalition against Typhoid (CaT), could help accelerate regional control of typhoid, a disease that afflicts 21.6 million people worldwide. This conversation is part of CaT's ongoing effort to ensure the delivery of typhoid vaccines to the populations that need them most.

This latest study from Nairobi, recorded by Robert Breiman, M.D. and his team at the Center for Disease Control Kenya, provides new evidence of a previously unrecognized burden of typhoid fever, especially in rapidly growing urban areas. The team used population-based surveillance and laboratory techniques to confirm the presence of typhoid in approximately 2 percent of all children 2-9 years of age. Alarmingly, nearly 75 per cent of cases were antibiotic resistant.

"Our findings have important policy implications for the use of typhoid vaccines in an increasingly urban Africa," says Dr. Breiman. "As it currently stands, there is limited awareness of typhoid in Africa. Before we can control the disease, we need to provide local evidence of the problem."

A team led by researchers from Michigan State University found similar typhoid infection rates in Abuja, Nigeria, where 20 percent of children 0-5 years of age who tested positive for bacterial infection were infected with Salmonella typhi- the causative agent of typhoid fever.

"Typhoid was the number one cause of invasive bacterial infection in children under 5 in our study," says Stephen Obaro, M.D., visiting consultant pediatrician at the National Hospital in Abuja and lead researcher of the study in Nigeria, "but currently, no country in sub-Saharan Africa implements routine immunization with typhoid vaccine. Our pilot data suggest that there may well be a need for implementing routine immunization with available vaccines."

Recognizing the threat of typhoid fever, Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation officials have begun vaccinating food service workers in area schools. The implementation of current typhoid vaccines is recommended by the WHO and is prioritized but not yet funded by the GAVI Alliance. The first typhoid vaccine recently earned WHO pre-qualification status, allowing for procurement by UNICEF and other UN agencies.

"Despite the availability of low cost typhoid vaccines, a WHO recommendation for their use and successful vaccination programs in many countries, typhoid vaccines have not yet reached those most impacted by the disease," said Christopher Nelson, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director of the Coalition against Typhoid Secretariat at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. "CaT is committed to overcoming access barriers and ensuring the widespread use of these safe, affordable and life-saving typhoid vaccines."

About Sabin Vaccine Institute

Sabin Vaccine Institute is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of scientists, researchers, and advocates dedicated to reducing needless human suffering caused by vaccine preventable and neglected tropical diseases. Sabin works with governments, leading public and private organizations, and academic institutions to provide solutions for some of the world's most pervasive health challenges. The Coalition against Typhoid, whose secretariat is housed at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, is a global forum of scientists and immunization experts that works to save lives and reduce suffering by advancing typhoid vaccination in endemic countries. For more information please visit http://www.sabin.org/advocacy-education/coalition-against-typhoid

For more information about typhoid, please visit http://www.who.int/topics/typhoid_fever

Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

Richard Hatzfeld, Richard.hatzfeld@sabin.org, +1-202-842-5025


Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

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Friday, June 10, 2011

Viva Riva, Beyond the Nollywood Fever and Palaver



Viva Riva, Beyond the Nollywood Fever and Palaver


This weekend as the Congolese gangster thriller Viva Riva opens in theatres in Los Angeles, U.S.A, it should be a wakeup call to Nollywood that what matters most is not the quantity of your movies, but the quality in Art and craft of filmmaking beyond the get-rich-quick syndrome of churning out cheap home videos of Nigerian comedies and tragedies from Idumota to Onitsha.

When Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s "Viva Riva" beat the best Nollywood movies at the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), many of the Nigerian filmmakers were humbled. But how many of them learnt the real lessons of the event? They preferred to rush back to their business as usual in Nollywood and having premieres of their amateurish flicks at the Silverbird Cinemas where their posing and posturing on the local red carpet is the best they have been able to achieve so far, while the man from the war torn Democratic Republic of the Congo has gone ahead of them to make history with his "Viva Riva" as the first Congolese feature to find distribution in the U.S. I wonder if any Nollywood flick has achieved that. And Congo where French is the main official language, plus four official indigenous languages: Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba from “400 different tribes with 400 different ways of thinking. And, there are more than 200 ‘living’ languages,” according to Munga, with no acting schools and no "Congowood". In fact for most members of the cast, it was their first film credit.


Chineze Anyaene

Is it not amazing that the best film from Nollywood is "IJÉ the Journey", a New York Film Academy thesis feature film by Chineze Anyaene who has won 12 awards, including the Golden Ace Award at Las Vegas International Film Festival and the Melvin Van Peeples Award at the San Francisco Black Film Festival. In fact she even claimed that "IJÉ the Journey is the first standard Nigerian made Hollywood film" and do you blame her when like most people Nollywood is being mistaken as the best we can boast of from the Nigerian film industry since majority of our youths and even journalists are ignorant of the history of filmmaking in Nigeria and never knew that "Palaver" was the first Nigerian film shot in Jos, Plateau State, in 1904. But "IJÉ the Journey" is just one of the best Hollywood standard features done by Nigerian filmmakers who were making fantastic world class films for the cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. From Dr. Ola Balogun to Afolabi Adesanya and other notable veterans of the Nigerian cinema now mistakenly erroneously and ambiguously dubbed “Nollywood”. And I have already addressed this in my previous articles on Nollywood, so there is no need to over flog it again.

The once popular cinema culture is gradually being revived by Ben Murray-Bruce through his expanding Silverbird Cinemas and others building new cinemas all over Nigeria. And the real filmmakers are now redefining Nollywood by taking up the challenge of making features that can compete with the best in the world.
Majority of them have gone through the New York Film Academy. Faruk Lasaki, Kunle Afolayan, Stephanie Okereke, Chineze Anyaene, Chika Anadu and others who are going to take Nigerian films to compete with the best at the Cannes, Oscars and other major centres of the film world. But we need to address the problem of intellectual ignorance and professional arrogance plaguing Nollywood.



Many of the stakeholders are doing more harm than good to Nollywood by engaging in activities questioning the dignity and leadership of the Nigerian film industry.
They have also dragged their associations into partisan politics and promoting cash-for-vote and cash-for-news coverage sharp practices with many of them rubbishing and tarnishing the public image of the Nigerian film industry.

Piracy is still rampant and counterfeiting is being practiced by notable Nollywood stars who have been accused of copyright infringements like the desperate but futile attempts by a faction of Nollywood producers to hijack the duly registered Eko International Film Festival with the unethical support of their accomplices in public office.

My personal experience is quite revealing in the case of the counterfeiting of Eko International Film Festival by the mercenaries in Nollywood who have been abusing and misusing their professional associations for their greed and ego trips. But I have dismissed them since they have been found wanting in facing the real business of filmmaking and raking up ethnic differences and tribalism in their primordial divide and rule tactics to cause north-south dichotomy and east-west dichotomy in Nollywood when what matters most is promoting what is best for the Nigerian film industry and giving the necessary cooperation and support to those with the best intentions for the advancement of Nollywood, no matter your state of origin, in fact no matter where the person comes from, even from the moon or mars.

Only backward and narrow-minded people would be banging their office desk and going round the bend over why an Igbo should be the owner of a film festival in Lagos with the Yoruba name of "Eko"?
Would they also go bananas that my popular pen name "Orikinla" is Yoruba, because I am Igbo or question why I created "Òmó Iya Osùn" the mystical girl in "Boy Adam Floats Headless In The Thames"? Of course they are ignorant of the fact that my father grew up among the Yoruba Ijebus of Ogun State in the western region of Nigeria, became a Babalawo versed in Ifa Divination, was also an Ogun priest with an Ogun shrine in Obalende on the Lagos Island and was a prominent member of the Ogboni society. And he brought me up with deep knowledge of the mythology and mysticism of the Yoruba culture and religion until he passed on. I knew enough to be the first Nigerian artist to mount an installation of Ogun shrine and Opon Ifa in an Art exhibition hosted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung on the campus of the University of Lagos in 1992, based on my late father’s paraphernalia of Ogun worship and Prof. Wande Abimbola’s book on Ifa Divination.

The search for knowledge knows no boundaries.
Before Oduduwa there was Ifa. And before Adam, our lord Jesus Christ existed and still existing as explained in the book of John 1:1 of the Holy Bible.

Only ignorant, uneducated and uninformed people will question why two Igbo men should be the founder and owner of Eko International Film Festival in Lagos or anywhere else in the world. Anyone could have been the founder, owner or whatever. What matters is not who discovered or founded a property, but how beneficial it is to you and me, regardless of class, colour, creed, tribe or race.

In conclusion, may I advise all the stakeholders, aficionados and well wishers of the Nigerian film industry to look beyond their local competition in Nollywood, put aside their evil greed and foolish pride and let us do our best to support whatever will benefit Nigeria and the rest of the world.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima