Tuesday 12 May 2009

Around and about Nollywood...

BY SHAIBU HUSSEINI
Cannes gets woman Jury President

FRENCH actor, Isabelle Huppert, has been named jury president for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. She is the fourth woman to head the panel in the event’s six decades, following stints by Liv Ullmann, Jeanne Moreau and Françoise Sagan. Huppert said in a statement that the appointment made her “very glad and very proud”. She added: “Cannes and I have a long history and this next meeting will definitely seal my love for the festival, as well as for world film.” Dubbed The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival de Cannes), and founded in 1946, the Cannes International Film Festival, which runs from May 13 to 24 is reputed to be one of the world’s oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals. It holds yearly in May at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. Nigeria is to make its presence felt at this year’s edition. The Nigerian Film Corporation will be mounting a stand and there are plans to host a film and investment forum.

NFC calls of commissioning ceremony
THE proposed commissioning ceremony of projects at the National Film Institute earlier scheduled to hold in Jos, Plateau State on May 8 has been called off. Brian Etuk, the Nigerian Film Corporation image maker, announce the postponement during the week. Though he didn’t give reason for the shift, he said that a new date would be announced later; observers say the postponement may not be unconnected with the recent inauguration of the Governing Board for the Film Corporation headed by the veteran musician, Bongos Ikwue. It is expected that the board will be on hand to join the Managing Director of the Corporation, Afolabi Adesanya, to receive the Information and Communication Minister, Dora Akunyuli, when she storms Jos for the commissioning later in the year.

CFC empowers teenagers to produce films
COMMUNICATING for Change (CFC), a leading developmental communications organisation, has held a graduation ceremony and film screening for the female teenage participants of a video story telling workshop it held recently. The practical workshop, according to a statement signed by CFC’s Chichi Uzuegbu, allowed 12 girls from Lagos and Kaduna, from Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and Girl Child Concern (GCC) to come together to learn the art of video storytelling and production. The workshop was produced and facilitated CFC, with support from the Global Fund for Children (GFC), and the Nike Brain Trust Initiative.
The workshop, the statement continued, empowered the girls and equipped them with a solid foundation in video storytelling and included sessions on creative scriptwriting, production, camera operations and the editing process, all undertaken with state of the art technological equipment.
During the time they spent together at the workshop, the girls were able to learn from their different cultures and bond with each other. Through their newly acquired skills, the girls were able to film, produce and edit their own videos, inspired by their shared life experiences. The graduation ceremony and video screening, held at CFC’s office in Lagos, was the culmination of the 10 day workshop and will provide a platform for the girls to showcase their work and share their experiences and lessons as a result of their training.
As part of the project, the girls will be able to take the filming, production and editing equipment back to their respective centres so they can build on their newly acquired knowledge and continue to produce and distribute films that they have created. During the graduation ceremony, the girls presented two films they wrote and produced to the press in attendance. The first was a moving drama, which touched on issues of early marriage and girl child education, while the second was a short documentary on an inspiring caterer, who started her business with just N10,000 (less than $100), and today, earns over $300 a day selling local delicacies to her community. The outcome of the workshop will be included in an on-line resource centre, which will be available to local and overseas community based organisations so they too can learn the art of video storytelling and equip young filmmakers with the skills they need to produce their own challenging videos.

Don Pedro’s Movistar goes Premium
MOVISTAR, an entertainment channels from May 12, will go premium. Don Pedro Obaseki, head of the channel has asked television and movie goers to get on board and fast too. The movie director and producer who describes himself simply as a entertainment content entrepreneur informed that Movistar will be on Sky Digital on Channel 330. Additional information should look it up at www.aittv.co.uk.
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Waka pass…
Producer- Amebo A. Amebo
Director- Mr. Gossip
Actors- Nollywood Celebrities

Rita Dominic goes to Malawi
THE gist is all over the place and when we buzzed her during the week, she expressed her preparedness to light up Malawi. But in case you don’t know — the delectable Rita Dominic, will be in Malawi soon. Rita will be signing autographs, giving talks to women and young people and engage in some charity work during the tour of Malawi being facilitated by the pay channel MNET. Rita says she had gone on tour of some African countries such as Liberia in the past but that there is something about this diet to Malawi that she can’t just explain. But one waka pass said we must get Rita to explain, whether now or in the future, how much she is getting from MNET for the tour. Apart from just knowing for the records, one other waka pass said he wants to be able to guess how much Rita will spend on the clothes she will wear in Malawi. Dem say Rita no dey play with her wardrobe again since wen Bros Niyi and him organisation declare am a fashion icon. But we take style think say the question na sake for say make something remain from the MNET largesse for the boys!

Joe Dudun is Itsekiri not Ijaw
AH, how could we have made that kind of mistake? How could we have suggested in our last major interview with big bros, Joe Oghosanine Dudun that he is Ijaw? Kai! That mis-writing is regretted. Our phones have not stopped buzzing since that publication. Itsekirians from all parts of the world have been calling to express their displeasure on how yours sincerely wanted to deny them of a true son of the soil. In fact, they mentioned that Moviedom risked being ‘hijacked’ (not even kidnapped) if we don’t publish a corrigendum. They insist and maintain that Oga Joe Dudun is Itsekiri and not ‘proud Ijaw, Delta State native’ as we suggested in that interview published in an earlier edition of the Saturday Guardian. In fact, they hold that it is the Itsekiri heritage that has coloured his perspective as Nigerian and so any attempt to deny them of their brilliant son, who is though proud of his Ijaw and Isoko ancestral linkages, will be resisted by thunder and fire. Well, here is an apology to Oga Joe… we recall that he actually mentioned that he was born and bred an Itsekiri. So Oga Joe, how do we hail Itsekirians in Itsekiri? Our phone lines are open.


Stephanie Okereke is back
Delectable Stephanie Okereke, is back from the United States where she had gone to receive the African Jewel Award. The award is brainchild of African Focus Incorporated (AFI), US. The Nollywood star, who is hailed as a diva with an infectious personality took turn after the US born and Grammy award winning singer, Chaka Khan, Monique, and Hope Foye to receive the 2009 Yearly African Goodwill Awards. The organisers disclosed that the graduate of English and Literary Studies of the University of Calabar, who was voted Best Actress in 2003 by organisers of Reel Awards for her effort in Emem Isong’s Emotional Cracks earned the recognition for acting abilities. A one-time second runner-up in the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, who trained as a director at the New York Film Academy, Stephanie, star of some of Nollywood’s remarkable works like Terror, Private Sin, ‘More Than A Woman, Emotional Cracks, Queen Sheba, Together As One, Taste Of Sin, Diamond Lady, Pretender, Sensational Spy, Deep Love, and Strength Of A Woman and one of the most sought after actresses in the local movie industry, disclosed that she felt good mounting the stage with such revered personalities to receive her award. Anyway we asked her what she brought back for us like ‘spoils of the occasion’ but the line went off. We have since been trying though to get back to her. If we do succeed, someone said we should inquire if she saw anybody that looked like or in the words of the waka pass ‘resembled’ her former hubby–– the Nigeria Ex-International Chikelue Iloenyesi. I mean in the estimation of the waka pass, ‘since na US dem give di award, the original copy of the shadow copy of bros Chyke should be everywhere’. Na him talk am oooo!

Who said he saw Leo Mezie?
THAT’s the question someone asked us to ask the new acting sensation, Leo Mezie. Someone swore (even though we consider it a rumour until it is verified) that the handsome actor frequents a particular street in Surulere, where a campus of the Lagos State University is located. Because Leo is our confirmed friend, we refused to hear the tori but the waka pass kept rehashing the fact that he comes every now and then to either drop off or pick one equally beautiful peperempe. They even say (na dem say ooo) that the star of Labista doesn’t joke at all with the lady who is an undergraduate at the school. But the part we enjoyed most was that Leo said that he mentioned to a fellow on phone that the lady is the only person who has the complete set of his ribs. Bigz Boys ala Jenifa. Well, we will stop here until we see Leo koro koro. And be sure that if we see him, we would ask if the peperempe in that campus of Lasu is the same one and one pence that he mentioned in the last interview with us. Hear what Leo told us in our last interview: ‘Something is on the pipe line but people should not break the pipeline, please. I have somebody on line. We had started dating long before she knew that I was an actor’. Oga Leo, where are thou?

What of Mary Chukwuma?
WONDER what took us to that area of Surulere where we heard this rumour about Leo! We had hardly moved away from the scene of the gist when someone prayed we waited on him for another round of tori. This time it is that Mary Chukwuma, mother of the little actor who won the AMAA 2009 crest for best child performer has just been admitted into the same LASU campus. They say Mary, who also featured in Small boy, the same movie that gave her son the crest, is seriously eyeing a degree or is it a diploma in communication? Anyway, we congratulated Mary and wanted to proceed but the waka pass begged us to please beg Mary to stop tormenting people–– meaning students with the half jeans and sleeveless tops that she normally wears to school. Which one come be half jeans? We asked the waka pass and pronto he gushed; ‘you no sabi dat jeans wey ladies dey wear wey dey stop for their knees? Eheee, whats wrong with that? We asked again and he went: ‘the thing dey over expose her strong dark kemtu’. Ask me what is Kemtu? ‘Mary’s back leg muscles before her knees’. To God be the Glory

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