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22 — SATURDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 23, 2019 President of Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria, CEAN, Mr. Patrick Lee recently opened up on why they are showing more foreign films than local ones in the Nigerian box office. Lee said their action become necessary following the high demand for foreign films by the theatre goers. CEAN boss was responding to Nollywood producers, who accused the cinema owners of not only rivalling them in terms of film production, but also, devoting more time and space to foreign films at the detriment of local ones in the country’s box office. However, defending the action of the cinema owners, while speaking at the maiden edition of Film4Life conference on the business of film making, organized in memory of late Chris Ekejimbe, which held recently in Lagos, Lee revealed that as business people they are responding to the needs of their customers. According to him, following a research carried out by them on the type of films people like to watch, over 50 per cent of the Ex Miss Nigeria, Helen Prest-Ajayi throws weight behind Miss Hotlegs Nigeria tylish lawyer and ageless former beauty queen Helen SPrest-Ajayi is stepping out to town next month to do what she knows how to do best. Helen Prest-Ajayi whose outing is usually characterized by grace and charm, will be the Guest Speaker at this year’s Miss Hotlegs Nigeria 2019 Grand Finale on the 8th of December in Lekki after having taken the pageant’s Masterclass Session on December the 5th. We understand that she will be speaking and teaching on pageant etiquette and general pageant tips, which by implication, definitely means that this year’s Miss Hotlegs will indeed be, a Coronation Ball. According to British-born Nigerian organizer of the beauty pageant, Mosy O’Ginni, the choice of Helen Prest-Ajayi as the Masterclass guest speaker, is as a result of her antecedents in time past. “Miss Hotlegs Nigeria has always attracted the movers and shakers of the entertainment industry, this year’s event is the fairytale edition, which promises to be a fun-filled evening packed with good music, comedy and lots of side attractions. And we know that the best way to kick start such an high brow pageant is a Masterclass adorned with the personality of a well acclaimed former beauty queen which Helen Prest-Ajayi perfectly fits into,” said Mosy O’Ginny. Helen Prest Ajayi was born in Lagos in 1959. She is a graduate of the Universities of Ife (OAU) Ile-Ife and Kings College (London) where she obtained the degrees of L.L.B and L.L.M respectively, thereafter she practiced law for over 15 years with the law firm of Kalejaiye, Prest Ogbogbo and H.P Davies & Co, after which she left practice to pursue other passions. •Emeka Rollas •Patrick Lee, CEAN President Cinema owners open up on why Hollywood films are dominating Nigerian box office •Former Miss Nigeria, Helen Prest-Ajayi respondents indicted interest in action movies, while 70 percent of others preferred to watch thriller and romance movies. “Based on the research, as an exhibitor, I have to take that information very seriously. And so, when I’m doing my scheduling, I have to put that into consideration. For instance, if I have an action movie, be it a Hollywood film, the truth of the matter is that it’s what my customers want to see,” he explained. Explaining further, Lee said theatre goers usually pay for three things; the story line, excitement level of the films and the special effects and stars featured in the movies. And these attributes are not lacking in when it comes Hollywood movies. “That’s how the look at Hollywood movies,” he said, adding “Hollywood movies doesn’t have to have fantastic story line, but if it has very good special effect, the audience will pay to watch the Most actors don’t know what it entails becoming an actor —Emeka Rollas By Sylvester Kwentua he new elected president of the Actors guild of TNigeria, AGN, Emeka Rollas has accused some Nollywood actors of not knowing what it entails to become actors, thereby allowing producers to infringe on their rights and privileges. In a recent chat with NollyNow, AGN president regretted that actors who are supposed to be living large today, are not aware of their rights and privileges. “One of the major problems we have in Nigeria is that a lot of actors don’t even know what the profession is all about; some don’t know it is a craft. Some just feel it is an avenue to feed themselves. For instance, a producer approaches you to feature in his film and promises to pay you N10,000 for a job of N50,000. You go ahead and accept the job because your mind would tell you that if you don’t take it, you will die of hunger. No! This is not right. In this country today, everybody can just wake up and say he or she wants to be an actor without knowing what it entails. We need actors to know that acting is a serious business,”he said. *A scene from Nollywood movie *Chioma aka Chigul(m) Mr. Raymond Murphy, CEO of Mouka and veteran actress Sola Sobowale at the event Nollywood stars light up Mouka’s green gala night ollywood stars and On Air Personalities Ntook the centre stage last weekend, when Mouka, the nation’s leading mattress and other bedding products manufacturer On his election as the new president of AGN, Rollas said his agenda is to consolidate on the achievements of his immediate interim government. Our major concern is to protect the average actor and care about his welfare, either on location or anywhere else. We need to convince the actors that they now have a viable association that can fight for their rights and welfare, “ he stated. Speaking on how he was able to restore peace in the once troubled guild, Rollas said he reached out to everyone that matters in the guild to give peace a chance. “I had series of meetings with everyone. As a matter of fact, before the general election of the guild, I met with Emeka Ike and he gave me his blessings. Also, from Ibinabo’s camp, I found out that the then National Secretary, Abubakar Sanusi was interested in running for the president of the guild. I didn’t give up; rather I became more interested in contesting for the position. I tried closing up all the gaps, where we had factions. I went as far as visiting states that had factionalization issues, just to close up the gap and restore peace to the state guilds and ensure that we work as one family, under one leadership,” Rollas explained. film.” “Unfortunately, in terms of Nollywood, we haven’t gotten to that point of special effect. So, we have to compensate with something else. We haven’t reached the level, where we can pay huge amount of money to be able to get to that special effect level.” Lee, however, urged the federal government to subsidized the amount paid by theatre goers to watch movies in the cinemas at least for five years. This, he said will encourage the cinema owners to start showing more Nollywood movies in the box office. rounded off its 60th anniversary tagged, “Green Gala Night” in Lagos. Leading the pack was Sola Sobowale,a Nigerian film actress, screenwriter, director and producer. Sobowale, recently received the prestigious recognition in theAfrica Movie Academy Award for best actress in leading role as ‘Alhaja Eniola Salami’ in Kemi Adetiba’s blockbuster, ‘King of Boys’. Other celebrities in attendance were Adebayo Davies, an actor (Baba Landlord in Flat mates), Chioma Omeruah, (Chi gul) an actress and comedian,Lotachukwu Ugwu,an actress (popularly known as Kiki in the TV series Jenifa’s Diary), Arese Ugwu, author and social media financial expert (popularly known as Smart money Arese), Sisi YemmieBlogger, Vlogger and all -round creativeto complete the galaxy of stars at the night. The night was anchored by Okechukwu Anthony Onyegbule, popularly known as Okey Bakassi, a Nigerian stand-up comedian and actor. Sobowale, while responding to journalists’ questions, described quality sleep as a necessary ingredient to a healthy and productive life of a busy professional like her, while thumbing up for the Mouka brand. In his welcome remarks, Mr. Raymond Murphy, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company explained that the last 60 years has been a long and successful journey for Mouka, adding that the company has built an enduring brand in the last six decades.
SATURDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 23, 2019—23 The ‘LionHeart’ saga and matters arising The furor surrounding the recent disqualification of the Nigerian film, ‘Lionheart’ from the Academy Awards is still playing out in the public domain. There have been several opinions on the issue; some educated and others, outright emotional outbursts. First is the reaction of those, including the producer of the film Genevieve Nnaji, that since Nigerians could not have chosen their colonial master, which made English the official Nigerian language, it was wrong for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences AMPAS to disqualify a Nigerian film produced in English. There are those who have also argued that the film was disqualified for other reasons, but that the Academy simply wanted to be diplomatic. A few correct voices have come out to say that for the category for which ‘Lionheart’ was entered, English language was not allowed. Nigerians must first understand what the Academy Awards popularly known as the Oscars is all about. It started informally in 1929, when the first award was presented on May 16th of that year. Since then, the Oscars have undergone several metamorphoses. The category for which ‘Lionheart’ was entered; the Best International feature(Foreign Language) Film was first awarded in 1957. Before then, foreign language films only merited Special Achievement Awards. The general category of the Oscars are awarded to films in English Language no matter where they are produced, but which were screened in America and must have opened at midnight of 1st January of the previous year to midnight at the end of 31st December in Los Angeles County, and play for 7 consecutive days. The international category was only introduced as a complementary award to films screened in other lands and in languages other than English. It must also be a country’s official nomination. What the above means therefore, is that Nigerian films shot in English can enter for the general categories of the Oscars, as long as they meet the above criteria; being screened in Los Angeles County as prescribed above. This is how Indian films like Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi won the Oscars and worldwide acclaim. Films produced in the UK, Canada, Australia and other English speaking countries have entered these categories and won many awards in the past. It is also important to note that no individual film producer can submit a film on behalf of a country in the international category. All stakeholders, including the government via the ministry of culture or an appropriate agency, must sit down and make the judgment before the submission. When I first heard of Lionheart’s disqualification, the question that popped up in my mind was ‘how much buzz did this film generate in Nigeria before being submitted?’ I know that the first award a foreign film should win must not be the Oscar. Before a foreign film can qualify and win the foreign language O s c a r award, it must have won several awards in its own country. In the case of Lionheart, I must confess that the Oscar controversy was the first time I was hearing about the film. Another issue of note is the matter of who officially cleared Lionheart as Nigeria’s entry for the Academy Awards. Was the Ministry of Culture in consultations with the Actors Guild, Directors Guild, film producers associations and other stakeholders involved? The attitude of Nigerians in the arts to first seek international approval before the Nobel Prize for Literature. By the same token, ChimamandaNgoziAdichie, was acknowledged as a great author only after her debut novel Purple Hibiscus had garnered international awards. It is therefore no surprise that Nigerians are usually in a hurry to conquer foreign lands before conquering at home, due to poor institutional framework across sectors. While conducting an academic research a few years ago, I raised the issue with celebrated Nigerian author Helon Habila, his response is instructive: ‘The arts is an industry, you have to have critics who review books (films) and publishers who publish the reviews, so it is more organized abroad. Over there, being recognized at home has always been of interest to me. I believe the lack of proper institutions in the various arms of the arts has given rise to a situation where honors are mostly administered by charlatans. If not, how would you explain a situation where a prominent banker who received the banker of the year award a few years ago, was convicted and sent to jail for •Genevieve fraudulent banking practices in the same year. This is why Nigerians seek foreign approval before being approved at home. Professor Wole Soyinka was awarded the national honor of Commander of the Federal Republic CFR, only after winning there is a standardized process where books are reviewed and put through certain tests if you like and then they emerge as good books. In our own case, it is possible to see a book that is not even good being launched and people giving money, and then you find a good book which nobody talks about. So because we don’t have that system, we don’t have the critics who are dedicated, whose job it is to discover good books, write about them, and talk about them, that is our main problem.’ We must realize that as with books, so with films, and when we take it in perspective, we can understand why the creative Nigerian would prefer a foreign honor to a local one. Be that as it may however, it would be great if people like Genevieve Nnaji, an icon of our film industry, would show a little more faith in our country. This they can do by first ensuring that before entering for a foreign award, their selected entry must have become a household product in Nigeria. Most films which win t h e international Feature category at the Oscars usually have the backing of t h e government of that country, stakeholders of the industry, and that of the o r d i n a r y citizens. We must also note that the Oscars though celebrated around the world, were created by Americans for America; they therefore have the right to make the rules the way they want. It is equally possible for us to create our own film awards and make them world class, or better still, Nigerian producers can enter the general category where they have a chance to compete with productions by giants like Martin Scorcese, Quentin Trantino, Woody Allen and a host of others. Ifby chance they succeed in winning among such a field; then we can all celebrate the fact thatNollywood has truly conquered the world.
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