You might have missed the cinema run of Ije: The Journey two years ago. But take heart; the wait for a second chance is coming to an end.

Allegro Media Group, an independent music and movie distributor headquartered in Portland, Ore., is releasing the movie on DVD. Retailers like Best Buy, Movies Unlimited, and Buy.com will have the item as early as July 10. Others like Amazon.com and CD Universe will start selling the Ije DVD on August 28.

Allegro is manufacturing the DVD for the United States and Canada markets. There’s no word yet on when Ije will be released for other regions, if at all.

The makers behind Ije have been mum about any possible DVD release since the movie premiered in the U.S. on April 1, 2010 and in Nigeria three months later (July 30). It’s a sharp contrast with the considerable measure of acclaim the movie received upon its initial release. Directed and co-written by New York Film Academy alum Chineze Anyaene, Ije eventually won eight film festival awards.

Ije means “walk” or “journey” in Igbo (thus the subtitle). It tells the story of Chioma (Genevieve Nnaji), who hires legal counsel to fight a triple murder charge levied against her imprisoned sister Anya (Omotola Jalade Ekeinde).

Some Nollywood observers credit Ije—like Kunle Afolayan’s The Figurine, which came out the year before—with helping nurture Nigeria’s return to a cinema culture, as well as raising the bar on movie quality. The revival comes after almost two decades of home video dominance, the prolificacy of which has made the Nigerian film industry one of the largest in the world.

http://www.nollyscope.com/news/ije-finally-gets-dvd-release-date/