Showing posts with label EbonyLife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EbonyLife. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2022

"Elesin Oba: The King's Horseman" is Not the First Film Adaptation of Prof. Wole Soyinka's Works

"Elesin Oba: The King's Horseman" is Not the First Film Adaptation of Prof. Wole Soyinka's Works


The film project is the first time that one of Soyinka’s works would be made into a feature film.
http://lifestyle.thecable.ng/biyi-bandeles-elesin-oba-to-hit-cinema-oct-28/

It is baffling how Nigerian news media and their news reporters will continue to peddle falsehood on "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" being the first film adaptation of one of the works of Prof. Wole Soyinka.

The colourful film adaptation of "Death and the King's Horseman", one of the most popular plays of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria during the British colonial era: the horseman of a Yoruba King was prevented from committing ritual suicide by the colonial authorities is erroneously being reported as the first film adaptation of one of his literary works. 
So what of the previous film adaptations of Soyinka's plays and autobiography? 
"Kongi's Harvest" of 1970 directed by Ossie Davis and produced by Francis Oladele, Lennart Bern
“Ake: The Years of Childhood” by Mr Dapo Adeniyi; 2016
"Sidi Ilunije", the film adaptation of "The Lion and the Jewel" by Tunde Kelani in 2017.

When Mo Abudu, the producer of the film said "Elesin Oba" is the first film adaptation of Prof. Wole Soyinka's works on Instagram, I corrected her that there have been film adaptations of other plays of Soyinka. But I have seen repetitions of this falsehood in several news reports.

Misinformation on the facts of life and history does collateral damage to human knowledge and education.  And the realization is more important for Mo Abudu who should be well educated on the history of filmmaking in Nigeria and film adaptations of Nigerian literary works, because she is a highly respected stakeholder in the Nigerian film industry as the Founder and CEO of the EbonyLife Group, owners of EbonyLife Studios, EbonyLife Films and the EbonyLife Creative Academy.


- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOOD MIRROR® Series

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