Nolly Silver Screen ISSUE 09 10 OCTOBER 2014 54TH NIGERIA BEST INDEPENDENCE Nollywood ISSUE films ever made Africa Movie Academy Awards 2015: +Interviews - Charles Novia Organisers call - Kunle Afolayan for entries - Daniel Etim Effiong - Demola Adedoyin IfooAfrica - Judith Audu - Walter Taylaur Launches - Sadiq Daba - Ugoma Adegoke in Nigeria KEHINDE BANKOLE Afolayan’s October 1 as her first ‘big’ fruit 3 Nolly Silver Screen CONTENTS ISSUE 09 OCTOBER 2014 FEATURES 8 The Classics: 10 best Nollywood films ever made INTERVIEWS 14 Cover: Kehinde Bankole 18 Filmmaker Interview: Charles Novia 20 October 1: Interviews with the cast 22 Q & A with Daniel Etim Effiong 23 Up close and personal with Walter Taylaur 26 Talent on the rise: Judith Audu 27 A Day in the life of... 14 Amarachi Onoh 27 Ugoma Adegoke talks Lights, Camera, Africa film festival REGULARS 4 Editor’s Note 5 Readers’ Corner 6 Contributors’ Bios 10 Vox Pop 11 Celebrations 18 13 11 Story-Bored 12 On Set 17 News 21 Photo News 23 Nolly Pop Quiz 24 Reviews 28 Red Carpet 31 Festival News 34 Listings 35 Events 37 Award News 35 4 Editor’sNote October 1 means different “things to different people. It is Nigeria’s Independence Day. It is Kunle Afolayan’s latest blockbuster. For us here at Nolly Silver Screen, it is the first anniverssary of our parent website www.nollysilverscreen.com Well done with your website and magazine as well. I read copy with Amaka Igwe on it sometime back. It’s nice to know that someone is document- ing the Nollywood industry. :) Ade Balogun October 1 means different things to different people. It is must-read for die-hard fans of Nollywood. Also in this Nigeria’s Independence Day. It is Kunle Afolayan’s latest edition are interviews with some of Nigeria’s budding blockbuster. For us here at Nolly Silver Screen, it is the filmmakers: Daniel Etim Effiong (p. 22), Walter Taylaur first anniversary of our website www.nollysilverscreen. (p. 23) and Amarachi Onoh (p. 27). Writer, producer, di- com Wow! Funny how time flies. The journey has been rector, actor and filmmaker Charles Novia reflects on his an interesting but challenging one. We have learnt a lot, last work, Nigeria’s film industry and reveals his next big tried new things, discontinued old things, made mistakes project (p. 18). and achieved some of our goals. All this however, would not have been possible without you – our readers. And Nolly Silver Screen was at the Nollywood Film Festival for sticking with us through the ups and downs, we say a Germany (p. 33) and Nollywood E-Golden Awards (p. 37) big thank you. where our newest addition to the Editorial Board, Shaibu Husseini was honoured for his contribution to film Our Independence edition features interviews with journalism in Nigeria. Well done Sir! More power to your Kunle Afolayan, Sadiq Daba and Demola Adedoyin (p.20) elbow. and Kehinde Bankole (p. 14) who share their experience working on October 1. Wilfred Okiche’s article ‘The Clas- Isabella Akinseye sics: 10 best movies to come out of Nigeria’ (p. 8) is a @iakinseye 5 Readers’ Corner Write ‘n’ win Write to us about what you have and stand a enjoyed in this edition chance of winning fabulous prizes. This month, we will be giving out 2 on DVD. Also copies of Mama Africa up for grabs are cinema tickets to see a Nollywood movie in Nigeria and a gift hamper. Email: [email protected] Get in touch via social media www.facebook.com/nollysilverscreen www.google.com/+nollysilverscreen www.twitter.com/nsilverscreen www.instagram.com/nollysilverscreen Would love to see the Achebe trilogy as well as The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi’s Wives. Need to have good script writers, directors and artistes who interprete their roles well. ‘Bimbola Nigerian books I would love to see as a movie are Oba Ovorawen Nogbaisi by Ola Rotimi and Aza- gidi by Don Pedro Obaseki. For Oba Ovorawen Read Nolly Silver Screen on Nogbaisi, interpreting the emotions of a proud people being conquered and turned into a vassal of another empire would make for a classic. www.nollysilverscren.com For Azagidi, the transition of a goddess into a human loved by a man and then discarded. The viciousness of her vengeance would make for an issuu.com/nollysilverscreen epic tragedy. Omofasa O. scribd.com/nollysilverscreen 6 CONTRIBUTORS’ bios NOLLY SILVER SCREEN EDITOR Isabella Akinseye DEPUTY EDITOR Innocent Ekejiuba Mike Asukwo studied Sherif Awad is an art/ Olumuyiwa Awojide Fine Art at the presti- film/video curator and is a computer scientist, gious Yaba College of has worked as a pro- digital marketer and Technology. He is an grammer and commu- movie lover. Drop him in GRAPHICS & LAYOUT award winning cartoon- nications manager since front of a 100 feet screen Isabella Akinseye ist and illustrator with 1993 in Cairo Interna- showing anything with his work appearing in tional film festival, Alex- Tom Hanks in it and his numerous publications. andria film festival for day is made. He runs the ADVERTISING He currently works with Mediterranean Coun- award winning movie Quill and Scroll Creatives BusinessDay newspaper tries and Luxor African blog, Sodas and Pop- as Senior Editorial Artist. film festival in Egypt. corn. Check out his cartoon He reports on the 3rd He reviews Eric EDITORIAL BOARD strip ‘Story-Bored’ (p. Arusha film festival (p. Aghimien’s A Mile From Temitayo Amogunla 11). 32). Home (p. 25). Bola Atta Bola Audu Shaibu Husseini Toni Kan STAFF WRITERS Ebunoluwa Mordi Oluwayomi Olushola CONTRIBUTORS Efeturi Doghudje is a Wilfred Okiche believes Oluwaponmile Orija is Mike Asukwo PR practitioner eager to in God, medicine, music studying Food Science Sherif Awad see a sustainable change and movies. A medical and Technology at the in the Nigerian film, tele- doctor, occasional writer, Federal University of Olumuyiwa Awojide vision and arts industry. columnist and profiler. Agriculture, Abeokuta. Efeturi Doghudje She enjoys watching He runs a regular col- She loves writing and movies, reading, travel- umn in The Sun news- has published several Wilfred Okiche ing and adventure. Visit paper and contributes to works in the newspa- Oluwaponmile Orija her blog for the latest Y!Africa. pers. reviews on xplorenolly- wood.blogspot.com He compiles a top 10 She asks people which list of the best Nolly- Nigerian leader would FACEBOOK She reviews Teco Ben- wood movies ever made they like to see on the nollysilverscreen son’s Accident (p. 24). (p. 8). big screen (p. 10). GOOGLE PLUS +nollysilverscreen Want to contribute? TWITTER Nolly Silver Screen is always on the lookout for nsilverscreen writers and artists to contribute to the website, INSTAGRAM magazine and social media pages. nollysilverscreen We are currently open to receiving movie re- views, articles, interviews, infographics, cartoon Nolly Silver Screen is a monthly online magazine of www.nollysilverscreen.com. strips and caricatures focusing on Nollywood as Reproduction in whole or in part without well as Africa’s film industry. permission is strictly prohibited. Send email to [email protected] Send an email to [email protected] for permission and other enquiries. requesting contributors’ guidelines. 8 The Classics:The 10 Best Nollywood Films ever Made BY WILFRED OKICHE Coming up with a list of the best Nollywood films ever made is a thankless task and no list, no matter the merits can be agreed upon generally as Nollywood’s definitive. And no one should, for what is a film if not art? And what is art, if not subjective? But daunting tasks such as this do not scare us here at Nolly Silver Screen and so we took the pains (we’ll take the gains too) of attempting such a list. This one attempts to rank the films based on quality of produc- tion, commercial acceptance, staying power and pop culture appeal. We present THE LIST. Living in Bondage (1992) Kenneth Nnebue’s classic probably does not age as well as we may have liked but it is near impossible to compile a list of Nollywood greats without throwing it in somewhere. Why? Living in Bondage started the whole contemporary film culture and birthed a fresh generation of film stars that would go on to do great things on stage, television and film. The story of the luckless Andy who uses his virtuous wife for money making rituals remains as unforgettable as it 10 has been defining. Igodo: The land of the living dead (1999) Everyone remembers where they were when they first saw Igodo, this all-star, menancing blockbuster that tested the horror thresh- old of Nigerian audiences. 7 brave men of different vocations are chosen to venture into a deadly forest to save a doomed commu- nity from the nefarious actions of their fore-bearers. In retrospect, Igodo’s cheap looking special effects are quite cringe inducing but none can deny that the film took the horror/thriller genre to 9 new heights. Oleku (1997) From the master cinematographer Tunde Kelani comes this adapta- tion of the literary tome of the same title by Professor Akinwunmi Ishola. Oleku is essentially a love quadrangle set in the seventies and revolves around Ajani, a young man who finds himself caught up in the lives of 3 women as he attempts to find a life partner. Released in 2 parts, Oleku not only became a cinematic success, it sparked a fash- ion revolution as reintroduced the female style of wearing 8 the Iro and Buba. Ijele (1999) Sam Dede, Eucharia Anunobi, Patience Ozokwor, Olu Jacobs and Genevieve Nnaji. Is this movie heaven or what? This film version which borrows but takes generous liberties from the legend of the masquerade Ijele is a compulsively watchable marvel of storytell- ing.