Sanusi Lamido Sanusi - Nigerian Central Bank Governor - Part 2

Governor Adam Oshimole Votes

Incase your looking for the man in a big Agbada, the stereotypical governor "appearance", he's not in this picture. Adams Oshimole is the man smiling broadly in a pink collared shirt with a wrist watch on his left wrist.
      Oshimole is the former president of the Nigerian Labor Congress and current Governor of Edo State, Nigeria. He is a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) political party.  This picture was taken when he stood in a queue to vote at the 2011 elections.

Inale - Another Jeta Amata production.

      It's Jeta Amata again! and from the trailer, this is another movie I'm looking forward to watching! Inale is a musical set to be released in october 2011.  It seems to have really good cinematography and relatively good quality music too.

Please see the trailer above and post what you think. Enjoy! :)

THE MIRROR BOY - Nollywood's new cinematic leap?

 

      The mirror boy is an adventurous Nollywood movie shot in the scenic country; Gambia.  This movie written and directed by Obi Emelonye, is a riveting tale of 12 year old, Tijan (Edward Kagutuzi) born in London. In his attempt to defend his right against a boy at school who ridicules him because he is African, he hurts the boy. After a confrontation by the police, his mother (Genevieve Nnaji) decides to take him back to Gambia to live with her sister. 

         It is during Tijan's time in Gambia, that the mystical events unfold. When Tijan and his mother arrive in Gambia, he sees a specter of a boy who appears in a mirror, smiles and then disappears. Tijan sees the boy in a crowded market the next day and this reappearance leads to a series of events that climaxes in the boy becoming missing. His worried mother struggles to find her son in what Obi Emelonye calls, "an intriguing game of survival brinkmanship, ". Emelonye writes that Tijan is left alone in the company of the enigmatic Mirror Boy, who is only visible to him. A bruising spiritual rite of passage, Mirror Boy takes Tijan on a magical and mystical journey"

         The movie premiered at the Empire Leicester Square in London. The cinema was flooded with fans, majority of which were Africans. Obi Emelonye said the day was not about the mirror boy, but about African Cinema. Genevieve Nnaji also remarked that this was the biggest premiere she had ever attended. The cast of the movie includes: Genevieve Nnaji, Osita Iheme (a.k.a Pawpaw), Fatima Jabbe, Edward Kagutuzi, Felix Cisse, Victor Carvalho, John Charles Njie and Momodou Musa Cisse. 

"With a new wave of more cinematic releases from Nollywood makers, they seem to be on the verge of a breakthrough into international theatrical release. Russell Southwood spoke to Moses Babatope, the Special Projects Manager, Odeon Cinemas about how things are changing." (allafrica.com) 

    With the intriguing synopsis gathered from the trailer, I definitely cannot wait to see this movie! This is partly because I am a fan of Genevieve Nnaji's acting J . In addition to that, the movie seems to have an interesting and unique plot. 

      

Genevieve Nnaji African Voices 27/03/11 (Part 1 of 3)

I thought this would be interesting to share. As you can probably tell, I'm becoming quite a youtube addict lol. I would like to know what you all think about the interview in general though. You can view the other parts of this CNN's interview Africa's Julia Roberts. What do you think about this comparison, the interview or anything related to the movie industry in general? Are there any actors or actresses you think should maybe be receiving equal or even more recognition than Genevieve Nnaji? I'm going to be neutral here but I must say I love Genevieve's acting though. Enjoy!

TY Bello - The Future Official Video (We are Nigeria)

This was very inspiring for me. TY Bello is the league of talented singers in Nigeria. I love her voice! and the message in this song too.

"The future is not a time zone that is yet to come, the future is everything that we can be but have not yet become, everything we can do but have not yet done."

Nollwood for Jonathan or Nollywood enticed by Bribery??

When I saw this video, it just made me laugh. I mean it's sad that their political views have probably been bought, but there are some things you can't help but laugh at. I think I was laughing partly at them and partly at the fact that GEJ believes that using nollywood is enough to help him gain the support of the youth. I can tell from the ratio of "likes" to "dislikes" of this video that most people that have seen this video, probably share a perspective on it that is similar to mine. It's interesting how GEJ underestimates our intelligence. He opted out of the "What About Us" presidential debate that was organized by the Nigerian youth and co-ordinated by the internationally acclaimed Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, a person who most nigerians believe is both adequately aware of and concerned about the political situation in Nigeria and its effect on all aspects of the country. Note that this isn't the first presidential debate he's opting out off. He has not participated in any! (at least that I know of) Then he schedules a personal interview with "D'Banj" on questions regarding the Nigerian youth? No offense to D'Banj, but he hasn't previously exhibited much knowledge about or concern for Nigerian Politics. Of course I love D'banj's music, but when it comes to representing the Nigerian youth with regards to political issues, I think most people would choose Chimamanda Adichie over D'Banj any day! If he wanted to have a personal interview with a musician, he should have at least picked someone like Nneka. She has shown great concern for Nigeria and it's political scene and that is evident even in her music.

As for the actors and actresses in this video, I am not so quick to judge them. If they are actually in favor of GEJ, and that is the presidential candidate they wish to vote for, then this is not exactly wrong. They are just showing their support and being paid to do so. However, if they did this purely for the money, disregarding the effect this video might have on the votes of Nigerian citizens and thus possible on the future of the nation and disregarding their own political stands (i.e if they are not GEJ supporters) then I am very disappointed in them especially in Olu Jacobs just because I have always seen him as man of integrity and intelligence. I am not saying I don't anymore, but I am saying if the latter is the reason he is a part of this video, then neither him nor any other actors and actresses in the video deserve my respect. Maybe some of them do just a little. Respect smaller than a grain of uncooked rice - and that's just for their acting skills.

Please watch the video above and tell me what you think. 

Black Gold (Struggle for the Niger Delta)

  ”Black Gold (struggle for the Niger Delta)” is a Nigerian movie directed by award-winning, JetaAmata. It is inspired by the events surrounding the Niger Delta Crisis. The movie is set to be released in spring, 2011.

     Watching the trailer of this movie stirred up a plethora of emotions. There were paradoxical feelings of gladness and sadness with a sprinkle of pride among other ineffable emotions. The gladness and pride emanated from the fact that from the trailer, this promises to be a new Nigerian movie with a very relevant and interesting theme and plot and also realistic and competent acting. However, seeing the living conditions of the residents of the Niger Delta made me really feel the pain of the citizens.

     This wasn’t my first exposure to the Niger Delta crisis, but there is a way that movies make emotions even more tangible, they place your feet further into the shoes of the characters in a story. So this trailer was for me, another constant reminder of the adverse effects of corruption on Nigeria. The poverty, hunger, unemployment, violence, kidnapping and all the other complications that come with corruption.

     There are quite a number of Nigerians (especially the conventional upper-class youth) that I feel are kind of trapped in a cage of ignorance. They know corruption exists and they know the ills of the society but few understand the extent to which these ills affect families or they just choose to ignore it. They choose to ignore (or deny) the fact that the 2010 Global Monitoring Report (GMR) of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), revealed that about 92 per cent of the Nigerian population survive on less than $2 daily, while about 71 per cent survive on less than $1 daily and almost half of 15-24 years olds in Nigeria are jobless. That the majorities of federal universities in Nigeria are under funded,lack quality staff and basic facilities and are also perpetually on strike, that successfully passing through the Nigerian university is a very stressful and in some cases traumatizing experience and it is simply unacceptable to go through that, graduate with a degree and end up jobless, unable to live comfortably. It annoys me when some people here in the U.S talk about Nigeria in derogatory manners, saying that it is a poor country and then Nigerians with all annoyance say that is not true that “there are a lot of people who live comfortably and go to good schools in Nigeria.” What “a lot”? I think to myself, that in secondary school, your parents might have given you 200naira or 500naira to spend during lunch break at school, doesn’t eradicate the fact that more than half of your country’s population lives below 150naira a day and whether you like it or not, in terms of standards of living, that makes your country a majorly poor one. Now I am not saying that people have the right to judge places or people from media representations or that people who have never even been to Africa have any right to talk so confidently about it. However, as Chimamanda Adichie notes, “ The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”. So while it is true and important to note that some of these poor people may be amazingly talented at music, or crafting or other arts, it is also true that they do live in poverty, that they might not eat three meals a day, that their talents may never be appreciated because they live in a society that doesn’t offer a wide range of opportunities for versatility of talents. Since the glass is always half empty and half full, it is important for everyone (both wealthy Nigerians and people whose idea of Nigeria comes only from the media) to seek and recognize the empty and full halves of the glass. Thinking about the situation in Nigeria always just brings me down and now I am tired of writing because I feel helpless. I feel like I am not doing enough to change all these things I am writing about and I am not sure what to do. Sometimes, I feel like even if I go back and try to talk to people they wouldn’t listen and mostly because I am a young female. This brings me to another thing I love about this movie trailer, the hero of the movie, the one who empowers the crowd with oratory, is a young female and the crowd listens to her!

     I hope this movie doesn’t just win awards, but also has some impact, however little it may be, on the way people understand situations in the Niger Delta and enables people to empathize better with its residents. I hope it changes the views of those who simply judge the actions of the Niger Delta militants. One line that stood out for me in this trailer is ” I have become who the government has made me be.” I hope that people after watching this movie, are in some ways driven to participate in the rehabilitation of the Niger Delta


Please see the link above and tell me what you think. Enjoy!!