By David Ajiboye

Malawian top actress, Flora Suya, is a top contender in this year’s Best Actress category at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), scheduled to take place on Saturday,  April 10, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.Suya’s role in the movie, Season of a Life, earned her the nomination, alongside other A-list actresses like Ghanaian Jackie Appiah, Lydia Forson, Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku, Stephanie Okereke and Bimbo Akintola, who just got her first nomination at AMAA for her excellent performance in the movie Bond and Fred Amata’s Freedom in Chain.

The chairman of College of Screeners, Mr. Shuaib Hussein said that Flora Suya might be the revelation AMAA has thrown up this year, adding that the award was fulfilling its mission and set objectives, as other African countries were coming out strongly in the business of film making.
“Flora Suya’s role in Season of a Life is superlative.  She is a complete talent that will go places in her acting career.  It is also a wake up call and challenge for our top actors and actresses to up their games. Nominations for awards anywhere in the world is a function of quality of work, professionalism and not whether anybody is an A-list star or not,” said Hussein.

Hussein also said the entries received from  North African countries, with Algeria and Egypt as strong contenders in the Best Animation category continued to attest to the popularity and acceptability of AMAA as the most respected recognition platform for the film industry in Africa.
Kunle Afolayan’s Figurine and Izu Chukwu’s Nnenda and The Child,  were among 30 films that made the nominations for this year’s African Movie Academy Awards, out of the over 280 entries received across Africa.

At a colorful nominations party held at Mensvic Hotel, East Legion, Accra, Ghana last Saturday, the nominations were announced by Hussein, chairman of College of Screeners.

In the Best Actor’s category are Ramsey Nouah, Lucky Ejim, Majid Michael, Odera Ozoka and John Osie Tutu, for their roles in The Tenant, Sin of a Soul, The Figurine, Soul Diaspora and I Sing of a Well.

Kunle Afolayan, Shemu Joyah, Shirley Frimpong, Leilla Jewel Djansi, Jude Idada and Lucky Ejim will slug it out in the Best Director category.  At the star-studded nominations party in Ghana included Mr. Richard Mofe-Damijo, Delta State Commissioner for Tourism and Culture; Rita Dominic, Segun Arinze, Osita Iheme, Paul Obazele, Ejike Asiegbu, Dickson Iruegbu, Kunle Afolayan, Steve Ayorinde, Muma Gee, J. Martins, among others.

Mr. Emeka Mba,Director General Nigeria Films and Video Censors Board(NFVCB) delivering his address at the African Film/Television Programmes Expo held in Abuja.

Some dignitaries rendering the national anthem at the event

Nollywood Actor,Francids Duru making a remark at the event.

Oba Dosumu,the traditional ruler of Owu Kingdom presenting an award to top Nollywood producer.

More pix from the Event

More pix from the event.

More pix from the event

More pix from the event

By Ali Baylay

Executive Image Movies &Franco Films: Starring: Emeka Ike, Juliet Ibrahim, Emeka Akolo, Charity Eke, Nora Ugo; Production Manager: Chininso Okoli; Producer/Exec. Producer: Kenneth Okonkwo; Editor: Ilo Collins E.; Director:Emeka Muangwu; Principal Locations: Ghana/Nigeria. 112 mins; c2009. 

What if God grants you the most wonderful, beautiful, obedient, god-fearing , respectful and hardworking wife and because of  a preconceived notion about certain types of women, especially those who work in the banks, as planted in your  mind by a friend who has a philandering wife, you become suspicious of your own. Being pumped up you become impatient and jealous, and drives her out of the relationship. In exchange, you end up with the most crude, gross and unorthodox girl, who wouldn’t tolerate caress or foreplay in bed because, it is the work of the devil.

Restore My Love is a linear story of  Achike (Emeka Ike), who falls in love with a clean-cut and hard working Jeneth (Juliet Ibrahim), but because of a preconceived notion of women who work in banking institutions, he becomes despondent and sends her packing, but ends up with a woman who is a mismatch for him. Actually, his friend Ossy(Emeka Akolo) causes him look at his wife, Jeneth with the wrong eyes. When he finally sees the light, he promises to go back to his wife. Meanwhile, Jeneth had been fired from the bank because she couldn’t give in to an aids-ridden bank manager. At one point, she goes back to the village to her mother but couldn’t stay and have to come back to the city and gets job with a cable company. She’s pregnant with Acheke’s child the whole while.

Jeneth’s hard to forgive Achike but being so in love with her husband, she manages to accept him back in her life and let him hold their daughter  in his arms, in their living room.

“An incredible story”, as Janeth herself at length could put it. Yes, an incredible story I can attest to. Here in Restore My Love, Achike has the natural motivation through miseries by associating himself with someone that he’s not at par with, socially. I admire him too in two scenes concerning his self realization and preparations to restore his love. One is in the scene where Achike stands over Ogby: “The party is over…I can’t control you anymore…I want you to leave my life”, even as the uncouth Ogby, could retort to his statement: “Me, a be your wife-o”.  And in another scene, he tells his friend Ossy: “I’ll swallow my pride and look for Janeth”. And so he does.

When such linear type stories are told, with not much digressions to unnecessarily hold viewers attention as we witness in other stories, we feel rewarded. I love this incredible story because it has story. The two principal players, Emeka Ike and Juliet Ibrahim fight for their interests against all odds and restore their once precious love. Now a story is told.

I cannot assign a category to this film or relate it to any recent Nollywood or Gollywood flick. It is simply enchanting . I felt pulled into the center of actions from curtain up, and I cried with Jeneth, pity Bob for the blind side he maintains into the character of a wife who dearly loves him and  at curtain down, I laughed and rejoiced with both of them and their little one like a big African family. If you’ve been turned off lately by some Nollywood movies, this I promise will keep you good company. Enjoy it!

BY DAVID AJIBOYE

If it were to be in a sane atmosphere, several members of the Association of Nigerian Theater Practitioners (ANTP) will have to adopt several methods to apologize to their numerous fans for their shameless acts during the botched national election of the association held at Ibadan last week.

Some members of the association had thrown caution to the wind and hurled abuses at each other, which degenerated into a level that the electoral officers had to invite mobile policemen to  bring the situation under control.

outgoing president,Jide Kosoko

Far from being a movie location, the scene looked more  like an assemblage of touts who had gathered enmasse at the venue of the election to cause public disturbance.

The scene was charged, the atmosphere tense and no one needed a soothsayer to tell him or her that trouble was lurking around.

Expectedly, factions loyal to the two presidential candidates, Messrs Dele Odule and Victor Ashaolu, threw caution to the wind in an election that was supposed to be  peacefully conducted.

Signs that trouble was imminent came to the fore when Chief ‘Lere Paimo (Eda) was booed and almost lynched by a group of members of the association, alleging that he and some other elders were the cause of the problems in the association.

Chief Paimo had to tactically leave the venue when it became apparent that his safety was no longer guaranteed, especially, with the level of indiscipline exhibited by the aggrieved members.

Trouble actually began when delegates from Lagos State, 18 of them, were threatened to be disqualified  by the chairman of the electoral committee, Comrade Kola Olaiya, who informed the delegates that they  were not eligible to participate, following a court injunction against the Lagos chapter.

In a swift reaction, the delegates regrouped and vowed to disrupt the election unless the committee rescinded its decision. This development made the electoral committee to call for security backup from the Yemetu police station.

The presence of the mobile policemen, notwithstanding, the factions  started throwing stones, pebbles and dangerous weapons, a show of their readiness for a full war when the electoral committee decided to postpone the election indefinitely.

The presence of the former president of the association, Prince Jide Kosoko, did not make any difference either. Rather, he ran for dear life when he heard that he had been marked as one of the elders to be attacked.

Dele Odule, one of the  candidates, was seen calming down his supporters, admonishing them to abide by the decision of the electoral committee, pending the time his campaign team would meet on the next step to be taken on the situation.

Odule, who arrived at the venue of the election in a Nissan Murano SUV marked DOA 3, remained calm as the events unfolded.

Victor Ashaolu, the other candidate was accused of taken the association to court for nine years, among other allegations.

His “sins”, according to the aggrieved opponent, included his hobnobbing with some elders  to destabilize the association, while his case against ANTP lasted in court. They named Chiefs Jimoh Aliu, Lere Paimo and others as co-travelers in that direction.

Chief Jimoh Aliu, however, later in an interview with journalists, said that what happened was a re-enactment of the Law of Karma “because he did similar thing few years ago before he took the association to court”.

Meanwhile, the electoral committee has announced Alhaji Kareem Adepoju (Baba Wande) as the chairman of a five-man caretaker committee pending the election of a new executive.

By Ali Baylay

Executive Image Movies and Franco Films Presents: Emeka Ike, Nadia Buari, Chika Ike, Fredo Arico, Emeka Ani; Production Manager: Ben Ayosinti; Producer: Kenneth Okonkwo; Editor: Nnoshiri Charles Brain; Exec. Producer: Kenneth Okonkwo; Director: Ugo Ugbor; Principal Locations: Ghana/Nigeria; 133 mins. c2009.

The Followers is a topic that invokes religious connotations as in ‘disciples’, but don’t be fooled brother, this is a film glorifying animism and devil worship with Christian church simply as a front. To a large extent however, the use of such plot device to carry the story to the finish line didn’t prove worthy at all. To be honest, I keep asking myself the essence of devil worship in the tract. Let me belabor the story here for you, but don’t feel disappointed if all the plot asides not useful to the story are not told. We simply pick the grains from the chaffs.

Sandra (Nadia Buari), an uppity clean cut young girl is forced by her mother to join her in the Wednesday prayer-worship at the church. At the church, while prayers go on inside, Sandra nonchalant, sits outside and toys with her cell phone. Inside, one of the worshippers fall swoon on the floor obviously taken over by the demon but manages to enter the spirit of Sandra and provide her gateway to the underworld. In the underworld, Sandra is betrothed to a demon who won’t allow her marry to humans. He kills a suitor who meets Sandra’s mother asking for Sandra’s hand in marriage. 

Having buried one suitor, burial or concern for the death of suitor not shown in the movie, Sandra meets Bob (Emeka Ike) the same guy who sacrificed his mother to the devil for the sake of getting rich in the Warriors of Satan. Without a glitch, Bob marries Sandra and except for occasional sneezes when Sandra’s underworld husband, the Demon visits him in his office, the marriage continues unabated.

Sandra did not have any child with Bob but she did have two girls with the Demon, as we see her feeding them in real life but lets them vanish into nothingness before Bob could enter the living room. In the last scenes of the Followers, the Demon airlifts Bob from in the arms of Sandra as they lay asleep in the bedroom, and deposits him by the way side at the thoroughfare in the heart of the city, while he takes Bob’s place by Sandra. The film ends.  

To be honest, I feel disappointed when the curtain went down on this movie. Unless part 3 might be in the making, I could call this a cliff-hanger resolution. What powers Bob might have possessed that makes him not killed by the Demon like did the first suitor, and there’s  not a single confrontation between Bob and the spirit world. This here makes the story flat. No intensity. Nada.

Pastor Jude’s flirtatious and sexual gestures toward his female followers in the church are used understandably as an exposition. But even in the face of such device, the scenes and incidents are so long that they take on a life of their own. This movie would have hit the mark if there was to have been a confrontation between the gods of the underworld as is in the Trojan War over Helen. Pastor Jude would have inherited Bob to redeem his wife Sandra from the grips of the Demon. In speaking structurally,  we would have enjoyed the essence of the followers if there had been open war of the gods over their human interests, and not their non-sense in the picture.