Sunday, December 30, 2012

NIGERIA NOT YET ON CANNES RED CARPET

CANNES 2012 RED CARPET 
The Cannes film festival is the biggest film festival in the world today. I have been privileged to have been accredited as a journalist in 2009,2010,2011, and 2012 edition of this great film event.My first was very exciting because I was privileged to meet the screen goddess Angelina Jolie when her beau Brit came for the premiering of the movie he features,THE INGLORIOUS BASTARD.


I am from Nigeria and no film from Nigeria have met the standard to go into competition at the Cannes film festival.The reasons are so obvious, those that the Federal government of Nigeria have appointed to oversee the film business are clueless of how to project the Nollywood industry to the rest of the  world.


In 2012 South African Government sent 134 delegates to the great event but Nigerian film corporation MD went with his secretary and one other worker,nexim bank was there on there own.Nigeria will always pay for the pavilion that end up being empty.Nigeria don't have a place at the world film market where film director from many countries buy and sale their films.Nigeria odes not have a bi annual compendium of the films that have been produce from Nigeria for industry professionals can get handy to know what is going on in the Nigeria film industry .

South Africa has been there with their film, including Egypt and our neighboring country Cameron including Chad.Why Can Nigeria film qualify for Cannes, that is a big question still unanswered

Friday, December 21, 2012

9 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS VIE FOR OSCAR

9 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS VIE FOR OSCAR®


BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. Seventy-one films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;
Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director;
Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director;
Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director;
France, "The Intouchables," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
Iceland, "The Deep," Baltasar Kormákur, director;
Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
Romania, "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu, director;
Switzerland, "Sister," Ursula Meier, director.
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2012 are again being determined in two phases.
The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 71 eligible films between mid-October and December 17. The group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.
The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 4, through Sunday, January 6, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries world

Thursday, December 20, 2012

BOB EJIKE TAKES NIGERIA TO DUBAI



BOB EJIKE TAKES NIGERIA TO DUBAI

Multi-talented Nigerian artiste Professor Bob Ejike will represent Nigeria at the international cultural extravaganza that will hold on 29th November, 2012, the International Student Day, at the Middlesex University Dubai, which will showcase music, dance and other cultural displays from 35 nations of the world.
Bob Ejike, the critically acclaimed, award-winning veteran musician, writer and Nollywood actor, who has been tagged Nigeria’s King of Pop, and Nollywood Ambassador by local press and his band will be draped in Nigeria’s national colours as they once again make Nigeria proud. Ejike’s performance on the show was confirmed last week by the organizing committee of the event after a meeting with his management which sealed the deal and this are the reasons why. Bob Ejike was born in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. He began reading Chinua Achebe at 6. In primary school at W.T.C Practicing School, Enugu, where he was known for his ability to create and narrate stories spontaneously, he started acting in the school theatre. He later gained admission into the prestigious Government College Umuahia from where he commenced writing for Drum Magazine, sharing the short story page with Ben Okri (later to win the Commonwealth and Pulitzer literature prices). Ejike soon began to write for local dailies and writing poetry and radio drama, distinguishing himself in this popular tradition as the youngest columnist and theatre director in Nigeria.
 Ejike later graduated to writing television drama scripts and started taking singing lessons from his friend The Wonder Boy Kris Okotie (now Reverend Chris Okotie, a presidential candidate).  Okotie taught him how to convert his poems to music. Thereafter Ejike worked with other artistes like Jake Solo, Oritz Wiliki, Jide Obi, Loverboy Felix Liberty, Tina Onwudiwe etc.
Ejike gained admission to University of Port Harcourt to study Theatre Arts. In Uniport he came under the influence of great artistic minds like Ola Rotimi, Gabriel Okara, Elechi Amadi, I.N.C Aniebo, Chidi Amuta, and performed with celebrated artistes like Daniel Wilson, Dizzy K Falola, Sweat, Mr Cool, and Mandy Brown among others. Ten years before the recording of Living in Bondage, Bob Ejike’s film Echoes of Wrath, starring Richard Mofe-Damijo, won the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) and launched the Nigerian video-film revolution, Nollywood.


MUSICAL EXPORT
Bob Ejike graduated and went for the National Youth Service Corps in Ogun State. That was when he recorded and released his first music album No Vacancy, which championed the cause of the teeming unemployed. At the end of his service year he joined Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Basi and Co as an actor and script writer.
In 1987 Bob Ejike went for a musical concert in Italy, joined an Italian reggae band, Iree, and remained in Italy. He thereafter went into graduate school and started teaching English Language at Oxford College, and The Polytechnic of Milan. Two years later he released his second album Checkin’ Out and in collaboration with some of his academic colleagues, launched a campaign to advertise Nigerian arts and culture in Europe. In 1990, Ejike was chosen to present Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savanna to the city of Milan in a spectacular crowded ceremony. Ejike worked as an editor for Del Lavoro Publishers in Rome, and as a book translator for other publishers. He anchored columns for magazines and newspapers and publicized Nigeria’s Nollywood through exhibitions and public lectures that he held regularly in various parts of the European peninsula.
In 1995 Bob Ejike returned to Nigeria to work as Special Assistant to the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria. He rejoined the entertainment industry as an actor and performing musician. in the next 7 years he starred in 40 films, including Sharon Stone 2 with Genevieve Nnaji, Maximum Risks with Regina Askia, Confusion with Kanayo o Kanayo, Deadly Proposal with Pete Edochie, Polygamy with Peter Bunor snr, Tears in Heaven with Susan Patrick, Nightfall with Charles Okafor, Executive Crime with Bimbo Manuel, Aba Riot with Olu Jacob, Wanted Alive with St. Obi, Next of Kin with Jide Kosoko, and several others (Bob Ejike films in google).
Bob Ejike released 4 albums with several music videos, presented NTA Channel 5 Tropical Rhythms, wrote the Sunday Sun weekly column Klieglights and published his novel Weapons of Biafra. He endorsed many products and became Nigeria’s first male super model.
CULTURE AMBASSADOR
Around 2000 Nollywood was invaded by illiterate traders who took over the jobs of scriptwriters, producers and directors. The result was that Nigerian film cast became repetitive, the plots weak and predictable. Bob Ejike warned his colleagues about the risk of decline but was typically ignored. In 2002, dejected, he returned to Italy in protest and ultimately became an Associate Professor of English as a Foreign Language, in Universita Popolare di Roma, but continued to make music and videos for an international audience.
In 2005 the government of Chief the Honourable Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, Bob Ejike’s  birth place brought him back from Rome to Umuahia, honoured him and officially recognized his artistic and intellectual efforts towards the international promotion of Nigerian arts and culture.
In 2006 Bob Ejike relocated to Uganda to work for the Ugawood Project, a Ugandan government programme aimed at creating an indigenous motion picture industry. Ejike loved the people, the greenery and simplicity of life in Uganda, and opened the Professor Bob Ejike Foundation for Performing Arts (Probe) which runs audiovisual studios and marketing outfits in Kampala, assisting indigent artists. In about 6 years of Uganda Ejike’s creativity, music and performance flowered. He worked in two international films, recorded 70 songs and 20 videos that dominated the top ten in the region and made him one of the most famous artistes in East Africa. He used his position in that country to build a cultural bridge that facilitated the arrival in Uganda of Nollywood products and artistes like P Square, 2Face Idibia, Danfo Drivers, Flavour, and many Nollywood celebrities. Today Nollywood is the most popular font of home entertainment in East Africa and in Uganda thanks to the unsung efforts of people like Bob Ejike, whom Ugandans named Ki Nigeria, meaning Nigerian film or Mr. Nollywood. His awards include the Legend of the Arts Award from Italy.
Bob Ejike is presently the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the National Edifice Magazine in Lagos and shuttles between his performance engagements in Dubai and his editorial duties in Lagos. (Bob Ejike's fotos are in google image)
Bill Achusim

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christian Ronaldo Sexier Than David Beckham

]
Christian Ronaldo Sexier Than David Beckham

                                                                 Christian Ronaldo


                                                                     David Beckham

Monday, December 10, 2012

Streets of Calabar Movie Premieres at the 2012 Calabar Festival




Streets of Calabar Movie Premieres at the 2012 Calabar Festival    

Spirit Creations UK, in association with Cross River State Tourism Bureau, Silverbird
Distribution and UNICEM - the leading supplier of cement in south-eastern Nigeria                                    
               
                                                      Announces
The Exclusive Press Screening & Red Carpet World Premiere of the International Nollywood
Comedy Thriller
                                   “STREETS OF CALABAR”
The events have been scheduled as follows:

Exclusive Screening for the Press & Business Partners in Lagos at 10am on Friday 14th December 2012 at the Silverbird Galleria, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos
!
Movie Premiere Event at the Calabar Festival at 5.00pm on Friday 21st December 2012 at the

FilmHouse, Marina Resort, Calabar brought to you by UNICEM

                                STARS FROM THE MOVIE INCLUDE:
Rita Dominic (2012 winner AMAA Best Actress Award);Wale Ojo (winner Nigeria Entertainment Best Actor Award 2012 & star of “Phone Swap”); Anthony Ofoegbu (UK actor on British TV productions“The Bill”,“Casualty”and “Spooks”); Maynard Eziashi (winner of Silver Bear 41st Berlin International Film Festival Best Actor Award forhisrole along side Pierce Brosnanin“MisterJohnson”.Maynardal so starred with Sean Conneryin“A Good Manin Africa”and with Jim Careyin“AceVenture:When Nature Calls”);Keppy Ekpenyong (veteran actor and star of over thirty
Nollywood movies);Gordon Case (A royal Shakespearean and National Theatre actor in the UK);Lisa Kill(a new British Nollywood Starlet); Vicqui Christie (a British trained actress);writer,producer &  co-director Charles Aniagolu (former BBC and CNN news anchor);co director Frank Macaulay and various other a stand crew members of Streets of Calabar.
ABOUT THE MOVIE STREETS OF CALABAR:
Caught in a web of scams, danger and murder, two down-on-their-luck scammers must become part of a covert police mission to stop a mysterious gangster from taking over the peaceful streets of Calabar. Written in a mixture of English and Pigin, former BBC/CNN reporter and presenter, Charles Aniagolu weaves an intricate and funny story in this taut comedy-thriller, with a cleverness and wit that will leave you tense and laughing at the same time. Critics say the movie’s strikingly original backdrop, darkly comic riff and tense, rollicking actiongangster-thriller portrait, make Streets of Calabar a world-class film, placing it at the pinnacle of the Nollywood movement.

Rita Dominic star of Streets of Calabar said: “Streets of Calabar is an international-standard movie which was shot on location in London, England and against the spectacular backdrop of Calabar and Cross River State, with a great storyline and an international cast. The film really is something for the moviegoer to get excited about”. Jacqueline Bell, Executive Producer of Streets of Calabar said:

“The stars of the movie will be there, including Rita Dominic, Wale Ojo, Anthony Ofoegbu, up and coming
Nollywood starlet Lisa Kill and many more. We’re happy the premiere is taking place in December at the height of the Calabar Festival. I can’t think of a better way to further enhance the already splendid profile of Africa’s biggest cultural event than with this movie and we are grateful to the government and people of Cross River State for their support.”
Charles Aniagolu, writer, producer and co-director of Streets of Calabar said:
“This film is a must see. The storyline has several twists in it that will keep moviegoers glued to their seats.
Nollywood fans will be thrilled with both the revelatory narrative style and the production value of this movie.
I’m happy that the premiere is taking place in the fabulous metropolis of Calabar, one of the most visually
beautiful cities in West Africa and the same location where much of the movie was filmed”.
Michael Williams, Managing Director, Cross River State Tourism Bureau, said: “We are thrilled to
bring the premiere of the film Streets of Calabar to the newly completed ultra modern FilmHouse cinema at the Marina Resort and to the world famous Calabar Festival. The Festival is a premier showcase of Nigerian cultural innovation, the finest achievements of African arts and the best in Black creativity and this movie definitely adds to that impressive diversity”.

STREETS OF CALABAR opens in cinemas nationwide on Friday 21st December 2012. For more information, please visit: www.streetsofcalabar.com, facebook page: www.facebook.com/streetsofcalabar and twitter: streetsofcalabar@streetsofcalaba

FOR THE PRESS: Your coverage of this world premiere is cordially invited. Press credentials will be issued at the event.
CONTACTS: Charles Aniagolu (Producer & Co-Director): 0806 577 6491 or Uwem Jacob (Marketing &
Publicity Agent): 0806 544 9130 or Rosana George Hart (Silverbird Distribution): 0803 509 7599.