Jeta Amata
Nick Vivarelli of the Variety reported that the ambitious Nigerian filmmaker Jeta Amata is already working on a new international film after making “Black Gold”.
The director who is also well known for his daring film “The Amazing Grace” is going to focus on the corrupt practices of pharmaceutical multinationals in Africa in his new film "Journeys of One," with Donald Ranvaud of "The Constant Gardner" fame as an executive producer.
Amata’s “Black Gold” had a market premiere at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. The film on the Niger Delta crisis featured top Hollywood actors like Tom Sizemore, William George "Billy" Zane, and Hakeem Kae-Kazim.
"Journeys of One" will be a way to provide a more genuine take on the Big Pharma in Africa theme tackled by Hollywood in Fernando Meirelles' "The Constant Gardner". We like Hollywood coming to tell our story; but they miss some of the essence of the African point of view," Amata said.
Variety reported that Amata, producer Soledad Grognett and Ranvaud are looking for a name African-American actor for one of the key roles in "Journeys" and likely to also feature an Indian star.
"The idea is to make it Hollywood, Nollywood -- as the Nigerian film industry is know -- and Bollywood; the three biggest markets in the world," said Amata. "If you go to the remote villages where they don't have proper means of communication, you find people just dying unnecessarily," he added. "And though they don't realize it, the real thing that killed them was some drug that they weren't meant to take."
"The environment in Nigeria makes it a haven for these people (the pharmaceutical companies) to run whatever tests they want and treat people like rats and guinea pigs," Grognett added.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
