Badamasi, a historical film based on General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is set to be premiered at Cineworld Cinema in O2 Arena London on the 12th of June as the first red carpet event of the post Covid19 era in London. The story revolves around a 14 year orphaned boy who grew to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Movie has already gotten two nominations from Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2020 as the best visual effects and the best actor in a leading role which was given to Enyinna Nwigwe and that happens to be his first AMAA nomination.
The movie director, Obi Emelonye who is also the director of Last Flight to Abuja and many other grand movies, beckons on everyone to come and see IBB’s journey from grass to grace.
Covid19 protocols will be fully observed and that means movie tickets would be limited. Hurry, get your tickets from Eventbrite by searching for Badamasi World Premiere.
Cast: Funke Akindele, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Sharon Ooja, Ini Dima-Okojie, Segun Arinze, Bolly Lomo, Beverly Osu, Tayo Faniran.
Director/Screen writer: Chinaza Onuzo.
Executive Producers: Chinaza Onuzo.
Zulumoke Oyibo.
Damola Ademola.
Production houses: Inkblot productions/Accelerate studios.
Language: English with Yoruba toppings.
Running time: 1hr45m.
Rating: 13+
SYNOPSIS
An over working and creative assistant’s promotion is sabotaged by her overbearing boss. In the midst of the sad news, a better career opportunity locates her and making her dreams in the advertisement sphere come true.
Who’s the Boss teaches Career development and empowerment.
Every character in the film asides the extra’s we don’t have their stories are career people. I can confidently say this is a Career Drama Film.
Liah is an assistant ad executive in the Apex creative agency. She represents the low life, passionate, hardworking and creative employee who is trying to make ends meet but she’s constantly suppressed by their superiors. In this case, Hauwa is Liah oppressor. She knows how the use her words to talk down on her assistant’s worth. Apparently, Liah overhead her boss sabotaging her promotion to creative director and this breaks Liah down but she being that loyal employee had nothing to say about it because she needs her job to take care of her needs. And of course jobs aren’t easy to get in Nigeria.
Now this is the point where the character Jumoke comes in to play her bestie role, everyone should have a Jumoke kind of friend in thier lives. Jumoke is that smart friend who is always there for her friends, rendering help and support just to see her friends happy. Jumoke is that selfless character in the movie who cares about her friend more than she cares for herself. At her birthday party she books a presentation meeting with a total stranger she met. This is where the story begins, this point Aniya, Liah’s own creative agency came to be.
Liah’s still a staff at Apex while going for presentations for her company was able to pull it off better with the help of her bestie’s bestie, Lekan. Lekan is the talented playboy every girl loves but not Liah. Liah sees him as a notorious play boy and Lekan sees her as the poor scholarship girl from his bestie’s school. They were entirely world’s apart but Aniya brought them close and they get to know themselves and help each other by setting aside their differences and build Aniya.
What seems like a trial became something huge for Liah as her own company becomes an opposition company for the company she is working for. This is the crisis point where she is threatened to be sued for using Apex ideas for her own company Aniya. She questions her worth and battles with the growing love for Lekan whom she hated so much. Lekan on the other hand has fallen in love with Liah and is ever ready to support her dreams but the threat of being sued by a big creative agency as Apex brought her to the crossroads of her career and relationship. Lekan still bearing grudges from his past tech business idea that was bought off from him finds it hard to support Liah’s decision, thus their breakup.
Liah makes it big in the advertisement industry and emerges the winner of the best ad for Access Bank. Liah realizes her win wouldn’t be possible without the help of her friend Lekan, she finds him and apologizes to him.
Lessons to take home from the Film.
1. Do not fall for your bosses verbal abuse. Verbal abuse is one of the many ways employers of labour harness to toture and talk down on their employees and it’s for obvious reasons, they can’t slap their employees. But we know well enough that there are words that sting so deep and make us bleed. Liah was always being abused by Hauwa with words like, ‘you don’t deserve it’. Liah own the other hand would reply ‘of course Hauwa’ with pains in heart and of course she knows she deserves a promotion after working two years as an assistant in Apex. So, never let anyone talk you down on your rights or talk you out of your dreams.
2. This film opens our eyes to the dog eat dog world we live in. People struggle from grass trying to make ends meet and also grow but there are people in the high places leveling them down. Hauwa represents monopoly in the film. She only wants to be the prosperous one in the office and the entire advertisement world. In different scenes of the movie we see her anger and disgust at CEO of the growing Aniya company. Her continuous rants of breaking the company weren’t empty words. She succeeds doing that with the backing of the law.
3. What doesn’t break us makes us strong is another important lesson to pick from the story. Liah went through hell of demotion, verbal abuse and heart break to become an independent woman. This goes to the women especially, we are moved by lots of things going on in our lives and these things cause us to give little or no meaningful output in our career/business. Liah knowing what she wants saw past all these, finally gets what she always dreamed of and finally coming back to Lekan to solve their relationship problems. She’s a lucky girl I think, most men would have seen that as an opportunity to move on to the next girl.
4. If your friends are not supportive and encouraging you in hard times please leave that circle. Liah’s friends were so helpful to her and there’s no way Liah’s success story would be complete if it wasn’t for Jumoke and Lekan, the playboy turned heart throb.
5. Finally, ‘Love conquers all’ is one sentence most people believe. We see that in play in the broken relationship of Lekan and Liah. At the end all that mattered to them was that they would have each other’s back forever.
If you’ve seen the movie what other lessons did it teach you? Drop them in the comment section.
Starring: Gabriel Afolayan, Williams Uchemba, Nse Ikpe Etim, AY, Nancy Isime, Osas Ighodara, Jimmy Odukoya.
Release Date: May, 13.
Production Houses: Williams Ucuemba Productions in patnership with Veemost entertainment.
Distributed by: Film One Nigeria.
In the words of Williams Ucuemba on Instagram,
“After 22 years in the film industry it is with great pleasure I present to you my first feature film . Ladies and gentlemen the official Trailer of MAMBAS DIAMOND. Save a little token for this movie as it hits all the Cinemas Nationwide from the 13th of May, and at the end all the Glory will go to my God and King”.
The trailer gives us insight of the journey of a stolen diamond travelling from Sierraleone, Johannesburg, New York has promoted greed and caused bloodshed until it’s final bustop in Lagos in the hands of ordinary people. War is declared by the Black Mamba(Queen of the Underworld) until she finds her missing diamond. On the 13th of May we will definitely find out the real owner of the diamond.
If you ever thought Chief Daddy movie deserves a sequel after it ended the way it did, then you were right. Mo Abudu, The mediapreneur and film producer posted a slate picture on her Instagram page on the 4th of May which happens to be the first day of shoot for Chief Daddy 2.
Chief Daddy 2 slate picture.
Another video surfaced on the internet today showing the Chief Daddy 1 actors in their elements. So, for obvious reasons we want to believe our favorite actors are cooking something good. Who was your Chief Daddy 1 favorite actor and why?
Mo Abudu, a renowned film producer, mediapreneur and hotelier has been recently inagurated into the nine-member committee on Film Production Empowerment for Lagos State. The nine-member committee have the likes of Richard Mofe Damijo popularly known as RMD, Tunde Kelani, PMO Anyiam-Osigwe the founder of the Africa Movie Academy Award, AMAA and Kunle Afolayan.
Mo announced the inauguration on her Instagram page on 5th day of May. According to her, the scheme is to support creative film ideas and help financially handicapped filmmakers make their dreams come true with the 1 billion naira which has been mapped out.
Mo Abudu futher went on to thank the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the great opportunity to be a member and his undying support towards the creative and tourism sector of Lagos State since his tenure began. Cheers to this great opportunity given to filmmakers to make great educative and creative films.
If only you had few minutes to live what will you do? For once permit me to take you to Oxford Gardens and ask you same question Ngozi Igwebike has asked Ngoli Okafor.
“If today was your last day ever, how would you spend it?”
Pardon me to rephrase again. What would you do if you stood face to face with death, with the plane of “the joys of today and hope for tomorrow” tossed about by turbulence waiting to crash?
What would you have done differently in the face of such terrible tragedy? Cry? Pray? Shout? Or regret never giving heed to the premonitions of your little girl mildly warning you against embarking on that journey? I’m convinced you should have better answers to the questions than I do, so save your replies ‘cos I don’t want to get scared too.
What if I tell you there is a Nigeria disaster film and action thriller that beat Hollywood’s The Amazing Spider Man, Think like a Man, The Avengers and Madagascar which also topped the chart of West Africa Cinema at the time of it’s release?
What if I tell you that your favorite actors; Omotala Ekeinde, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Ali Nuhu, Jim Iyke and Jide Kosoko among others will be going on Netflix this June 15th?
Wait! Just a little pause before giving that Wow! look….
I’m sure you never esteemed Nollywood this high but yes, Nollywood has taken off and never to crash in the hands of Obi.
…Timely and painfully… Contemporary as Nigeria High Commission to the US has remarked, Last Flight to Abuja is about to Land.
What more can you ask for a gift? It’s like waiting hours for a bus then two come along at the same time.
Written by Tunde Babalola. Directed and Produced by Obi Emelonye.
At the comfort of your home, workplace, Church. On your phone, PC. Last Flight to Abuja will be ready on Netflix 15th of this June!
Just like; Balala-boromborina! “I will wrestle with the Champion” declared by Tijan seems to be Obi Emelonye’s way of accepting the challenge thrown by his Western and African rivals both alike. The victory on Obi’s side however speaks louder for his “Never underestimate the power of optimism, work hard, work smart, believe then wait patiently.”
OH films in collaboration with the Nollywood factory presents the award winning Obi Emelonye film, ‘The Mirror Boy’. Staring Genevieve Nnaji, Osita Iheme, Edward Kagutuzi and Fatima Jabbe. Written and directed by Obi Emelonye and produced by Patrick Campbell.
Well, I thought films were meant to dwell their stories on specific times and ages? But what happens to this non conformist, Obi Emelonye in his film, The Mirror Boy? What happens when the story of a movie appears to be suitable for all times and seasons?
If this was to be the classical times, what would Sophocles have said about fate and destiny?
If George Floyd had survived the brutal knees of racism, what story could he have told differently for the boys Tijan (the black African boy) and Rodney (the white English boy)?
If we were Shakespearean, and reviewing Holinshed’s Chronicles published in 1577, could the stories of Lord Macbeth and Lady Macbeth been substituted with that of Samba and the Queen? What admonishements would Lady Macbeth have given to Queen to avoid meeting her water loo?
I’m sure you never knew that sublimity in language in the African Context consists the emblishment of everyday language with proverbs and riddles.
But here’s the deal, the question isn’t if The Mirror Boy has adhered or adopted sublimity in it’s mood of communication but who told The Mirror Boy how well to get it’s audience standing in awe salivating for more of what Chinua Achebe considers “the oil with which words are eaten.”
How vast are you with mysticism and metaphysics? Can you beat the witchcraft and superstitions of The Mirror Boy?
What is the mystery behind the mirror? Do you think it’s all about Catoptromancy or some sort of superstition?
Is Obi Emelonye truly a racist? What questions do you have for the umblical cord?
What does the mirror say about your destiny?
And what happens when a “terrible tragedy” meet with festivities?
Find out the answers to these burning questions in the story of a young African British boy who’s taken back to the land of his mother’s birth, but then gets mysteriously lost in a foreboding forest and embarks on a magical journey that teaches him lessons in life.
The Mirror Boy will be ready on Netflix 30th of this June!
Love is a War is a comedy-drama because of how it turns out to end happily after all swings the couple experienced in their marriage. The political swings seemed to have tested their love and endurance elastics and even strengthened it. The Movie was a joint production between Chinaza Onuzo’s inkblot productions and Omoni Oboli’s Dioni Visions Entertainment and production kicked off on May 2019. The movie was first premiered in September 22, 2019 at the Film house cinema Lekki, Lagos and released on September 27.
According to Omoni on Instagram, lots of hardwork, blood and sacrifices went into the film project. The movie is said to be a high budget movie. And anyone can agree she wasn’t lieing when she said that, this film is original and has good quality ranging from good picture quality to the audio and sound synchronization. Lighting was on fleek especially in the night scenes, the light was just giving life and energy to all the shots the DOP fired, the use of amazing and creative shots was incredible especially the scene were Hankuri Philips walks out on Senator Akenrele for choosing to leave her run the elections alone without the Abuja connections she had. All the time they were talking, I never knew the camera was focused on their reflection in the mirror, it was when Hankuri walks out, the Camera pans away from the mirror to Senator Akenrele’s face.
Need I talk about the artist elements? The spectacle of every scene was beautiful, the choice of locations was top notch selection by the location manager. The campaign organizations used in the film were very beautiful and they looked like real campaign offices. The strategy rooms were well proped by the property managers, with all the data on the walls and paper stickers etc.
Strategy rooms in the campaign offices. Omoni Oboli’s costumes were all on point, I was always looking forward to see new costumes and my best costume was the one she wore on the debate day. Please you need to see this movie if you love fashion! Hankuri Philips was just a live fashion catalogue!
My best Hankuri Philips outfit. Casting for me wasn’t bad, Only that Omoni Oboli didn’t really give me the fitting grace I wanted from a person running for Governor, I wished there was a switch of characters between Shaffy and Omoni where Shaffy Bello was the Governorship candidate while Omoni was the Chieftan instead. Shaffy Bello seemed to have better fitting grace for the Hankuri Philip’s role because of her body build and Omoni would have looked better as the Chieftan. But it is what it is and we still got the message of the whole story, besides, Omoni’s embodiment of character was 70% and it’s still an A. The characters killed their roles, especially RMD as Dimeji Phillips, directing wouldn’t be too tasky for Omoni Oboli as most of her actor’s were good at what they did, the only tasking part would be the crowd scenes which would demand you handling lots of human beings who may want to do things against your own plans and directives.
Editing was handled by a woman and it’s impressive! You handled your work well by arranging all the shots and making this Netflix worthy movie! But, next time you have to pay attention to typos, there’s a typo in the crew list which indicated Chinaza Onuzo as the writer. No one is perfect tho. The change of locations were not so clear, I don’t know whose fault it is, it’s a gray area so I’m not blaming anyone in particular, so just take note and make something better next time. There was no way showing a few seconds film of an airport and an establishment shot of a roundabout could have told me that the Philips have migrated from Lagos to Ondo stateU for elections. Understanding the change in locations would have been made simple if the editor indicated Ondo state on the screen after the airport scene, and I would have preferred to see a plane landing on the run way, to better understand there is a change of location than few seconds scene of a static Peace airplane in the airport. All I’m saying is you should have given us more details on the location changes.
The Philips If you are yet to see the movie, I’ll endorse you should carry on, no shaking!! I wouldn’t want you to miss out on the political ignition it’s giving to every woman and the men too. The fact the movie explores and combines the political world with the family sphere makes the movie one of a kind in Nollywood. And mind you this movie has a message for everyone in the audience, my experience from the movie can’t be the same as yours. I experienced what is called ‘purgation of emotions’ by Aristotle. Apart from that, the doubts in my heart has been cleared, at least few people like Omoni understand my kind of feminism. (See my previous post to understand what I meant). This movie is not only entertaining and didatic but full of suspense and family drama that can be relatable and applicable for a healthy family relationship and what have you. Have you seen the movie? Tell us your rating and why?
Production houses: Chinaza Onuzo inkblot Productions and Omoni Oboli’s Dioni Visions Entertainment
Language: English
Running time: 1:51:22
Now showing: Netflix
SYNOPSIS Political circumstances and personal agreements turn couple into running mates of the Ondo state governorship election. Hankuri Philips and her husband, Dimeji Philips decide she wins and also reach a ‘no direct attack’ deal on themselves during rallies and campaigns. As the story excels, unknowingly to Dimeji, his wife is indirectly linked with murdering herdsmen case by his campaign organization which she takes personal and that makes her more determined to win elections since her husband was a puppet in the hands of his godfather’s and campaign manager’s. Dimeji’s party (WDP) keeps on hitting his wife’s party (PPM) and the height of it was buying the support of the Teachers and Transport Union. Only then did Hankuri ask for a Governorship debate to prove she is a better candidate than her husband, things fell apart as 20 year old family seceret is revealed publicly portraying her as a better candidate which almost costs her her husband’s life and brings her allegations of an attempted murder on her husband. She finally emerges as the first female governor in Ondo state after her husband’s campaign organization has been charged for attempted murder.
Hankuri Philips in one of her campaigns. TRUE FEMINISM IN LOVE IS WAR. The movie ‘Love is War’ has excelled in displaying unique traits of feminism, women politics, love and family and combining them into a well themed story. The character of Hankuri Philips (Omoni Oboli) symbolizes a true feminist who believes in the ‘social, economic and political equality of the sexes’. Every scene reveals Hankuri’s aura as fierce and unapologetically female. Hankuri Philips with Senator Akenrele. I’m glad women are shown for good and impactful reasons and not portrayed as stupid or for the sake of ‘looked-at-ness’ which sometimes make women appear nude or half nude thereby attracting the preying eyes of some of the male folks. The costumeirs did a very good job to make the women especially Hankuri Philips dress decently beautiful and gorgeous. The fact women like Hankuri and others shared better screen appearances alongside the men proved that women can also be seen and heard too especially in male dominated socio-political domain. I really wish the Ondo state First Lady had more screen appearances and at least spoken to the people even if it was during Hankuri’s rallies since her husband was in support of Hankuri and it would really throw more light to what it means when women support women rather than just sit and be seen as a First Lady. We all can agree that Nigerian governorship elections have more male candidates and probably one or two female candidates. What I’m saying in essence is that the Philips should have had more running mates from different parties cause it is unrealistic to have just two candidates running for a whole state’s governorship election.
The role embodiment of Dimeji(RMD) as a supportive husband really suit him well as he sacrifices his win so his wife’s political ambitions as the first female Governor would be accomplished. Hankuri is sure every man’s kind of ideal woman, who chases her career but never forgets to care for her family and other aspects of her life.
The show of true feminism is also portrayed when Senator Akenrele(Shaffy Bello) helps Hankuri to be a candidate from the majority party that produced the Governor so as to increase her chance of winning. Senator Akenrele in one of the visits with Hankuri Philips. Despite the fact the couple became running mates they tried maintain their love for each other, the few times their ambitions had better parts of them they realized in the end that their love for each other have to always win even though it’s at war. Omoni Oboli can be rightfully classified as an auteur director, you all can agree with me that her films always fight for women rights and bring them out to the limelight where they can not only be seen but heard also. The absence of Hankuri’s Deputy Governor during rallies and campaigns really cracked me up! Was it a pay back for all the times women were always seen but always absent when it was time to be heard?
Conclusively, if this entertaining and didatic movie does not raise your dead political dreams as a woman or inspires you as a man to make a supportive husband then you are on a long thing.
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