Showing posts with label Faruk Lasaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faruk Lasaki. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2022

The Best Nollywood Movies Not On Netflix - Part 1


The Best Nollywood Movies Not On Netflix


I will present the best Nollywood movies from 2011 to date that are not currently on Netflix and which can still attract hundreds of thousands of lovers of Nollywood movies who have not seen them and will be anxious and excited to see them on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video SVOD or Showmax.
 
My first selections were the top three must watch Nollywood movies in 2011.
1. Two Brides and A Baby by Teco Benson 
2. Changing Faces by Faruk Lasaki. 3. Imala by Andy Amenechi. 

Two Brides and A Baby is one of best new movies out of Nollywood and done professionally. The thrilling story focuses on keche and Bankole, on what they thought was a perfect union. They planned for a beautiful wedding ceremony and hoped for a blissful life thereafter,until the unexpected happens. Now they must together fight for what they believe in or forever lose their hope of a happy life together.



Changing Faces was the first Nigerian movie dubbed in French to be shown in France and at the Cannes Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, Africa Diaspora Film Festival in New York, Ecrans Noirs Film Festival in Cameroon, Zuma Film Festival in Abuja and at the Eko International Film Festival in Lagos.

Nollywood diva Alex Lopez as Franca and Marc Baylis as Dale in "Changing Faces". 

The romantic thriller features popular Nigerian and British stars like Alex Lopez, Keppy Ekpenyong, Marc Baylis rated as the hottest foreign actor in a Nigerian movie and Rachael Young the black and sexy actress. Imagine how you would feel if you caught your darling born-again Christian husband having raunchy sex with your housemaid.

Marc Baylis and Rachael Young in "Changing Faces". 

You can see how the whole romantic drama played out when Changing Faces opens at the Silverbrd Cinemas and other cinemas on December 16, 2011.


Imala has been rated as one of the best movies to come out of Nigeria after premiering in London and Dublin. The movie centres on the story of Segilola a teenager who fell in love with Bankole, a 27-year old undergraduate. Segilola's naivety and lack of sex education put her in a life and career threatening situation. She was rejected and had to chart a new course for herself completely impervious of life's challenges. 
The movie tackles the issues of unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and HIV/AIDS. While addressing these serious topics, the movie uses comic relief, popular music, and a strong story line to draw teens' interest. Filmed in Yoruba and subtitled in flawless English, IMALA would be dubbed into Hausa, Igbo and French.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ARTICLE:
FilmOne has had Nollywood in a stranglehold. It maintains a particular brand of content: slapstick comedies, maudlin rom-coms and stilted dramas with a brittle icing of cinematography to please a more high-brow audience.

Source
💋 Kisses &🌹Roses
Strictly for Adults
Since 2005..


Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Nollywood and the French Connection

NOLLYWOOD

Nollywood and The French Connection


Before the Nigerian government started supporting Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry with grants from the Project Act Nollywood and the NollyFund of the Bank of Industry (BoI), the French government through the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the film and TV productions of selected Nigerian filmmakers. The French Audio Visual Attaché in Nigeria (2002-2006), Monsieur Pierre Barrot authored one of the first books on the phenomenon of Nollywood, "Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria" published by the Indiana University Press in 2009.

One of films sponsored by the French government, "Eternal" by Chike Ibekwe won the best film award (Ecrans Dór) at the 14th edition of Ecrans Noir Film Festival in  2010 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Another outstanding film produced with the support of  Fonds images Afrique of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was "Changing Faces";by Faruk Lasaki,  the first Nigerian film to be dubbed into French and broadcast by Canal France International in 2009 to all television channels in French-speaking Africa under the title "La Métamorphose".

Nigerian Films and TV series projects which benefitted from French production funding and were fully completed.

Projet

Producteur

ou réalisateur

Genre

Aide accordée

Origine

Année

Our husband has gone mad again

Albert Egbe

TV Series

(13 x 26 minutes)

40 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2003

The Virgin ?

 

 

Tunde Kelani

TV Series

35 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2003

Claws of the lion

Francis Onwochei

Feature Film

30 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2004

Tides of Fate

Greg Odutayo

TV Series

40 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

Eternal

Chikeh Ibekwe

Feature Film

40 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

The Head of State

Jimi Odumosu

 

45 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

Changing Faces

Faruk Lasaki

 

60 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

Off Campus

Chikeh Ibekwe

 

35 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

Relentless

Andy Amadi Okoroafor

 

Aide réécriture

 

100 000 euros

Fonds Images Afrique

2005

 

 

2006

 

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Publisher/Editor

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series


Sunday, September 18, 2011

Changing Faces set for the Christmas and New Year Holidays



The much awaited Nigerian film at the cinemas Changing Faces will open to the public at the Silverbird Cinemas and other cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana from December 23, 2011. It is the Silverbird Cinemas Nigerian Movie for the Christmas and New Year holidays. It is the first Nigerian movie on the supernatural experience of the transference of evil spirits through sex. Changing Faces is the first major Nigerian movie to be dubbed in French for commercial distribution in France and francophone countries.

The gripping romantic thriller has an international cast of Nigerian and British stars led by Marc Baylis, Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey, Alex Lopez, Rachael Young, Ayo Mogaji and Adebowale Adesanya.

Marc Baylis


Keppy Ekpenyong

The young filmmaker Faruk Lasaki is an international award winning director and one of the best graduates of the famous New York Film Academy (NYFA) where his short film Six Feet Below won the best short film prize for graduating students.

See "Not a normal Nigerian movie industry product!" Interview with Faruk Afolabi Lasaki on Changing Faces by Olivier Barlet on http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php?nav=article&no=7694 and http://www.changingfacesmovie.com/interview.htm.

Changing Faces is a 92 minutes metaphysical romantic thriller on the transference of evil spirits through sex as ‘Two unlikely bedfellows share a night of passion’ and their lives were never the same again.

Changing Faces was premiered at the Pavilion les Cinema Du Sud of the 61st Cannes Film Festival, Black Diaspora International Film Festival of New York in 2008, featured in competition at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 2009, Cairo International Film Festival in 2009, and a Special Official Selection and opening film of the 2011 Eko International Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria. And it is the first Nigerian film to be dubbed into French and screened at FESPACO and Ecrans Noirs in 2009. And on the 3rd and 6th of August 2009, Canal France International (CFI) presented it as the first Nigerian feature film on its network and interviewed the director Faruk Lasaki.

Alex Lopez


Rachael Young

SYNOPSIS:
Young reporter, Lola and Architecture whiz kid Dale, are the antithesis of each other; she is fun loving, free spirited and lively while Dale is conservative and a reserved workaholic. However, their paths still manage to cross at an Architectural conference in a beautiful hill top hotel. From the minute the bored Lola sets her eyes on him, she decides she's going to have him, and she goes to all lengths to get him into her bed. Dale doesn't make this easy for her at all as he is not only married but a born again Christian who holds a high premium on fidelity. But Lola is determined and after a lot of scheming and manipulations, she finally gets Dale into her bed on the last night of the conference. The next morning they both return to their normal lives, only to discover that things have changed and they have exchanged personalities. Lola finds herself saddled with scruples and morals... Written by Becky Muikia.

CAST:
Marc Baylis as Dale
Alex Lopez as Franca
Rachael Young as Lola
Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey as Bade Cole
Adebowale Adesanya as Dale's Androgynous Man Black
Ngozi Elumelu as Kaisha
Victor Eze as Shaman
Emmanuel Fagbure as Lola's Androgynous Man Black
Izebuno as Devil / Androgynous Female Angel
Elizabeth Rainbow as Penny



Saturday, September 17, 2011

Top Nigerian journalists parley for Changing Faces



Top Nigerian journalists parley for Changing Faces

Faruk Lasaki’s romantic thriller Changing Faces attracted top journalists from the leading newspapers, TV channels and news websites Friday morning at the popular Ojez Restaurant and Entertainment Centre inside the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

The news media parley commenced the publicity for the forthcoming screening of Changing Faces at the Silverbird Cinemas and other theatres in Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries from December 23, 2011.

Victor Akande, the Group Entertainment Editor of The Nation facilitated the event.

The Editors and Senior Reporters of the following Nigerian newspapers and TV Station were present.

1. The Guardian
2. The Punch
3. The Nation
4. This Day
5. Galaxy TV
6. Vanguard
7. Supple Magazine
8. Nigerians Report

Only four of the invited journalists were absent



Monday, September 12, 2011

Marc Baylis: Hottest Foreign Actor in a Nigerian Movie



Marc Baylis: Hottest Foreign Actor in a Nigerian Movie

We have had some hot and hotter foreign actors in Nigerian movies like the Ghanaian Van Vicker, and Majid Michel who are heartthrobs of millions of Nigerian girls and ladies, but the hottest of them all is Marc Baylis, the dashing handsome British actor who played the captivating lead role of Dale in Faruk Lasaki’s romantic thriller Changing Faces.



Marc is not famous in Nigeria, because he has only acted in one Nigerian movie and it is not the common Nollywood home video seen on Mnet’s Africa Magic channel or the Nollywood flicks pirated and sold on the streets. Changing Faces is one the very few Nigerian movies rated highly as outstanding features made for the cinema.



Marc’s thrilling role as the young white Architecture whiz kid Dale married to a Nigerian woman showed him as a better actor than Van Vicker and Majid Michel and stood him in class of his own as a world class romantic actor, even though it was reported that he was particularly uncomfortable with the “ass-taping” scenes of the erotic role in steamy sex scenes with the young reporter, Lola he met at the Architectural conference in a beautiful hill top hotel. He was quite convincing in his portrayal of how a born again married man fell for the seductress Lola who lured him into her bed on the last night of the conference and his life was never the same again.

Changing Faces opens at the Silverbird Cinemas and other theatres in Nigeria and Ghana from December 23, 2011.


~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima




Sunday, July 24, 2011

I came to see films and I saw films


Peace Anyiam-Osigwe sitting in the audience at the 2nd Eko International Film Festival.

"I came to see films and I saw films ; that is what film festivals are all about, not talk shops,” said Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the CEO of the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) on the fourth day of the 2nd Eko International Film Festival when Joseph Ugochukwu Ubaka’s Lilies of the Ghetto and Abba Makama’s Direc-Toh were screened at the Silverbird Galleria in Lagos, Nigeria.


Bic Leu of Finding Nollywood and Faruk Lasaki, Director of the Changing Faces at the 2nd Eko International Film Festival.


Peace Anyiam-Osigwe and Deborah, a guest from the United States.


Hope Obioma Opara, President Eko International Film Festival and Joseph Ugochukwu Ubaka, Director of Lilies of the Ghetto..

Click here for the Photo Gallery of the 2nd Eko International Film Festival.


Saturday, July 9, 2011

2nd Eko International Film Festival opens in Lagos




The 2nd Eko International Film Festival (EKOIFF) opened Saturday morning in Lagos with the Nigerian premiere of Faruk Lasaki's romantic thriller Changing Faces at the Silverbird Galleria on Victoria Island. The feature of 92 minutes is on the psychological trauma of an illicit affair caused by the transference of spirits through sex.

Many people came for the opening day graced by top Nigerian entertainment journalists including Shaibu Husseini of The Guardian who was later joined by his boss Jahman Anikulapo, the Editor of The Guardian on Sunday, Victor Akande of The Nation, Wale Idowu Shadrach, the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Movietainment, the leading magazine on Nollywood and other sectors of the Nigerian entertainment industry; and notable stakeholders present were Femi Odugbemi, the multiple award winning Nigerian filmmaker and head of DVWORX, who is also the Founder/Festival director the iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival, Mrs. Duro Oni representing the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), famous Nollywood director Fidelis Duker who is the Founder/Festival Director of Abuja International Film Festival, Alex Onyogho, President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP), Mrs. Busola Solanke, Chikezie Nkemdirim Donatus of Independent Field Advertisers Limited, Chris Nwankpa, the CEO of Fintel and an executive producer of the action movie Dangerous Men accompanied by the leading actress Onyekachi Anyajike with Kiki Deo, international award winning filmmaker Chike Ibekwe, and Bic Leu, a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Lagos, author of Finding Nollywood, who is in Nigeria to analyze Nollywood’s social impact through the Social Return on Investment (SROI). She has been liaising with Professor Duro Oni, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lagos, who has agreed to support and supervise her project and having access to Professor Oni’s ongoing project with the Open University in the United Kingdom to build a multimedia archive of all Nollywood films and related literary materials.

Faruk Lasaki spoke on the making of Changing Faces after the screening. The film critics praised the exceptional quality of his movie which they rated above the other movies in Nollywood. They wanted the movie to be shown at the various cinemas in Nigeria.

Hope Obioma Opara, President of the film festival and the Founder/Festival Director Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima were happy with the impressive turn out and agreed that with more sponsors the EKOIFF will attract more international filmmakers and tourists to Lagos for the benefit of the Nigerian film industry and boost tourism.

The five days film festival continues tomorrow Sunday with the African premiere of Emmanuel Itier's multiple award winning spiritual documenatary "The Invocation" narrated by Sharon Stone, the famous Hollywood actress of the Basic Instinct fame.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

2nd Eko International Film Festival Programme



2nd Eko International Film Festival Programme

Saturday July 9th – Thursday July 14th, 2011

SATURDAY, July 9th OPENING DAY @ Silverbird Galleria, 133 Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos

Hosted by __________

9:00am – 10:00am

Arrival of Guests, Participants and Attendants.

10:00am – 10:30am

National Anthem and Opening remarks


10:30am – 12:00 noon

CHANGING FACES/ Nigerian Premiere
By Faruk Lasaki/ Nigeria / 2009 / 92 min





Faruk Lasaki’s Changing Faces suggests personal angels and demons are not simply metaphorical, but wield a tangible influence on mortals which we cannot comprehend.

Marriage means little to Lola, the hedonistic journalist. Unmarried herself, she refuses to let a mere trifle like a wedding ring deter her from a promising sexual encounter. However, the devoutly Christian Dale Svenson takes marriage very seriously. He is even prim and proper with his own wife. Assigned to cover the painfully dull architectural conference he will address, the uptight Svenson catches her eye. Over the course of a week, Lola plays an elaborate game of sexual cat and mouse with her prey. Eventually, it indeed turns out that whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.

However, this time conquest comes with a price, both for Lola and Svenson. Faces posits a world in which sex not only occurs on a physical level, but on a spiritual level, involving the spirits people carry with them. By some fluke, Lola and Svenson swap their moral compasses during their night of passion. Now recklessly lecherous, Svenson recognizes something happened to him that night, which threatens to derail his marriage and career. On the wagon and living with integrity, Lola by contrast welcomes her new square life.

While Svenson resorts to a witch doctor’s services in a moment of desperation, Faces ultimately links salvation and faith. Lasaki’s debut narrative film, written by Yinka Ogun, is surprisingly overt in its Christian orientation. It is a morality tale in which morality matters. It suggests a life of rectitude is preferable to the ostensive pleasure of sin. However, like Christian films produced domestically, the production values are spotty and the acting is sometimes suspect. British actress Rachel Young fares the best as Lola, the former temptress. Unfortunately, as Svenson, her fellow countrymen, Marc Baylis comes across like an actor in a Christian film.

Still, in many ways Faces is an intriguing film. His scenes involving the unseen “angels” are particularly clever in their staging and Emmanuel Fagbure has a real screen presence as Lola’s leering supernatural companion. It also serves as an interesting reflection of contemporary Nigeria, in that the inter-racial relationships never raise eyebrows—at least for that specific reason. Though undercut by a weak lead, Faces suggests Lasaki might have some fascinating films in his future.

SUNDAY, July 10th


9:00am – 10:00am

THUNDERBOLT AND THE MERMAID
A short film by Diego Sanchidrian, Spain/ / 2010 / 11 min





Synopsis: It is said that dreams are unreachable for they are far away,hiding beyond the stars. But in order to make them come true you do not have to know where they hide, you just do not have to be bold enough to


THE STORYMAKER
A short film by Jose Gomez Gaugo, Spain / 2009 / 15 min



Synopsis: With my hammer I forge the store of every life, of every person. The most wonderful moments, the most humble, the most fabulous... All of them have been conceived by me.

TROPE ZONES
A short film by David Macian and Eduardo Molinari, Spain / 2010 / 6 min

Synopsis: He’s crazy about food; she’ll do anything to please him. A perfect romance as long as something is in the fridge.

10:00am – 12:00 noon

THE INVOCATION – African Pemiere
By Emmanuel Itier/Narrated by Sharon Stone, U.S.A /2010 / 90 min



Synopsis: An exploration of the notion of 'God' and World Peace through Religion, Spirituality, History, Science, Politics and Arts.

MONDAY, July 11th

9:00am – 10:00am

THEME PAPER:NOLLYWOOD AND THE EMERGING CINEMA

DREAMS FOR NIGERIA
A short film by ARI, U.S.A/2010/ 26 min



Synopsis: "Dreams for Nigeria" highlights both the challenges and achievements of seven female members of Nigeria's House of Representatives, and the role they have played in their country's political, social and economic development. The documentary follows the legislators as they meet with their constituents and discuss their goals for the future of Nigeria. Highlighting education and better access to healthcare as necessary tasks, these women hope to be models to Nigeria's youth and present a diversely unified Nigeria where everyday dreams are attainable.

The representatives highlighted in the documentary include: Hon. Binta Garba Masi, Adamawa State; Hon. Saudatu Sani, Kaduna State; Hon. Titi Akindahunsi, Ekiti State; Hon. Maimuna Adaji, Kwara State; Hon. Florence Akinwale, Ekiti State; Hon. Nimota Oba Suleiman, Kwara State; Hon. Beni Lar, Plateau State.


10:00am – 12:00 noon

DUNDUN (TALKING DRUM)
By Kayode Ibisankale, Nigeria/ 2009 / 83 min






Synopsis: Dundun takes the viewer to the city of Oyo in Nigeria where the drum is believed to have originated. This comprehensive documentary shows the cultural and historical context surrounding the drum and an in-depth examination of its construction, from chopping down the correct tree to the finishing design touches. The film also presents many performances and demonstrates who may use the drum, when and for what it is used, and what is communicated.


TUESDAY, July 12th

9:00am – 10:00am

LA UNION
A short film by Carlos A. Sambricio, Spain / 2008 / 18 min

Synopsis: Sara encounters her boyfriend Fran, who died in a car crash six months earlier. A mysterous and breathtaking mood develops as Fran Employes a hypnotyc seduction game in order to convince Sara that he is real and that they can be together again.


OUT THERE
A short film by Chino Moya, Spain/UK, 2010/ 8 min

Synopsis: After a dispute, a young woman leaves her older boyfriend’s comfortable apartment.
She has nowhere to go, so she wanders the streets aimlessly, eventually ending up in a café where she has a random encounter.

10:00am – 12:00 noon

CULTURE OF RESISTANCE
By Iara Lee, U.S.A / 2010 / 73 min





Synopsis: Does each gesture really make a difference? Can music and dance be weapons of peace? In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, travelling over five continents, Iara encountered growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promoting change. This is their story. From IRAN, where graffiti and rap became tools in fighting government repression, to BURMA, where monks acting in the tradition of Gandhi take on a dictatorship, moving on to BRAZIL, where musicians reach out to slum kids and transform guns into guitars, and ending in PALESTINIAN refugee camps in LEBANON, where photography, music, and film have given a voice to those rarely heard, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE explores how art and creativity can be ammunition in the battle for peace and justice.

Featuring: Medellín poets for peace, Capoeira masters from Brazil, Niger Delta militants, Iranian graffiti artists, women’s movement leaders in Rwanda, Lebanon’s refugee filmmakers, U.S. political pranksters, indigenous Kayapó activists from the Xingu River, Israeli dissidents, hip-hop artists from Palestine, and many more...

Cultures of Resistance Awards:
ETHIOPIA/ ADDIS ABABA, Audience Award, Addis International Film Festival
USA/ CA, Best Documentary, Tiburon International Film Festival
INDIA/ JAIPUR, Green Rose Award, Jaipur International Film Festival
BENIN/ OUIDAH, Python Audience Prize, Jury Special Mentions, Ouidah International Film Festival
UKRAINE/ KIEV, Best Documentary on Human Rights, Steps International Film Festival

WEDNESDAY, July 13th

9:00am – 10:00am

DOLLS
A short film by Rosa Marquez, Spain/ 2009/ 14 min

Synopsis: Ana wakes up in an old abandoned stable; next to her, there is a mysterious girl who seems to have been there for a long time, but the only thing she can find out about her is her name: Irina. Ana will try desperately to get Irina’s help to escape from their captor.

ANSIEDAD (ANXIETY)
A short film by Eduardo Casanova, Spain / 2009 / 25 min

Synopsis: Violeta Largertija is a great prima donna with social phobia. Violeta can neither speak nor relate by anybody that knows her, with her lovesick character, she survives feeding on tranquillizers.
Bertlo is crazy in love with Violeta, but he knows her problem and has a plan to know her.
Anxiety is a story about tranquillizers, an eccentric story, egocentric, excessive, melodramatic, dark, but especially anxious


10:00am – 12:00 noon

LILIES OF THE GHETTO
By Ugochukwu Joseph Ubaka, Nigeria / 2009 / 84 min





Synopsis: IJALOKO an ex-convict and a ghetto monster, abducts five kids from his neighborhood, JOHNNIE, SMALL, KONKOLO, FRYO and BOBO, he brainwash them in view of giving them a good life.

IJALOKO introduces them into using of hard-drugs thereby destroying their human conscience and making them menace to the society in order for him to achieve his selfish desires.

Five of these kids die one after the other at different occasion in a miserable ways except JOHNNIE the luckiest of them all.
Through LILY, Madam JET’S Daughter whom JOHNNIE is dating, JOHNNIE realizes the importance of education and good life.

JOHNNIE makes up his mind to quit gangsterism and return to school, but IJALOKO being the obstacle because of the vow that they’ve taken until death does them part. JOHNNIE had no option but to kill IJALOKO in order for him to get a better life.


THURSDAY, July 14th


9.00am – 10:00am

CLOSING CEREMONY

10:00am – 12:00 noon

ETERNAL
By Chike Ibekwe, Nigeria/2009/ 94 min



Synopsis: Eternal, the 94 minutes film tells the unforgettable story of Dozie and Chima, two faithful Nigerian friends who were soldiers with the ECOMOG mission in West Africa and after returning from the peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, they went to a social event. But on the way back, Chima was struck by a car and died on the spot. Dozie was heartbroken as he mourned the loss of his dearest buddy until one day the ghost of his faithful companion Chima inhabited his body to continue their eternal bond.

Chike got funding support from France to shoot Eternal. The film was selected and screened at Film festival d’armiens in France in 2008 and also at ZUMA Film festival in Nigeria in 2008. He is currently working on his second film Letter to the Professor featuring Prof. Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel laureate in Literature.

Chike Ibekwe is a hardworking filmmaker/producer and writer. He created, produced and directed OFF CAMPUS a TV Sitcom series.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Faruk Lasaki’s Nigerian premiere of Changing Faces at 2011 EKOIFF




Faruk Lasaki’s Nigerian premiere of Changing Faces at 2011 EKOIFF

The Nigerian premiere of Faruk Lasaki’s spiritual thriller "Changing Faces" will definitely thrill the audience at the second Eko International Film Festival at the Silverbird Galleria from July 9-14, 2011.

Faruk Lasaki is one of the ambitious filmmakers who are making Nigeria proud in the international arena by making movies that are quite different from the common Nollywood flicks. He is also an accomplished producer of award winning commercials and documentaries who got his first break with his 15 minutes short documentary "Scars" (CICATRIZES) that won him $20,000 at the É Tudo Verdade - Festival Internacional de Documentários in Brazil in 1998.

"Changing Faces" is a 92 minutes metaphysical romantic thriller on the transference of spirits through sex as ‘Two unlikely bedfellows share a night of passion’ and their lives were never the same again. The film parades an international cast of professional British and notable Nigerian actors and actresses Alex Lopez, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey and Ayo Mogaji.

"Changing Faces" was premiered at the Pavillion les Cinema Du Sud of the 61st Cannes Film Festival., featured in competition at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 2009, Cairo International Film Festival in 2009. Black Diaspora International Film Festival of New York in 2008.

“Changing Faces” was the first Nigerian film to be dubbed into French and screened at FESPACO and Ecrans Noirs in 2009. And on the 3rd and 6th of August 2009, Canal France International (CFI) presented it as the first Nigerian feature film on it’s network and interviewed the director Faruk Lasaki.


Saturday, May 1, 2010

Nollywood Reloaded

IJE movie Poster


Nollywood Reloaded

Nollywood actually crashed, but Nollywood is now reloaded with the resurgence of the trailer-blazers and the emergence of new kids on the block such as Chineze Anyaene whose film IJE, the Journey has redefined Nollywood and if she had submitted it for the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), Kunle Afolayan would have been second best with his movie The Figurine.

Chineze Anyaene’s IJE has taken Nollywood to places Nollywood has never been before with official selection in 18 international film festivals and winning five major awards, including a coveted award for Best Picture and another one for Excellence in film making.

Mahmood Ali-Balogun's 35mm film Tango with Me is an ambitious psychoanalytical film with the major crew from Los Angeles, Hollywood; and over N80 million budget without sponsors.

Chico Ejiro, the Mr. prolific in Nollywood is about to shoot the most challenging movie in his career, Sunset in Darfur.
Zik Zulu Okafor is doing new movies of outstanding quality.

Then some Nigerian young Turks of the film industry Faruk Lasaki, Didi Chika, Chike Ibekwe and others have been selected for the Babylon International film workshop and they were at the International Film Festival Berlin (February 16th-20th) and now preparing to show the clips of their film projects at the Zuma film festival in Abuja from tomorrow Sunday May 2, 2010, in Abuja.
The two filmmakers I have interviewed are Faruk Lasaki who is making a film on the Niger Delta, with the working title of Port Harcourt and Chike Ibekwe, whose film Letter to the Professor is featuring the lionized first African Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka. The budget for one of the films is over two million euros.


A Young Nigerian director has done thrilling film where the lovers were engaged in real live sexual intercourse. But it not indecency.

The real films are coming to take the Nigerian film industry to the next level in competition with the best in the world.
Not in quantity, but in professional quality.

This is it, Nollywood Reloaded.
CUT!

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



Thursday, May 14, 2009

See You in Cannes 2



See You in Cannes 2



I have just seen the Publisher of Supple magazine off to France at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos. He and Justice from This Day newspaper will be on the Air France to Nice from where they will go to Cannes to join the thousands of accredited journalists, filmmakers, movie stars, film aficionados and others from all over the world for the 62nd Festival de Cannes.
Faruk Lasaki the director of Changing Faces, the most successful Nigerian movie so far left for Cannes last Tuesday accompanied by his sister Kemi Lasaki and one of his office workers. Fidelis Duker and his amiable wife Temitope left for Cannes last Night. The delegation of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) will be at the Nigerian pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, but I do not know if any Nigerian movie has qualified for screening or the competition. Going to Cannes is not a big deal, but competing for the highest honours is the real deal. Nollywood buffs boast that it is the third largest “film” industry in the world, but unfortunately none of the Nollywood movies has even qualified for official screening and the competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The last Nigerian delegation to Cannes turned it into a jamboree and became the laughing stock of the Cannes Film Festival for their extravagant party.
What were they celebrating?
Were they celebrating their failure to qualify for screening and competition?
I have addressed the celebration of Nigerian mediocrity in the emphasis on quality than quality in Nollywood in Mirror of Beauty and the Mirror of Nigerian Ignorance of the Cannes published on Kisses ‘n’ Roses in May 2008.

Nigerians love celebrating mediocrity and as shown in their disorganized music industry and film industry, most Nigerians careless about professionalism in entertainment.
I hope that the Nigerian delegation to Cannes would not be disgraced again.


~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Michael Chima is the Media Consultant of Supple magazine in Nigeria and he is also a producer and scriptwriter who is currently working on his first feature film.

13:15 Christian Audigier to Celebrate Birthday With a Bash During 2009 Cannes Film Festival

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Changing Faces Will Make History At FESPACO 2009



Faruk Lasaki's Changing Faces will make history at the 2009 African Film Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) as the first Nigerian film that will be screened in a French version
in an African film festival. Changing Faces will be screened in the category of African Video - Panorama between 28th of February and 7th of March 2009 at the African film festival, held biannually in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

According to Robert Minangoy, the Regional Audio- Visual Attache of the French Embassy in Nigeria, Changing faces and four other Nigerian films will be shown at FESPACO. They are the following:
• TRAPPED DREAM by Ubaka Joseph Ugochukwu
• OLURONBI by Buariu Adebayo Ogundimu
• ARUGBA and
• LIFE IN SLOW MOTION by Tunde Kelani.