Nollywood Cinemas: The Largest Cinema Chain Launches In Nigeria

It is great news that Nollywood Cinemas, the largest cinema chain in Africa launches in over 23 states in Nigeria. Nollywood Cinemas is the master plan of Diamond Pictures to bring cinemas to every community in every local government area in Nigeria to boost the Nigerian Film Industry. Nollywood Cinemas has 6 cinema halls in Lagos where local and foreign movies are already playing.

Infinity TV Encrypts, Expands Content

INFINITY TV ENCRYPTS, EXPANDS CONTENT

As part of their resolve to deliver world class satellite television services at affordable price to Nigerians, Infinity TV will from April 10, 2011 encrypt their satellite signals. What this means is that the honeymoon is over for free subscribers who had over the past months enjoyed free uninterrupted viewership.
Conscious of the economic situation in the country, Infinity TV is rolling out two pocket friendly bouquet to subscribers. The first bouquet comprising of 25 channels goes for N1, 500 monthly, while the second, comprising of 40 channels goes for N3, 000.

Outside these pocket friendly and rich contents, Infinity TV is adding to its already enriched bouquet 21 new channels that covers all strata of life. Infinity TV takes into cognizance the character and characteristics, the flora and fauna of its subscribers’ base hence, the need for the additional contents.

The new channels include BOLLYWOOD BY INFINITY, dedicated channel that brings you the best of classic Indian movies to the latest releases of 2010. The channel also features hot, intriguing Indian soaps and series as well as hilarious and compelling comedies. M GOLD Old school music channel. This channel thrills with the very best and unforgettable classic jams of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The world argues that this age remains the golden era of music. QUEST TV, Quest TV is Africa’s premier fashion, Beauty and style Television lifestyle channel. LIFTED is a Gospel Music and Lifestyle channel put together to inspire, inform and entertainment the Christian folks. The channel is focused on lifting body and soul; also promoting upcoming and new gospel music artistes, showcasing their talents as well as their lifestyles, it will highlight personality profile interviews featuring Ministers of the gospel; Singers, evangelist, Bishops, Social workers and Philanthropists; their personal experiences, spiritual encounters, life lessons, thought-provoking experience and their works. This includes local and foreign content. MOVIE EXPRESS, A 24 hour non stop, cutting edge family oriented movies in English. Movie Express makes your day with all the sizzling blockbuster action, racy romance, rib cracking comedy, expensive epics, curious crime and investigation, high octane drama, space age sci – fi and spicy series. DICE suspense filled dramas, soaps, tele-novelas, talk shows and reality show is what awaits you on this channel. Great entertainment with the popular South American soaps, American best sellers and from the rest of the world on hot demand. VIASAT DOCUMENTARY CHANNELS : NATURE,HISTORY,CRIME,EXPLORATION. ODENIBO (THE IGBO LANGUAGE CHANNEL) – sustaining the language, values and tradition of the Igbo speaking tribes of Eastern Nigeria Odenigbo takes you into the heartbeat of Igboland to discover what makes the people tick – their lifestyle, food, fashion, dance and more importantly the people and historic places. INFINITY SPORTS the passion of sports - the electrifying moments, the thrills, the frills and the fireworks. All the adrenalin pumping sporting action from major European Football Leagues, world best tennis action, athletics golf, cricket, and the nerve breaking extreme action sports, Infinity sports has got it all. Watch live EPL matches, the Spanish La Liga, French Championnat, the Italian Serie A, the German Bundesliga among others.

The UEFA champion’s League and the Europa Cup matches are also live with exciting live analysis. SETANTA AFRICA A foreign sports channel that brings you live football matches – EPL, Dutch League, Belgian League, the J League, the American MLS, the Scottish League and the German Bundesliga, European matches – Nations Cup matches etc, athletics, golf, wrestling (WWE), Basketball, Volleyball, Motorsport, Club TV shows – Manchester City TV, Arsenal TV, Tottenham Hotspur TV, Aston Villa TV, etc VIVE, lifestyle channel adding zest into your life.

Vive is designed to give your life meaning and bring out the personality in you. Learn how to cook international delicious finger licking delicacies from world class chefs. Get the scoop on how to turn your home into the cozy paradise you dream of. Vive helps you discover how to give your good old face a brand new appealing look and helps you catch the buzz in travel, career, health, fitness and wellbeing and much more. Vive is all about life and the style you live it. Subscribers and loyal dealers of Infinity Television must get good value for their money, says the MD/CEO, Mr. Anthony Ikeokwu.

The rest of the new channels are AFRICAN MOVIE CHANNEL 2 (AMC 2) – Movie, series and lifestyle AFRICAN SERIES CHANNEL – powered by Zeb Ejiro, Chico Ejiro and Fidelis Dukar. This channel is dedicated to African soaps and series. NIGEZIE – musical DUCK TV – foreign musical channel KISS TV – foreign musical channel KARENG TV - foreign musical ( rock ) channel FASHION ONE – foreign fashion channel MAGIC TV – foreign musical channel AKINKOGUN – a Yoruba language channel DEUTSHE WELLE ( DW TV ) – German News and lifestyle channel.



~ Ingram Osigwe is the media Consultant to Infinity Television.

Africa’s Academy Awards attract thousands to the Niger Delta

Africa’s Academy Awards attract thousands to the Niger Delta

The excitement is in the air this Sunday evening as thousands throng the Gloryland Cultural Centre in the capital city of Yenegoa in the oil rich Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, to join African film makers, movie stars and movie buffs for the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).

The African Movie Academy Awards has all the glitz and red carpet fanfare that can only be compared to the glamorous and prestigious Oscars of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS)in Hollywood as AMAA celebrates the best of Nigeria’s Nollywood and the rest of Africa in one unforgettable night as African movie stars strut the red carpet to compete for the coveted trophies of the AMAA in different categories. AMAA has attracted notable Hollywood stars like Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker who won an Oscar for Best Actor for his thrilling portrayal of Ugandan military tyrant Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland", Cuba Gooding Jnr who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his memorable portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film "Jerry Maguire", Courtney Vance, Vivica A. Fox and Angela Basset.


South Africa dominates the 2011 AMAA with 27 nominations and followed by the host nation Nigeria with 23 nominations.

“The four South African films in competition include Hope Ville with nine nominations, Izulu Lami, seven nominations Shirley Adams, five nominations and A Small Town Called Descent with six nominations. Combined together, South Africa had the highest nominations by a country with a total of 27 nominations,” said Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the CEO of AMAA.

Ghana and Congo are also competing with great movies receiving the highest nominations. Ghana’s "Sinking Sound" with 10 nominations. Kenya’s "Soul Boy" got 6 nominations.

Nigeria is a strong contender with four films. Tunde Kelani’s "Maami", Jeta Amata’s "Inale", Niyi Akanji’s "Aramotu" and Mahmood Alli-Balogun’s "Tango with Me" are movies to watch.

The most coveted prizes are the AMAA for the Best Actor and Actress in a leading role; Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Achievement in Visual award.


Famous Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji is nominated for Best Actress in Leading Role


Best Short Film

Bougfen – Petra Baninla Sunjo (Cameroun)
Weakness – Wanjiru Kairu (Kenya)
No Jersey No Match – Daniel Ademinokan (Nigeria)
Duty – Mak Kusare (Nigeria)
Bonlambo – Zwe Lesizwe Ntuli (South Africa)
Zebu And The Photofish – Zipporah Nyarori (Kenya)
Dina – Mickey Fonseca (Mozambique)
Allahkabo – Bouna Cherif Fofana (Togo)

Best Short Documentary

Symphony Kinsasha – Diendo Hamadi & Dinta Wa Lusula (Congo)
Naija Diamond (Feature On Dr. Rahmat Mohammed) – Nform Leonard (Nigeria)
After The Mine – Diendo Hamadi & Dinta Wa Lusula (Drc)
Stepping Into The Unknown – Rowena Aldous & Jill Hanas-Hancock (South Africa)
Yeabu’s Homecoming – Jenny Chu (Sierraleone)

Best Documentary

Kondi Et Le Jeudi Nationale – Ariana Astrid Atodji (Cameroun)
Headlines In History – Zobby Bresson (Kenya)
Co-Exist – Adam Mazo (Rwanda)
State Of Mind- Djo Tunda Wa Munga (Congo)
Naija Diamonds- Nfrom Leonard (Nigeria)

Best Diaspora Feature

Suicide Dolls – Keith Shaw (Usa)
Tested – Russell Costanzo (Usa)
Nothing Less -Wayne Saunders (Uk)
The Village -Wayne Saunders (Uk)

Best Diaspora Documentary

Stuborn As A Mule – Miller Bargeron Jr & Arcelous Deiels (Usa)
Momentum – Zeinabu Irene Davis (Usa)
If Not Now – Louis Haggart (Usa)
Motherland – Owen Alik Shahadah (Usa)
Changement – Chiara Cavallazi (Italy)

Best Diaspora Short Film

Cycle – Roy Clovis (Usa)
Under Tow – Miles Orion Feld (Usa)
Habitual Aggression – Temi Ojo (Usa)
Little Soldier – Dallas King (Usa)
The New N Word – Sowande Tichawonna (Usa)
Precipice – Julius Amedume (Uk)

Best Film For African Abroad

Anchor Baby – Lonzo Nzekwe (Nigeria/Canada)
In America: The Story Of The Soul Sisters- Rahman Oladigbolu (Nigeria/Usa)
Mirror Boy – Obi Emelonye (Nigeria/Uk)
Africa United – Debs Gardner-Brook (Rwanda/Uk)

Best Production Design

Tango With Me
Viva Riva
Hopeville
6 Hours To Christmas
Maami

Best Costume Design

Inale
Yemoja
Sinking Sands
Aramotu
Elmina

Best Make Up

Inale
Sinking Sands
A Private Storm
Viva Riva
A Small Town Called Descent

Best Soundtrack

Aramotu
Nani
Who Owns Da City
Inale
A Small Town Called Descent

Best Achievement In Sound

Sinking Sands
Shirley Adams
Izulu Lami
Viva Riva
Tango With Me

Best Cinematography

Soul Boy
Sinking Sands
Hopeville
Shirley Adams
Izulu Lami

Best Nigerian Film

Maami – Tunde Kelani
Aramotu – Niji Akanni
Tango With Me – Mahmood Ali- Balogun
Inale – Jeta Amata
A Private Storm – Lancelot Oduwa Imaseun/Ikechukwu Onyeka

Best Film In African Language

Aramotu – Niji Akanni (Nigeria)
Izulu Lami – Madoda Ncayiyana (South Africa)
Soul Boy- Hawa Essuman (Kenya)
Suwi – Musola Catherine Kaseketi (Zambia)
Fishing The Little Stone – Kaz Kasozi (Uganda)

Best Child Actor

Sobahle Mkhabase (Thembi), Tschepang Mohlomi (Chili-Bite) And Sibonelo Malinga(Khwezi) – Izulu Lami
Eriya Ndayambaje – Dudu In Africa United
Jordan Ntunga – Anto In Viva Riva
Ayomide Abatti – Young Kashi In Maami
Benjamin Abemigish a- Zebu In Zebu And The Photofish
Shantel Mwabi – Bupe In Suwi

Best Young Actor

Yves Dusenge (Child Soldier) And Roger Nsengiyumua (Footballer) – Africa United
Samson Odhiambo And Leila Dayan Opou – Soul Boy
Edward Kagutuzi – Mirror Boy
Donovan Adams – Shirley Adams
Junior Singo – Hopeville

Best Actor In Supporting Role

Osita Iheme – Mirror Boy
Hoji Fortuna – Viva Riva
Mpilo Vusi Kunene – A Small Town Called Descent
John Dumelo – A Private Storm
Desmond Dube – Hopeville

Best Actress In Supporting Role

Mary Twala – Hopeville
Joyce Ntalabe – The Rivaling Shadow
Marlene Longage – Viva Riva
Tina Mba -Tango With Me
Yvonne Okoro – Pool Party

Best Actor In Leading Role

Themba Ndaba – Hopeville
Patsha Bay – Viva Riva
Jimmy Jean-Louis – Sinking Sands
Ekon Blankson – Checkmate
Antar Laniyan – Yemoja

Best Actress In Leading Role

Idiat Shobande -Aramotu
Omoni Oboli- Anchor Baby
Manie Malone – Viva Riva
Amake Abebrese- Sinking Sands
Denise Newman -Shirley Adams
Genevieve Nnaji – Tango With Me

Best Director

Soul Boy – Hawa Essuman
Shirley Adams – Oliver Hermanus
Viva Riva – Djo Tunda Wa Munga
Aramotu – Niji Akanni
A Small Town Called Descent – Jahmail. X. T Qubeka
Sinking Sands – Leila Djansi

Best Film

Viva Riva – Djo Tunda Wa Munga (Congo)
Sinking Sands – Leila Djansi (Ghana)
Aramotu – Niji Akanni (Nigeria)
Soul Boy – Hawa Essuman (Kenya)
Hopeville – John Trengove (South Africa)
A Small Town Called Descent – Jahmil X.T Qubeka (South Africa)

All roads lead to BOB TV 2011

I have been invited to the 2011 Best of the Best in films and TV programmes(BOBTV) opening today at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Abuja, but I cannot be there in person, because of my busy work in Lagos.

Nollywood icon Amaka Igwe is the brain behind this important fiesta of movies and TV programmes.

The 8th BOBTV is attracting visitors and participants from within Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, Zimbabwe, Namibia, England, United States, South Africa and other countries.

See the details in the following press release on the event that will end on Thursday march 17, 2011.


The organizers of BOBTV, Africa’s premiere film and television programmes expo, have released the list of “Best of the Best” honours for 2011. The list includes chairman of the Silverbird group, Ben Murray Bruce, Nollywood movie marketer Ossy Affason, copyright lawyer Efere Ozakor and Make-up and special effects virtuoso Dagogo Diminas.

Acknowledging hardworking professionals who have contributed to the growth of the movie and television industry in Nigeria has always been an integral part of BOBTV. The recipients will be showcased and celebrated at the 8th African Film and TV Programmes Market, BOBTV 2011, scheduled to hold from the 15th to the 17th of March at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.

Ben Murray Bruce, Director of the Silverbird group, owners of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria franchise, Silverbird Television and Rhythm 93.7 radio stations, was chosen in recognition of his mammoth contribution to the entertainment industry in Nigeria.

Ossy Affason’s immense contributions to Nigeria’s movie market can’t be understated. The renowned movie marketer and distributor of Nollywood movies has been chosen for his pioneering contribution to movie marketing in Nollywood.

Entertainment lawyer Efere Ozakor, who took a different approach to entertainment law in Nigeria was chosen for his outstanding contribution to the provision of legal framework for the Nigerian broadcast and entertainment industry.

Dagogo Diminas, make-up and special effects pioneer, with over two decades of experience has been chosen for his pioneering excellence in special effects in Nollywood.

This year’s recipients join the prestigious “Best of the Best” honours list that includes Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chief Peter Igho, Ms. Liz Benson, Mr. Andy Amenechi, Sam Loco Efe, Chika Onu, Dr. Umar Farouk Jibril, Antar Olaniyan and Engr. Tony Ikoku. Mr. Lekan Ogunbamwo, Mr. Sam Dede, Bukky Ajayi, amongst others.

The Mirror Boy: Are you ready for the journey?

The latest sensational Nollywood rave of the moment is Obi Emelonye’s The Mirror Boy, that was seen by a mammoth crowd at the world premiere at The Empire in Leicester Square, Central London last Thursday February 24, 2011.

The best eye witness account of the event was the report of Lady C on the UK Zambians site and the best photo album of the grand occasion is on Bella Naija

The story:

“The Mirror Boy” is an enthralling journey through the picturesque terrains of The Gambia, as seen through the eyes of a London-born 12 year old boy, TIJANI.
On the 13th of June and wholly out of character, TIJANI gets involved in a street fight in which a boy is hurt. Convinced that TIJANI needs discipline, TEEMA, his mum decides to take him to the Gambia to live with her sister.

On their arrival in Banjul, TIJANI encounters what he considers to be a simple apparition- a boy smiling at him in a mirror and vanishing afterwards.

However, seeing the same boy in a crowded street market the next day sets in motion a chain of events that culminates in him getting lost.

While the panic-stricken TEEMA struggles with the Police Force to find her son in an intriguing game of survival brinkmanship, TIJANI is left alone in the company of the enigmatic MIRROR BOY who is only visible to him.

As a bruising spiritual rite of passage, the MIRROR BOY takes TIJANI on a magical journey through the dark belly of the forest.

After a series of edge-of-the-seat adventures in the forest, TIJANI emerges the next day, a bewildered boy; for whom the lines between reality and fantasy; between the physical and the spiritual have been forever blurred.
His arrival at a time of mourning for a small kingdom upsets the evil machinations of a desperate Queen who; threatened by his innocent presence; is not afraid wield her mysterious powers.

A cathartic climax helps TIJANI to unravel the mystery of the MIRROR BOY. It also provides him with a rather mystical explanation for the way his life has cascaded from the 13th of June towards this inter-twined fate with a father he has never met.

Controversial African film nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar

Outside the Law

The controversial African film Outside the Law made it to the final five nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film. A record third time for the director, but I doubt if Rachid Bouchareb’s film can beat the Mexican film Biutiful by Alejandro González Iñárritu. "Biutiful" also got the lead actor Javier Bardem a nomination for Best Actor and tipped by top Hollywood stars to win the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film. Julia Roberts is in love with the movie.

Biutiful

"Biutiful" which is the humourous Spanish spelling of beautiful was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the last Cannes Film Festival where Bardem shared the Best Actor award with Elio Germano for Daniele Luchetti's "La Nostra Vita". It was the Best Foreign Language Film of 2010 at the 17th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards and also nominated for the 64th British Academy Film Awards for Best Film not in the English Language and Javier Bardem getting another nomination for Best Actor.

The shortlisted films competing for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar are "Dogtooth," by Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos; "Algeria's "Outside the Law," directed by Rachid Bouchareb; "Incendies," from Canada's Denis Villeneuve; "In a Better World," by Denmark's Susanne Bier; and "Biutiful," by Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.



Click here to see all Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards.

Many foreign films had theatrical releases in North America in 2010. The notables included the French production “Babies”, “I am Love” from Italy and “The Secret in Their Eyes” from Argentina that won an Oscar last year. Sandy Mandelberger, a New York film Editor has a detailed report posted on Fest 21.

While some African countries have made it to the Foreign Language Film category of the Oscars, Nigeria has not even made it to the competition at the Cannes Film Festival, except in some minor international film festivals in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Nigeria boasts of Nollywood, the so called second largest movie industry in the world, but with nothing much to show for it, except the proliferation of substandard home videos circulated by pirates with impunity.

Jeta Amata’s "Amazing Grace", Stephanie Okereke’s "Through the Glass", Kunle Afolayan’s "The figurine (Araromire)" and Chineze Anyaene’s "IJÉ: The Journey" made so much buzz in the local media with claims of breaking box office records in Nigeria, but they have not even found major distributors in the US and Europe. Now Jeta Amata’s new film "Black Gold" and Mahmood Ali-Balogun’s "Tango with Me" are being hyped with great expectations and the only way to prove their worth is not pulling crowds at the few cinemas in Nigeria, but competing with the best at the Cannes and making the nominations for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards. Until then, the best is yet to come in Nollywood.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

The Untold Truth about Nollywood: Separating the fact from the fiction

Poster of Nollywood Babylon, a 2008 feature documentary film directed by Canadian filmakers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal.The documentary has been described as an “electric vision of a modern African metropolis and a revealing look at the powerhouse that is Nigerian cinema — Nollywood.”

The Untold Truth about Nollywood: Separating the fact from the fiction

Presently the Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood is no longer the second largest movie industry in the world as reported by UNESCO in 2009. The UNESCO report was based on statistics of the quantity of home videos produced in Nigeria when Nollywood was at its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s before rampant piracy and the economic downturn changed the fortunes of Nollywood and left most of the stakeholders in dire straits.

Genevieve Nnaji is the most popular Nollywood star


In fact, we can now count the movies produced in 2010 on our fingertips, because things have fallen apart and people are no longer at ease in Nollywood.
The worst hit have been the English speaking practitioners dominated by Igbos, but the more down-to-earth and better organized Yoruba practitioners have managed to weather the storm, while the other producers of videos in Edo, Hausa, Efik and Ibibio have been doing their best in spite of their own professional inadequacies.
There are those who are the Real McCoy of the Nigerian film industry like the foremost Nigerian filmmaker Dr. Ola Balogun, Tunde Kelani, Femi Lasode, the Adesanya brothers, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Mildred Owoh,Tade Ogidan, Francis Onwuchie, The Amatas. Femi Odugbemi, Kunle Afolayan who is bearing the mantle of the legacy of his father Adeyemi Afolayan, aka “Ade Love”, Joe Brown, Didi Chika, Joe Brown, Lucky Onyekachi Ejim, Gugu Michaels, Faruk Lasaki, Chike Ibekwe, Mark Kusare, Kenneth Gyang and the new kids on the block Niyi Akinmolayan and Chineze Anyaene whose first features Kajola and Ijé The Journey who are outstanding indicators of the future of the Nigerian film industry. They often prefer to disassociate themselves from the popular videographers of Nollywood. The other Real McCoy can be found in the heart and soul of Nollywood, such as the accomplished Lancelot Imasuen, Teco Benson, the ambitious team of Emem Isong and Desmond Elliot and those in the same league with them who have been producing good movies in videos.


The troubles in Nollywood

“Nollywood habours lots of greedy producers.”
~ Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Sunday Punch, August 1, 2010.


Notable pioneers of Nollywood such as Ejike Asiegbu, Madu Chikwendu, Paul, Justus Esiri, Olu Jacobs, Prince Jide Kosoko, Pete Edochie, Glory Young, Ngozi Ezeonu, Joke Silva-Jacobs, Rachel Oniga, Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Zeb Ejiro, Chico Ejiro, Kingsley Ogoro, Lancelot Imasuen, Teco Benson, Emem Isong, Shan George, Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Jim Iyke, Ramsey Noah, Riita Dominic and other members in the same League have been busy trying their best to rejuvenate the ingenuity of the heyday of Nollywood. But there are those who have resorted to dirty partisan politics contrary to professional ethics.


Home videos of Nollywood movies are sold on the street and often pirated

Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures, but going bonkers will only worsen the situation. Frustration often pushes people to acts of desperation in the struggle for survival or trying to catch up with the Joneses. The critical state of Nollywood is also bringing out the best and the worst characters of the principal practitioners and other stakeholders as shown by the petty squabbles in the guilds. The squabbles of the opposing camps and factions of those at loggerheads have left the troubled guilds in disarray and opportunists are fishing in the troubled waters.
One of them is fond of contesting for the bragging rights over celluloid filmmakers in Nigeria. He boasts that he has shot 18 celluloid films. But not a single one has ever qualified for screening at the Cannes Film Festival where other African filmmakers have proved their mettle competing and winning highly coveted laurels among the best in the world. Making dozens of substandard movies that are the best examples in mediocrity is nothing to brag about and talking bollocks from Lagos to Abuja. How many of the films have made the list of the best films by Africans? How many of them have won awards at major film festivals in the world? And now he is the chairman of an international film festival? I wonder why Nigerians like celebrating mediocrity. What a comedy of errors.

Many of them were taking sides in partisan politics as they supported the gubernatorial quest of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the former governor of the apex bank and were disgraced when he lost. And now they have rushed to endorse President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to contest in the presidential election in 2011. Then he has promised to give $200 million to the entertainment industry after listening to the pleas of Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce at the 30th Anniversary of Silverbird Group on November 6, 2010. But a promise remains a promise until fulfilled.

What matters most is providing a proper infrastructure for the film industry, because presently there is none. We don’t even know if the practitioners pay taxes.

Azuh Amatus of the Daily Sun said there is no longer sanity in Nollywood, because all that has been bastardized.

Amatus is right, because the various guilds have no administrative polices comparable to best practices in more organized film industries like in South Africa and Egypt. The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) simply collects a membership fee from anyone who claims to be an actor even if the person has never acted in any movie. Presently, the AGN is in disarray as two actors are fighting over the titular leadership of the guild. One of them who has a degree in engineering said he is more qualified than the rival who has only a diploma in theatre arts. The AGN is dominated and manipulated by the English speaking actors who are mostly from the Igbo tribe while the non-English speaking actors belong to another professional body. Membership of the professional body of the Yoruba actors is by apprenticeship. An apprentice pays more than N2, 000 (two thousand naira) for registration, but in most cases, the apprentices don’t get paid until after three years. There is no insurance or any gratuity. And they do not pay taxes on their various artistes fees from acting in the numerous movies churned out regularly.

There is nothing like an insurance policy in Nollywood. The practitioners and production companies are not insured. No insurance in case a studio is razed or an actor has an accident.

The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) are functioning, but is it not troubling that a billion naira industry has no insurance and does not pay tax?

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

The Inglorious Basterds of Nollywood

The Inglorious Basterds of Nollywood

Have you seen Quentin Tarantino's highest-grossing film Inglorious Basterds?
You have to know the "Inglorious Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine during the Nazi occupation of France in World War 2 and the role they played to understand the following analysis of the fifth column posing and posturing as the leaders of Nollywood, but are actually the exploiting and plundering the film industry.

Nollywood is no longer the second largest movie industry in the world as reported by UNESCO. The UNESCO report was based on statistics of the quantity of home videos produced in Nigeria when Nollywood was at its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s before rampant piracy and the economic downturn changed the fortunes of Nollywood and left most of the stakeholders in dire straits.

The worst hit have been the English speaking practitioners dominated by Igbos, but the more down-to-earth and better organized Yoruba practitioners have managed to weather the storm, while the other producers of videos in Edo, Hausa, Efik and Ibibio have been doing their best in spite of their own professional inadequacies.


There are those who are the Real McCoy of the Nigerian film industry like the foremost Nigerian filmmaker Dr. Ola Balogun, Chief Eddie Ugbomah, Francis Oladele, Brenda Shehu, Sadiq Balewa, Tunde Kelani, Femi Lasode, the Adesanya brothers, Ladi Ladebo, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Mildred Owoh,Tade Ogidan, Tony Abulu, Francis Onwuchie, the Amatas. Femi Odugbemi, Kunle Afolayan who is bearing the mantle of the legacy of his father Adeyemi Afolayan, aka “Ade Love”, Joe Brown, Didi Chika, Lucky Onyekachi Ejim, Gugu Michaels, Faruk Lasaki, Chike Ibekwe, Mark Kusare, Kenneth Gyang and the new kids on the block, Niyi Akinmolayan and Chineze Anyaene whose first features "Kajola" and "Ijé: The Journey" are outstanding indicators of the future of the Nigerian film industry. The other Real McCoy can be found in the heart and soul of Nollywood, such as the accomplished Amaka Igwe, Fidelis Duker, Lancelot Imasuen, Teco Benson, Kingsley Ogoro, the ambitious team of Emem Isong and Desmond Elliot and those in the same league with them.

2
Separating the sheep from the goats, let us now look at the good, the bad and the ugly in Nollywood.

“Nollywood habours lots of greedy producers.”
~ Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Sunday Punch, August 1, 2010.

Notable role models and outstanding key players in Nollywood such as Enebeli Elebuwa, Okey Ogunjiofor, Ejike Asiegbu, Madu Chikwendu, Justus Esiri, Olu Jacobs, Joke Jacobs, Prince Jide Kosoko, Pete Edochie, Glory Young, Ngozi Ezeonu, Joke Silva-Jacobs, Rachel Oniga, Saint Obi, Hilda Dokubo, Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Chika Onu, Zeb Ejiro, Chico Ejiro, Kingsley Ogoro, Lancelot Imasuen, Teco Benson, Emem Isong, Shan George, Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Francis Duru, Charles Okafor, Jim Iyke, Ramsey Noah, Riita Dominic and others in the same League have been busy trying their best to rejuvenate the ingenuity of the heyday of Nollywood. But there are those who have resorted to dirty partisan politics contrary to professional ethics. They are running a get-rich-quick racket in Nollywood.


Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures, but going bonkers will only worsen the situation. Frustration often pushes people to acts of desperation in the struggle for survival or trying to catch up with the Joneses. The critical state of Nollywood is also bringing out the best and the worst characters of the principal practitioners and other stakeholders as shown by the petty squabbles in the guilds. The squabbles of the opposing camps and factions of those at loggerheads have left the troubled guilds in disarray and opportunists are fishing in the troubled waters.

You have to see Quentin Tarantino's highest-grossing film so far Inglorious Basterds to understand the following dramatization of the analysis of the crisis in Nollywood.

Those who attended the so called unveiling of the logo of the illegal AMP-Eko International Film Festival on July 29, 2010, reported the roll call of the those posing and posturing as the movers and shakers of Nollywood as almost everyone turned out in the best outfit from the wardrobe with roguish smiles on the red carpet. But among them were pirates, failed filmmakers, incompetent administrators and their sycophants making up the panoramic rogues’ gallery.
Many of them were taking sides in partisan politics as they supported the gubernatorial quest of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the former governor of the apex bank and were disgraced when he lost. And now they have rushed to endorse President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to contest in the presidential election in 2011.

These inglorious desperados of Nollywood who have run out of ideas for new movies are either ganging up to hijack a film festival as part of their retirement plan, heal the wounds of their bruised egos or to settle scores.
They have used all sorts of foul play in conceit and deceit to mislead many ignorant green horns, disillusioned practitioners and stakeholders like lying to Chief Eddie Ugbomah to chair an international film festival they have attempted to hijack since last year when they lost in the power tussle over how to share the booty from the 6th ION International Film Festival held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

I wonder what lies they would have told Chief Eddie Ugbomah who already has dismissed them in Nollywood is nothing wood posted on NigeriaFilms.com, Nollywood At Large on Tue, 15 May 2007. And I do not think supporting trademark piracy is part of his agenda as he has defined in Repositioning Nigerian Film Industry, My Agenda posted in Nollywood Affairs on Wed, 18 Feb 2009, of NigeriaFilms.com. I trust that the veteran filmmaker is too intelligent to be fooled by these corrupt desperados.

Azuh Amatus of the Daily Sun said there is no longer sanity in Nollywood, because all that has been bastardized.
We have to expose the inglorious bastards who have bastardized Nollywood and secure the future of the Nigerian film industry.


~ By Orikinla Osinachi

Ghanaian Actress Juliet Ibrahim Bashes Nollywood

Juliet Ibrahim


Ghanaian Actress Juliet Ibrahim Bashes Nollywood

The most beautiful actress in Ghana Juliet Ibrahim says there are many things wrong in Nollywood.

“Since October 2009, I have decided not to really focus on the Nigerian movie industry because there are a lot of things going on in Nigeria that I don’t even want to talk about, because currently I am in court with a Nigerian producer”, she disclosed to Peace FM Online.

Juliet dissed Nollywood as she sued a Nollywood producer for piracy.

read more

Nollywood Missing When Hollywood and Bollywood Dazzled At the Cannes

Photo Credit: Celeb Buzz

Nollywood Missing When Hollywood and Bollywood Dazzled At the Cannes



The highlights of the closing ceremony of the last Cannes Film Festival were colourful. Hollywood and Bollywood stars had a lot to show at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, but no single Nollywood star was on the red carpet. Aishwarya Rai was turning heads at the publicity for Raavan and at the screening of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and another Bollywood sex symbol Mallika Sherawat was in the news for Love, Barack. Nollywood was missing in action, except for Stephanie Okereke whose romantic comedy Through the Glass was promoted by her Canadian distributor at the Cannes Film Market.



Indian actress Aishwarya Rai arrives for the screening of the movie 'Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps' during the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, 14 May 2010. The movie by US director Oliver Stone is presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2010, running from 12 to 23 May. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA


There were few Nigerians at the festival and they came from the new Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), Lagos State government, The Guardian, The Nation and Supple magazine.


"Most of the Nollywood stars shy away from the Cannes, because they are not recognized as stars there. In fact, even if Genevieve Nnaji came, the paparazzi will not notice her," said Hope Obioma Opara, the Publisher of Supple magazine and President/Co-founder of Eko International Film Festival who was at Cannes for the second time.


Hope is the co-producer of Letter to the Professor, a new Nigerian big budget film featuring the first African Nobel laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka.


Nollywood stars can only shine at local awards events and some events in Africa, but they are not recognized at the major film festivals in the world.
The fact that the richest Black woman on earth Oprah Winfrey mentioned Genevieve Nnaji as one of the most popular people in the world only made Nigerians to go gaga and Genevieve Nnaji was over the moon, but not in Hollywood or Bollywood. Nollywood videos are the laughing stock of world class filmmakers.


The fact is most of the Nollywood stars will fail auditions and cannot face the tough challenges in Hollywood or Bollywood where you cannot use tribalism to gatecrash into acting like Igbo and Yoruba actors do in Nollywood.



~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima


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Curtain Comes Down on the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival

The highlights of the closing ceremony were colourful. Hollywood and Bollywood stars had a lot to show at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, but no single Nollywood star was on the red carpet. Nollywood was missing in action.



Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL with the Palme d’Or

The 63rd Cannes Film Festival ended with the thai filmmaker, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL winning the Palme d’Or, the highest prize for his film “LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)”.

If Thailand can go as high as winning the most coveted prize at the Cannes, then Nigeria can produce the films that can qualify for competition and win top prizes.

What is the benefit of producing thousands of movies since 1992 to date and not a single Nollywood movie has even qualified for the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival?

Nigerian filmmakers must step up to compete with the best in the world or go and dump their mediocre movies in the Atlantic Ocean before coming to the Côte d’Azur and get dazed and fazed by the outstanding filmmakers from all over the world.

Congratulations to all the worthy winners.

Complete List of the Winners at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival

Feature films
Palme d’Or
LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL



Grand Prix
DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS


Award for Best Director
Mathieu AMALRIC for TOURNÉE (ON TOUR)


Award for Best Screenplay
LEE Chang-dong for POETRY



Award for Best Actress
Juliette BINOCHE in COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI



Award for Best Actor Ex-aequo
Javier BARDEM in BIUTIFUL directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU
Elio GERMANO in LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI



Jury Prize
UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN



Short Films
Palme d’Or – Short Film
CHIENNE D’HISTOIRE (BARKING ISLAND) directed by Serge AVÉDIKIAN



Jury Prize – Short Film
MICKY BADER (BATHING MICKY) directed by Frida KEMPFF


Un Certain Regard :
Un Certain Regard Prize – Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema
HAHAHA directed by HONG Sangsoo


Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard
OCTUBRE (OCTOBER) directed by Daniel VEGA, Diego VEGA



Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress
LOS LABIOS (THE LIPS) played by Victoria RAPOSO, Eva BIANCO, Adela SANCHEZ



Cinefondation :
1st Prize Cinéfondation
TAULUKAUPPIAAT (THE PAINTING SELLERS) directed by Juho KUOSMANEN


2nd Prize – Cinéfondation
COUCOU-LES-NUAGES (Anywhere out of the world) directed by Vincent CARDONA


3rd Prize Cinéfondation Ex-aequo
HINKERORT ZORASUNE (THE FIFTH COLUMN) directed by Vatche BOULGHOURJIAN
JA VEC JESAM SVE ONO ŠTO ŽELIM DA IMAM (I ALREADY AM EVERYTHING I WANT TO HAVE) directed by Dane KOMLJEN

Golden Camera :
Caméra d’or
AÑO BISIESTO directed by Michael ROWE

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

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

Re: I Am Ashamed Of Naija Retarded Music

Nigerian Hip-hop artistes. Photo Credit: Ikuku Records

Re: I Am Ashamed Of Naija Retarded Music


The street music of a failed state cannot be different from the warped psyche of the people.

The Nigerian music industry is not booming.
Majority of the artistes are suffering since the industry collapsed years ago.
The few people who are posing and posturing as "I have made it" hip hop artistes are living in Fools Paradise.

Bankers can afford to live in Ikoyi and (not in the BQs) and young Turks of the Nigerian business world can afford condos in the US.
But can you mention only 10 of the hip hop Nigerian artistes who can afford to live in a N150 million house in Park View Estate or any of the GRAs?

The highest paid actor in Nollywood was only paid about N3 million (less than $30, 000) and their biggest pay was when Globacom contracted some of them to promote their products and services. Over 90% of them are poor struggling actors and actresses.

The fact is most people in Nigeria love fooling themselves in desperation to catch up with the Joneses while the few who belong to "The real McCoy" class are not noise makers on air.

Many young hip hop artistes in Nigeria or what they call rap wannabes in the US come to our office looking for opportunities.
One of them suddenly collapsed and died last month whilst online and that was the end of all his efforts. Rumours circulated that he was into Yahoo-Yahoo Internet scams for a sponsor who makes his millions from scams.

Studio engineers and DJs who do not know what a chord is are now producers.
The result is the "try your luck" hip hop music of retards on air in Nigeria.

Nollywood Noisemakers and the Rest of Us

Nollywood Noisemakers and the Rest of Us

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

It was in the book Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria written by Monsieur Pierre Barrot that he called one of the top players in the contemporary Nigerian film industry a Nollywood Noisemaker. Of course M. Barrot knew what he was talking about when he made that derogatory jest, because he was the French Audio-visual Attaché in Nigeria where he was involved in the development of the local film industry and he could separate the sheep from the goats in Idumota and Onitsha.


Nollywood noisemakers are legion and they are well known for their street brawls over bragging rights for the titular positions in their various guilds and making home videos. Then they went over the moon when UNESCO reported that Nigeria has overtaken Hollywood as the second largest film producer in the world after India’s Bollywood. But the last French Audio-visual Attaché in Nigeria, Monsieur Robert Minangoy laughed at the report and waved it off in dismissal.

How can you compare 485 major films produced by the United States to Nollywood’s 872 home videos? Moreover, the figures were based on a survey done by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in 2006. Bollywood made 1,091 feature-length films in 2006 and if you know the stuff and the format of these Indian films, you would be an ignorant fool to compare them to the cheap home videos in Nollywood.

99% of Nollywood videos cannot be screened at any major film festival, cinema and on TV in America or Europe, because the quality is amateurish and Nollywood movie makers have pirated American and European songs and music in their home videos. In fact, it is common to hear complete tracks of Céline Dion or Beyoncé Knowles in many Nollywood movies and they violated these copyrights with impunity.




Nollywood has crashed since the UNESCO report was published and the current statistics will send that report into the waste bin, because majority of the prolific Nollywood producers are broke and in fact, many of them complained of hunger on TV when they were protesting against piracy on the streets of Lagos. They were pointing accusing fingers at the famous Alaba International Market in Lagos where traders are duplicating copies of both Nigerian and foreign movies and hawking them on the streets like cheap peanuts..
Only the well-fed producers are still active and in fact, they are not making up to half of the 872 home videos recorded in 2006.

Nollywood noisemakers can even claim that Nigeria is the largest producer of home video movies in the world, but they must tackle the problem of the poor quality of their productions. If Nigerians want to celebrate a UNESCO Report on being the second largest producer of B movies in the world, they can do so shamelessly, but they are only celebrating their mediocrity and continue to be the laughing stock of Hollywood and Bollywood. It is ridiculous for Nigeria to boast of making over 872 movies annually, but not a single one has even qualified for screening at the Cannes Film Festival and most of them cannot make the box office in America!
How many Nollywood movies have been shown in cinemas?

What we should be proud of is quality and not quantity.

You must improve and perfect your craft and art, no matter the format of the Media you are using.

Quality has no substitute.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON NOLLYWOOD:

Nollywood
Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria

Viewing African Cinema in the Twenty-First Century: Art Films and the Nollywood Video Revolution






ALSO RECOMMENDED:

Through the Glass and The Figurine Raised the Bar in Nollywood

Stephanie Okereke’s romantic comedy, Through the Glass and Kunle Afolayan’s horror movie, The Figurine: (Araromire) raised the bar for movies in Nollywood movies in 2009.
These movies were accomplishments of young Nigerian directors who are not afraid to compete with the best in the world.

Through the Glass which was shot in America has made Stephanie a bankable filmmaker in Nollywood since the world premiere at the Pacific Design Center on Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA, on October 18th, 2008 in US and screenings in Nigeria.

Stephanie said her movie was a sort of autobiography, because she used it to express the trials of her own turbulent romance.

Garrett McKechnie who is Stephanie;s gambit plays Jeffery who is stuck with an unknown baby and he must find the mother before his life is completely ruined.

The Figurine: (Araromire) is Kunle Afolayan’s most daring movie since he stepped into the big shoes of his late father, Ade Love who was an accomplished Nigerian filmmaker in the 1970s and early 1980s.



The Figurine (Araromire) tells the melodramatic story of two buddies and their love for the same girl. Their lives take a dramatic turn when one of them discovers the accursed “Araromire”, a mysterious figurine in an abandoned shrine in a Nigerian village, which, according to legend bestows seven years of good luck, but they are ignorant of the next seven years of unforeseen circumstances. The movie has Nollywood star Ramsey Nouah and the filmmaker himself playing the lead roles of the two buddies with Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Tosin Sido, Omoni Oboli and Muraina Oyelami who did not disappoint in their challenging roles.

Using good professionals in the cast and crew made the productions of the two movies more accomplished than previous Nollywood movies.

Made in Aba versus Made in China Gucci

These days to show class, wearing apparels with the labels of world famous fashion designers is the rigueur of posh places and events of the Nigerian nouveau riche. But most of them are only aping Western elites, posing and posturing with false airs and graces as they dress to impress their peers and the poor ones they want to hoodwink. So to them wearing their bling bling Guccio Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) or Coco Chanel is chic.



I started my professional career at 18 when most of my mates were still competing for matriculation in the early 1980s and was already a well paid prolific scriptwriter for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 10 before I turned 24 and could afford to buy any of the so called foreign made posh designers from Gucci to Giorgio Armani, but even though more pay tempted me to shop where the movers and shakers of the upper social class loved to shop, I ignored the Nigerian Joneses and even met the top Nigerian fashion designer Sefinatu Mohammed at the Federal Palace where she used as her base. She thought I was a bad dresser, but I preferred to spend my money on buying loads of chocolates for her only daughter.



I loved to dress to express myself as a bohemian artist and poet and not to impress anyone. Even being close to the pretty daughter of a diplomat in the upscale Ikoyi did not change my attitude. But I was compelled to join the Joneses when I got a new job as the Art/Features Editor of a national Children’s magazine published by a French trained fashionable young millionaire with our office on the eleventh floor of the high rise Western House on Broad Street. My boss, Tunde Ereola insisted on wearing mostly made in France and made in Italy designer silk shirts and 100% wool jackets and he bought some for me. We dressed alike and walked tall at posh clubs and social functions in Lagos. I loved and treasured the Valentino Garavani suit he gave me until a Shomolu washerman ruined it.

I was chauffeur-driven in a Toyota jeep and dressing to impress his clients and peers became my duty, but not my passion. I was glad when I left to concentrate on writing my books and working as a national program consultant for the UNICEF at 25 and my job did not require wearing foreign designers’ apparels. I could wear my proudly made in Aba shirts and trousers and shoes and never cared about my peers parading like peacocks in their made in Milan designs.

Today, I smirk when I see the younger Turks of our so called Nigerian Hip-hop generation displaying their bling bling Gucci, D&G or Versace, because most of them do not know that thousands of poor people are being cheated and exploited as factory hands in China and other Asian countries to mass produce their so called Gucci, D&G and Chanel clothes and footwear and sold to the ignorant wannabe Joneses of the Nigerian nouveau riche. I am proud to wear my made in Aba shirt and trousers and boots and walking tall anywhere. Even the wedding suit of the popular Nollywood star Emeka Enyiocha was cut and sewn by a local Igbo tailor in Yaba and he was looking like one million dollars as he was wore it on his wedding day.

There is really nothing special about parading the labels and tags of top foreign fashion designers. They are not better than our own Deola Sagoe, Frank Oshodi, Modela, Mon Ami, Mudi, Remi Lagos and the unsung masters of made in Nigeria fashion industry.

I would love to show off an original Frank Oshodi suit or a Mudi shirt than parade myself in a copy of an original Gucci or Armani mass produced in Asia and pretending that it’s original apparel from an Armani Emporium in New York.

I am also a fashion designer of unisex apparels made in France and with the same world class quality as any original Gucci or D&G as displayed on my popular fashion, life and entertainment blog Kisses 'n' Roses where I also promote and sell the original designs of Giorgio Armani and other famous names and not mass produced in China or Bangladesh. Therefore, I can tell the real McCoy from the copies being displayed by Nigerian Hip-hop artistes and actors on their red or yellow carpet events in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt.

I am very proud of our made in Aba or made in Yaba clothes, footwear and bags and still walking tall and proudly Nigerian online and offline.

The man makes the suit and the suit does not make the man.

Read the following extract from the New York Times:

For more than a century, the luxury fashion business was made up of small family companies that produced beautiful items of the finest materials. It was a niche business for a niche clientele. But in the late 1980s, business tycoons began to buy up these companies and turn them into billion-dollar global brands producing millions of logo-covered items for the middle market. The executives labeled this rollout the “democratization” of luxury, which is now a $157-billion-a-year industry.

To help these newly titanic brands retain an air of old-world luxury, marketing executives played up the companies’ heritage and claimed that the items were still made in Europe by hand — like Geppetto hammering in his workshop by candlelight. But this sort of labor is wildly expensive, the executives routinely explain, which is why the retail prices for luxury goods keep going up and up.
In fact, many luxury-brand items today are made on assembly lines in developing nations, where labor is vastly cheaper. I saw this firsthand when I visited a leather-goods factory in China, where women 18 to 26 years old earn $120 a month sewing and gluing together luxury-brand leather handbags, knapsacks, wallets and toiletry cases. One bag I watched them put together — for a brand whose owners insist is manufactured only in Italy — cost $120 apiece to produce. That evening, I saw the same bag at a Hong Kong department store with a price tag of $1,200 — a typical markup.

How do the brands get away with this? Some hide the “Made in China” label in the bottom of an inside pocket or stamped black on black on the back side of a tiny logo flap. Some bypass the “provenance” laws requiring labels that tell where goods are produced by having 90 percent of the bag, sweater, suit or shoes made in China and then attaching the final bits — the handle, the buttons, the lifts — in Italy, thus earning a “Made in Italy” label. Or some simply replace the original label with one stating it was made in Western Europe.

Not all luxury brands do the bait and switch. The chief executive of the French luxury brand Hermès readily told me that some of its silk scarves are hemmed by hand in Mauritius, where labor costs less. And Louis Vuitton, which boasts that it churns out its $3 billion worth of leather goods each year in its company-owned factories in France, Spain and Southern California, announced in September that it plans to build a factory in India to produce shoes

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinion/23thomas.html?_r=1

Two Thumbs Down For Lagos International Film Festival

I have been going to the so called Lagos International Film Festival since Wednesday and I am disappointed by the poor organization and poor standards.I cannot even write a good report as I did on the press parley of ION Film Festival published on Modern Ghana.

Nigerian Igbos are poor managers of their Nollywood film industry.

I have decided to start a real film festival as a model for Nigerian filmmakers and I will pass it on to the Yoruba Film Industry, because I know that Tunde Kelani will manage it well.

The organiser of the so called Lagos International Film Festival should call it Camel Film Festival and stop the misrepresentation of Lagos state with such a sham!

Nollywood Stars Support ION International Film Festival

The heavy rainfall of Tuesday morning did not stop the leading stars of Nollywood from thronging their favourite rendezvous Ojez Restaurant inside the National Stadium in Surelere, Lagos, to grace the press parley on the 6th ION International Film Festival to be held in December in the oil rich city of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, and making Nigeria the first host of ION in Africa.

Amaka Igwe, Zeb Ejiro,Kanayo O. Kanayo , Lancelot Imaseun, Charles Novia, Paul Obazele, the new President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Madu Chikwenda, the founder and CEO of Lagos International Film Festival, Emeka Rollas and other Nollywood authorities spoke at the event on the importance of ION in re-branding the global image of Nigeria. Some top Nollywood actresses were also there. I noticed that the X-rated actress Cossy Ojiokor and top female producer and director Emem Isong were in their best elements as they tickled each other while Stephanie Okereke was on the high table and the beautiful Lilian Bach was a delight to sight.

Ilaria Chessa, the Creative Director of ION addressed the audience and answered all the questions on why Port Harcourt was chosen as the venue of the 2009 edition of ION, the importance and significance of the touring film festival to Nollywood and the public officials of the Rivers state government were excited to be co-sponsors of the 6th ION. They promised that their state government will guarantee the security of the event and dismissed fears of the militants in the volatile Niger Delta region.
ION got the approval of the stakeholders of the Nigerian film industry as they pledged their cooperation and support for the international film festival.

Re: Nigeria Surpasses Hollywood As World's Second Largest Film Producer – UN

5 May 2009 – The Nigerian film industry has overtaken Hollywood and closed the gap on India, the global leader in the number of movies produced each year, according to a new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report released today.

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) survey, Bollywood – as the Mumbai-based film industry is known – produced 1,091 feature-length films in 2006. In comparison, Nigeria’s moviemakers, commonly known as Nollywood, came out with 872 productions – all in video format – while the United States produced 485 major films

.

~ UN News Centre

The fact that Nigeria is the largest producer of home video movies in the world is not the issue, but to tackle the problem of the poor quality of the productions.

If Nigerians want to celebrate a UNESCO Report on being the second largest producer of feature-length movies in the world, they can do so, but they must not celebrate the mediocrity of their Nollywood, lest they continue to be the laughing stock of the Hollywood and Bollywood.

It is ridiculous for Nigeria to boast of making over 1,000 movies annually, but not a single one has even qualified for screening at the Cannes Film Festival and most of them cannot make the box office in America!
How many Nollywood movies have been shown in cinemas?
What we should be proud of, is quality and not quantity.

You must improve and perfect your craft and art, no matter the format of the media.
Quality has no substitute.

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