Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood

Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood

Mo Abudu, the Founder and CEO of the EbonyLife Group and Chioma Ude, the Founder and CEO of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have the best international public relations profiles for Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

Both of them understand the importance and significance of international public relations for the promotion of Nollywood as a global brand of the Nigerian film industry. And that is why both of them are the  most recognised and have been attracting international partnerships with the leading film and TV entertainment companies in the world, including Netflix, Sony Pictures and Disney.

Mo was the first to gain international recognition with the influential Hollywood Reporter calling her Africa's answer to Oprah Winfrey and named her among Hollywood Reporter's MIPCOM's 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV.

https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2013/10/mo-abudu-makes-25-most-powerful-women.html. 

Then the highly esteemed Forbes magazine named her Africa's Most Successful Woman. 

In 2021, She was selected to become a Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the annual Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.

Her international honours within 11 years have been really groundbreaking as a trailblazer for Nigerian women in the global entertainment industry.

Forbes Africa recognised Mo Abudu as the first African woman to own a Pan-Africa TV channel in 2013; Entrepreneur of the Year award by Women Week in New York in 2014; appointed a Director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences responsible for staging the annual International Emmy Awards.and later appointed her as the first African Chair of the 47th annual International Emmy Awards Gala, held in New York on Monday November 25, 2019; named on the Power list 2018 of UK's top 100 most influential people of African and Caribbean descent; the first African to be awarded the MIPTV's 2019 Médailles d'Honneur, in Cannes, France; named in the  Powerlist 2020 of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent and featured in the Greatest Blacks Ever: Top 100 Blacks Who Changed the World for (Peace: Progress: Prosperity).

Mo did not receive all the accolades of her outstanding achievements overnight. She started with her "Moments with Mo" on TV like the Oprah Winfrey Show that inspired her as she told the New York Times in her recent most comprehensive interview last week.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/arts/television/mo-abudu-netflix-castle.html

She talked about her influential family backgrounds, childhood dreams, education and top flight professional career as brand ambassador for AVON Cosmetics for the African market; HR consultant with Atlas Recruitment Consultancy firm in the UK; the Starform Group; Head of HR for Arthur Andersen and HR & Training for ExxonMobil. She was the Founder of Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited.

Her passion for the film and TV entertainment industry is powered by her vision to excel, succeed  and triumph in spite of the economic and societal challenges of Nigeria in competition with the best in the world. 

Chioma Ude has paid her dues before she became the first Nigerian woman to be in Variety's Annual International Women’s Impact Report for 2020

https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2020/03/chioma-ude-makes-varietys-annual.html

Before, Chioma became a trailblazer for Nollywood, she has been an Amazon in Corporate Nigeria as the Managing Director and CEO of JATA Logistics Ltd. Then she invested in the blossoming Nollywood as she co-organised and co-hosted the successful 6th ION International Film Festival (IONIFF) (a touring festival originating from Hollywood) in 2009 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State with the organizing committee of experts, including Peace Anyiam-Osigwe the founder and CEO of the annual AMAA Awards, Caterina Bortolussi, the co-producer of ION International Film Festival, Soledad Grognett, Ilaria Chessa, June Givanni, Alessandra Speciale and Celine Loader. Then the following year, 2010, she founded and organised the first edition of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in December and she has made it the numero uno of film festivals in Nigeria and West Africa.

She has invested her resources and quality time on the international profile of the film festival as I reported in my widely circulated "AFRIFF International Film Festival Brings Hollywood-Style Glitz and Glamour To Lagos"

https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2011/12/afriff-international-film-festival.

AFRIFF has awarded scholarships for international courses in filmmaking and film studies in America and France. 

In 2019, Chioma became the Co-Founder and Group CEO of Envivo Communications Limited, a multifaceted convergence of the entertainment industry, educational developments and technological applications for the fintech Industry.

Envivo launched the nVivo TV, a 

free video on demand streaming platform that offers diverse content from the best content providers in the world.

By their visionary leadership, Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude have shown us the Big Picture of Nollywood of the future as one of the most dynamic creative developments in the global entertainment industry of the 21st century.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

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

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi

Happy 23rd Birthday Google!

 WOW!

Happy Birthday Google!
Thank you for bringing the whole world to our fingertips on the internet.
Thank you for giving us the widest space for every face to be seen and for every voice to be heard.
Thank you for promoting #democracy .
Thank you for promoting freedom of speech.
Thank you for promoting human rights.
Thank you very much.
We love you 24/7!

#Google #search #searchengines
#Googlebirthday #Googleat23
#humanrights #freespeech #internet

Re: Abdulsamad Rabiu Gives the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, a N200M Worth Rolls Royce Car

https://www.nairaland.com/6772148/abdulsamad-rabiu-gives-emir-kano

The great Man of the Masses, Mallam Aminu Kano (9 August 1920—17 April 1983) would have wept over this elitist display of megalomania.

The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero already has official Rolls Royce car.

This is not a gift, but traditional political bribe that will soon be followed by receiving a new traditional title from the Emir and another selfish pursuit.

Billionaire Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu should have spent the N200 million on scholarships for the indigent students from poor families in Kano to sponsor them to go to tertiary institutions; provide safe drinking water boreholes for his village to prevent the recurrences of Cholera epidemic or build a well equipped Primary Heath Care Centre in his village.

They ruling elites of the Hausa Fulani political ruling class will never end their enslavement of the poor Talakawas and the millions of underprivileged children out of school in Kano and the rest of the predominantly Muslims states of northern Nigeria, because they need the poor and powerless commoners for the regular supply of cheap labour as underpaid housemaids, houseboys, messengers, drivers and factory workers in their institutionalization of poverty in the social class hierarchy of the society.

There are more than five million Alamajiri and Almajira in Kano in the so called Almajiranci system of Islamic education for children willingly sent by their parents. But only the underprivileged children of the poverty stricken poor Talakawas or commoners become Alamajiri and Almajira and not the privileged children of the elites who are enrolled in modern public and private schools.

The Alamajiri have become easy recruits of the Boko Haram terrorists and bandits who have been on rampage in northern Nigeria with incessant terrifying occurrences of killings and kidnappings. And as the saying goes, the Chickens have come home to roost.

Reading in Motion: The Most Popular Screenshot from a Nigerian Motion Picture

#Fridayvibes 💕💋✌🏼️ 💞

Reading in Motion showing beautiful Nollywood starlet, international pageant beauty queen and model Celina Ideh in "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity" documentary film of Ekeyerengozi Michael Chima. The screenshot of this scene has become the most popular screenshot from a Nigerian motion picture.  Screenshots or stills are important in the art of filmmaking and can be published as a photo book which I have done with "Lagos in Motion" and it is the first book of screenshots of a film or TV production in Nigeria, published and distributed by Amazon.

 

I have not completed the principal photography of panoramic views of Lagos City from sunrise to sunset and 🌃 nightfall.

Reading in Motion One of the most circulated film stills from a Nigerian documentary film and movie. I titled it, "Reading in Motion" showing #Nollywood actress,, Celina James reading, "Conspiracy of Lagos" by Bisi Daniels in."Lagos in Motion " I showed three beautiful young Nigerian actresses reading novels about Lagos and Nigeria. Because, any motion picture of Lagos without showing any aspect of the literary culture and literature and haute couture of the people in Africa's largest megacity is incomplete. There is no narrator and no narration in the documentary film. I simply showed Lagos and people in the people in the city in motion. 

Video: Lagos Morning Rush Hour On Victoria Island

Morning rush hour traffic can be exiting to see in Lagos, Africa's largest megacity.

This is on the popular Adeola Odeju Street on Victoria Island from my documentary film, "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity" .

Where is the Beauty in Lagos City?

"The true beauty of a city is not defined by the buildings, but by the lives of the people living in the city.

Lagos, Africa"s largest megacity looks beautiful on postcards and travelogues, but when you visit the city and see the nauseating filthy environment, you will know how dirty are the lives of many people living in Lagos city.
Or is there any beauty in a filthy city?

What matters most in the beauty of a city is not the architecture, but the culture and nature of the people. "

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
author and producer of "Lagos in Motion: Sights and Sounds of Africa's Largest Megacity".

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria

“…an agenda-setting collection and a major milestone in the history of Nigerian literature only comparable to what Wole Soyinka’s Poems of Black Africa is to students and critics of African literature.”

—Weekly Trust

“…a large-scale anthology… Camouflage spots the work of [71]…writers. Some have already made their name internationally…What is remarkable, though, is how many fine and startling contributions there are from writers who—unlike Adichie and Habila—are still hardly known.”
—The Sunday Independent of South Africa

“…an intricate literary nest woven with straws plucked from Nigeria’s large universe of artistic talents, scattered across the earth.”
— Sunday Sun

“[An] explosive confluence of contemporary voices deployed in various guises and tones to express individual perceptions of the Nigerian situation…a monumental achievement for Nigerian literature.”
— Daily Independent

“[ Camouflage] proves…the depth and richness of contemporary writing by post-Independence generation of Nigerian writers.”
— The Guardian

“…a ground-breaking anthology.”
— National Mirror

“Nigeria’s new writers, delicate and declamatory, intimate and political, immediate and global, imagine themselves into voice in this rich volume. The words are tender, agitated, beautiful, shapely—and breathed directly into the ear. Read this collection to grasp the scope and sophistication of contemporary Nigerian literature, yes, but read it firstly for its pleasures."
— Gabeba Baderoon, recipient of Daimler Chrysler Award for South African Poetry.

CONTRIBUTORS

* Afam Akeh * Adeiza Atureta * Ekene Atusiubah* Omale Allen Abdul-jab bar* Denja Abdullahi * Al-kasim Abdulkadir * Bolaji Adekeye * Wisdom Anierobi * Toyin Alli * Maryam Ali Ali * Felix Obi Abrahams * Pius Adesanmi * Nike Adesuyi * Chimanada Ngozi Adichie * Adolphus II Amasiatu * Amu Nnadi * Seyi Akinlolu * Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima* B. M. Dzukogi* David Diai * Amatoritsero Ede * Victor Ehikhamenor* James Eze * Chiedu Ezeanah* Ismail Bala Garba* Helon Habila* Kamar Hamza* Ogaga lfowodo * Nengi Josef Ilagha * Bina Nengi-Ilagha * Uduma Kalu * Victoria Sylvia Kankara * Toni Kan * Akeem Lasisi * Halima Lawal * Ahmed Maiwada * Mu'azu Maiwada * Razinat T. Mohammed * David Odinaka Nwamadi * Obi Nwakanma* Simeon Chibiko Nwakaudu * Uche Nduka* Angela Nwosu* Maik Nwosu * Nkechi Nwosu-igbo * Onyebuchi Nwosu *Uchechukwu G. Nwosu * Chinyere Obiobasi * Nonye Bethel Obiukwu * Sunday Enessi Ododo * Crispin Oduobok * Patrick Tagbo Oguejiofor * Tolu Gbenga Ogunlesi * Chux Okei Ohai * Sylvester Urdeen Omosun * Ernest Onuoha" Promise Okekwe * Onookome Okome * Ike Okonta * Pita Okute * Bolaji St Ramos* Lola Shoneyin * E. E. Sule * Sumaila lsah Umaisha * Uche Peter Umez * Chika Unigwe * Uzor Maxim Uzoatu * Emmanuel Onyedi Wingate *


ABOUT THE EDITORS

NDUKA OTIONO is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Supervisor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research including Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (2021). Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria and General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

————•❀✼❀•————

ODOH DIEGO OKENYODO is a poet and literary journalist whose collection titled From A Poem to Its Creator was shortlisted for The Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2008. Okenyodo coordinates the World Poetry Movement in Nigeria under the platform of the Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation, an NGO that uses poetry to engage development issues for awareness and sustainable behaviour change.

September 11 : 3,000 Candlelights of My Memories of You

20th Anniversary of September 11 Suicide Attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia on September 11, 2001.

3,000 Candle-lights

We Will Never Forget

Will you remember me on every 9/11?
Will you light a candle for me?
For without the light we cannot see
What mortal eyes have never seen.

No. Don't weep for me anymore
No. Don't pray for the dead.
For the dead do not need your prayers.

"What I had, I lost; what I saved, I spent; but what I gave, I have."
~ Mattie Terri Shackelford

We Will Never Forget
No! Never ever.
Though the scarlet memories may linger
Though the flowers may wither
But we will never forget
Until this world will be no more.

Nosotros nunca nos Olvidaremos

¿Recordará me usted en cada 9/11? ¿Encenderá usted una vela para mí? Para sin la luz nosotros no podemos ver Qué ojos de mortal nunca han visto.

No. no llora para mí ya No. no ora para el muerto. Para el muerto no necesita sus oraciones.

"Lo que tuve, perdí; lo que salvé, gasté; pero lo que dí, tengo." -Mattie Terri Shackelford

¡Nosotros nunca nos Olvidaremos no! Jamás. Aunque las memorias escarlatas pueden demorar Aunque las flores
pueden marchitar Pero nosotros nunca nos olvidaremos hasta que este mundo no será más.

Nobody spoke a word as the credits rolled on the screen. But I could hear muffled sounds of sobs near me. Lesleen held my right hand tightly until they turned on the lights and we silently left the hall. As we entered our car and sat down, I used my fingers to wipe away her tears. The last time I wept was at the burial of my mother 14 years ago. And I made up my mind never to weep again. I comforted her for a while before I inserted the key into the ignition and jiggled the steering wheel as I turned the key to start the car. I drove out of the parking lot of Main Street Cinema with the head of LesIeen on my shoulder. I was still thinking about the closing scene of the film.
Why should the director include the 19 suicide bombers in his memorial candle lights?
And he showed us their bereaved families also mourning them. Those bastards killed
2,974 innocent people in a day and more died later from the respiratory diseases caused by exposure to WTC dust. Over 40, 000 people, including 10,000 firefighters from Fire Department of New York (FDNY) were exposed to environmental toxins at Ground Zero. And two years later, Ms. Reeve died of mesothelioma. Firefighters Stephen Johnson, Walter Voight and Joseph Costello and EMTs Timothy Keller and Felix Hernandez have died from cancers linked to respiratory diseases. And the unrepentant Al Quaeda is still thinking of repeating the catastrophe. The hijackers don't deserve any memorial. The devils are already burning in hell.
I hissed and turned back from the direction of our home.
"Where are we going?" Lesleen asked.
"To Gound Zero."
"I am tired and I want to go to bed," she said plaintively.
"There is enough time to sleep. Don't worry. I will make sure that you don't have nightmares," I said.
"How?"
"You just relax until we return home," I replied and smiled.

At Ground Zero, we were not alone. A memorial ceremony was in progress and I could count over a 100 people milling around with candlelights. We joined them and a man wearing a brown hat stepped out from the crowd and handed us two white candles.
"You have got a lighter?" The elderly man asked.
"Yes. Thank you sir," I replied.
"But, do you know the real figure of those who died?" He asked us.
"2, 993," I replied.
He shook his head.
He handed me a piece of white paper and we read what was printed on it.

CONFIRMED DEAD: 2948 •
REPORTED DEAD: 24 •
REPORTED MISSING: 24 •
TOTAL: 2996

"But we believe that 3, 000 must have died," he said.
Lesleen and I nodded.
Minus those 19 devils, I said within me.
We lit our candles and joined the procession.

VIFF Announces 40th Edition Festival Lineup

The poster of the Opening Film 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

VIFF ANNOUNCES 40TH EDITION FESTIVAL LINEUP,
A RETURN TO IN-CINEMA PRESENTATIONS
AND EXPANDED VIFF CONNECT ACCESS

 

40th Vancouver International Film Festival

October 1 – 11, 2021

 

VANCOUVER, BC (SEPTEMBER 8, 2021) Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) celebrates its 40th edition with a vibrant festival program that includes more than 110 feature films, 77 shorts, and 20 events. All films will be presented in-cinema, in strict compliance with provincial COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and select titles will be available for streaming across the province and Canada-wide on the festival’s online streaming platform, VIFF Connect. 

VIFF’s 2021 lineup showcases a kaleidoscopic collection of revelatory work, from provocative documentaries to elevated genre films. VIFF Talks take viewers behind the camera, and Totally Indie Day, VIFF AMP, and VIFF Immersed conferences support the local creative communities. VIFF’s 40th edition will officially open with an in-cinema screening of the inventive biopic The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, from U.K. director Will Sharpe, starring Benedict Cumberbatch who gives a bravura performance as the Victorian illustrator who found lasting fame with his knack for drawing cute cats. The festival will mark its closing with an in-cinema screening of Petite Maman, the latest from French director Céline Sciamma. A simple, subtle fairy tale about the mysterious bond between mother and daughter, the poetic film is realized with supreme delicacy and tact. 

"Perhaps more than any other art form, film has helped us through these past 18 months," says Kyle Fostner, Executive Director. "Isolated in our homes, we turned to movies for a connection to a larger world, full of perspectives, ideas, and culture. Our milestone 40th edition will be a celebration of cinema that shares the singular joy of experiencing incredible storytelling safely together, basking in the warm glow of the big screen. At the same time, we’ll continue to offer the opportunity and accessibility gained with last year’s model — with 85 per cent of our festival's vast and varied offerings available online via VIFF Connect. And for the first time, a large selection of films will also be available online across Canada."

VIFF Board Chair Lucille Pacey adds: "VIFF has always been a festival rooted in community and cinematic excellence. We mark this special edition by reconnecting with those who have supported us through the past four decades and with those who are only just discovering all that VIFF has to offer. VIFF's remarkable team has programmed an extraordinary lineup that highlights the voices of today and looks to the future of filmmaking."

“For our 40th edition, our programmers have curated a diverse selection of international cinema that includes work from dozens of countries and countless communities here in Canada,” says Curtis Woloschuk, Associate Director of Programming. “It’s a lineup that truly offers a plurality of perspectives. Many of this year’s selections are born of this era, as they share stories of reconnections with family and community, and employ structures that bend time. There are powerful narratives from Indigenous filmmakers, poignant stories from female perspectives, and bold work that confronts critical issues such as colonialism, racism, and the climate crisis. Likewise, there are films that testify to the transportative power of creativity and remind us that, even when it’s darkest, we can dream.”

Tickets are now on sale at viff.org. Single tickets are $15 for in-cinema presentations, $17 for in-cinema Special Presentations, and $10 for VIFF Connect. All-access VIFF Connect passes are $80, and will provide access to a selection of film titles and VIFF Talks streamed online. The Limited Edition Festival Pass is $725, and will provide access to all in-cinema and online screenings. While a selection of the film programming via VIFF Connect will remain geo-blocked to the province, a vast majority of films will be available across Canada. VIFF Talks, VIFF AMP, Totally Indie Day, and VIFF Immersed will be livestreamed Canada-wide and internationally, providing an unprecedented level of access to filmmakers and fans around the globe. 
 

For complete VIFF 2021 programming, including conferences and events, click HERE.

View the full press kit and the VIFF 2021 sizzle reel HERE.
 

Tickets and Information

 

VIFF Connect Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $10

VIFF Connect Festival Pass: $80 Regular / $110 Household

VIFF In-Cinema Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $15

VIFF In-Cinema Special Presentations: $17

VIFF Limited Edition Festival Pass: $725

40th Anniversary 4-Ticket Pack: $48 Regular / $32 Student / $44 Senior

VIFF AMP Pass In-person: $75 Regular / $25 Student

VIFF AMP Pass Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student

Totally Indie Day In-person: $45 Regular / $25 Student

Totally Indie Day Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student

VIFF Immersed: Free

 

Single tickets and passes available at viff.org.

 

To explore VIFF’s complete 2021 programming, visit viff.org.

 

VIFF’s health and safety protocols — in strict compliance with provincial health orders — can be viewed HERE.

With the generous support of these partners:

 

 

Social Media

facebook.com/VIFFest
youtube.com/VIFFest 
twitter.com/VIFFest
instagram.com/VIFFest

#VIFF2021

About VIFF | viff.org

Founded in 1982, the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural society and federally registered charitable organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and the year-round programming at the VIFF Centre. VIFF produces screenings, talks, conferences, and events that act as a catalyst for the community to discover the creativity and craft of storytelling on screen. For its 40th edition, VIFF takes place both online and in-cinema, from Oct. 1–11, 2021, showcasing the top international, Canadian, and BC films along with creators and industry professionals from around the globe.

VIFF is presented on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil‑Waututh) Nations.

Media inquiries:
press@viff.org
Laura Murray | lmurray@mpmgarts.com | 604.418.2998
Ines Min | imin@mpmgarts.com | 604.440.0791

 

Who is the #1 Action Hero in Nollywood?

Who is the #1 Action Hero in Nollywood?

1. Daniel Kanayo Daniel in "A Soldier's Story" 2015, for which he won the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA) and the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) awards for Best Actor and in the sequel "A Soldier's Story 2" in 2021 acquired by Lionsgate.

2. JLeo Uche in "Rough Chase", 2015 and *A Trip To Libya", 2020.

JLeo Uche comes top of the league of action heroes for his outstanding expertise in martial arts and choreography of unarmed combat in duels.

3. Abbey Abimbola, aka Crackydon, in "BlackOut", 2021, his first Nollywood blockbuster action movie opening at the cinemas next month.

One of the three action thrillers will be the Best Nigerian Action Movie of the Year.

These three actors are currently the best Nigerian action heroes in Nollywood, the phenomenal first indie film industry in Africa that is rated the second largest in the world after the Bollywood of India in the annual quantity of movies. And has attracted Netflix, the #1 streaming video service in the world with more than 209 million subscribers so far.

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

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

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi.