One Day In Nollywood

One Day In Nollywood

December 3, 2006.

I arrived Lagos in the night and went straight to my cousin’s place where I dropped my bag and left for my sweetheart Linda’s residence in Surulere.  But when I got there, her family told me that she and her younger sister Laura the rapper had gone to the launching of the latest album of Zaki Adzee at Planet 1 in Ikeja.  I waited until they returned. Linda was happy to see me as we hugged and she even did not want me to leave.  She asked me to stay until the following day. But, I left for Yaba where I passed the night in apartment just opposite the Yaba College of Technology.

December 4, 2006.

The following day I dressed for my appointments in Lagos.
I was on a working visit to introduce the project of our Jton magazine to some corporate leaders and to interview Ramsey Nouah, Caroline Ekanem, and Faze.
Surulere is the base of most of the musicians, actors, actresses, fashion designers, and filmmakers in Nigeria.  So, I went to visit Emeka Enyiocha the popular Nollywood star at home in Surulere.  I met him as he was chatting with some friends. And he introduced me to them. A grown up man and two young women who were from Abuja and came to visit him on their way to a Christian convention in the nearby Ogun State where the Living Faith Church or Winners Chapel was having their Shiloh 2006.

I told Emeka my appointments in Lagos and mentioning the names of Ramsey Nouah and Caroline Ekanem prompted us to discuss about the latest developments in Nollywood.
“I have to leave for location soon,” Emeka said.

Emeka’s visitors soon left and Emeka said we should go to the location of his latest movie in Lekki on the Victoria Island in Lagos.  And we left in his black jeep.
We discussed many personal and professional matters on the way.  Emeka decided to stop over along the Awolowo Road in Ikoyi.
“Let us see my girlfriend Stella,” he said.
What I thought was going to be a brief introduction to his pretty girlfriend turned into a long discussion with her boss.  She is a lawyer and working for a reputable legal office.
Her boss, a young attorney was very receptive and we spent over an hour discussing the lack of legal structure in Nollywood and why it would be very important to address the legal structure of Nollywood as the Nigerian movie industry is expanding.  After the discussion, we continued our journey to Lekki.

At Lekki, Emeka joined Ernest Obi the top Nollywood actor and director who was busy calling the shots on the set of his new movie with the remarkable actress Patience Ozokwor and outstanding actor Francis Duru playing the lead roles.  Emeka met with the aunt of Rita Dominic who was providing the convertible posh cars, jeeps and other vehicles and mansions required for the movie.  She even went to the nearby Mr. Bigg’s fast food eatery to order for food for the cast and crew on location. And she did all these favours to encourage and support the cast and crew without complaint. Emeka said she is generous. A big and beautiful young woman with a good heart.

Whilst Emeka was playing his role, Francis Duru and I discussed the developments in Nollywood.  Francis Duru played the lead role in the hit movie Rattlesnake regarded as Amaka Igwe’s best movie so far.  Later, Ernest Obi joined us and we exchanged pleasantries.  I commended him for assisting my partner Faruk Lasaki in the production of his international award winning short documentary Scars.
“What is Faruk doing now?”  Ernest asked.
“He is editing his first feature on 35mm,” I replied.
I told him about Faruk’s Changing Faces and how I took Emeka to Faruk and Emeka turned down the small role Faruk offered him, because Emeka wanted a lead role. And that was how Emeka missed his first opportunity to experience the difference in a film shot on celluloid in contrast to the common home videos of Nollywood.

I waited for Emeka to complete his scenes for the day and we left for the nearby Mr. Bigg’s to eat.

Later, I called Ramsey Nouah and he pretended to be someone else and said his name was Jude.  But he confessed later that he was avoiding interviews. He was busy on the locations of a new movie in Surulere and Ojodu.  And we agreed to deliberate more on the importance of the cover story on him for the maiden edition of Jton magazine to be published in New York and distributed in the US, UK, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and other countries. When I called him later, he agreed to grant me an exclusive interview.  But he said we should not discuss his recent road accident or private affairs and he also wanted his own photographer to do the photo session for the cover of Jon magazine.  And we agreed to meet in January next year.

Francis Duru and I agreed to secure a distribution deal for Nollywood movies to check the rampant piracy of Nollywood movies online and offline by many Nigerians in America and Europe.  I told my American partners who are managing my Montage Internationale Online Cinema and they agreed to discuss the details with Francis Duru.
And I was very happy at the end of the day I spent in Nollywood.

All right.

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