₦airaland Forum

Rising actress Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama is blazing a trail and taking no prisoners. The actress popularly known for her role as Yvonne in the drama series, “Gidi Up” has 3 movies lined up for the upcoming 2016 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

While she might not be taken on lead roles, Somkele is slowly edging her way into the industry, taking the productions one step at a time.

Asides featuring in 3 of the productions lined up for TIFF2016, scheduled to take place from the 8th-18th of September, the actress along with OC Ukeje have been chosen for the inaugural year of the TIFF International Rising Stars.

The two Nollywood actors will take part in a series of specialized programming that includes media training, seminars with casting directors, one-on-one meetings with filmmakers, as well as a series of unique networking opportunities, all organized by TIFF’s Industry team. They will also attend major events with the established Hollywood names we are all familiar with. Moreover, the actors will be front row centre at some of the biggest red-carpet events at the Festival.

Now isn’t that something?

The mother of one and graduate of Biochemistry from McMaster University, Canada, is one actress Xplore will definitely by keeping an eye out for.

Watch the trailers of her movies here:

The Arbitration:

The Arbitration tells the story of Gbenga and his employee Dara who had an affair. After the affair ended and Dara left the company, she sued Gbenga and accused him of rape. An Arbitration panel was constituted to find out the truth.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96a_agrtfnU

The Wedding Party:

‘The Wedding Party’ is a riveting tale of the complexity of love. It is the story of Dunni Coker, a 24 year old art gallery owner and IT entrepreneur Dozie. The couple took a vow of chastity and is looking forward to a ground-breaking first night together as a married couple. The synopsis reeks of the movie ‘Jumping the Broom’ but I am excited none the less. With a myriad of stars from Adesua Etomi, Banky W, Alibaba, Sola Sobowale, Ireti Doyle, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Zainab Balogun, AY, Ikechukwu, Beverly Naya, Eyinna Nwigwe and Lepacious Bose, the movie which wrapped up filming, promises to be very entertaining.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbnXd-zCD6I

93 Days:

When Patrick Sawyer a Liberian-American collapses upon arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International airport, Lagos – Nigeria. He is taken to First Consultant Hospital, where he is admitted with fever like symptoms. Against his denials of contact with any Ebola victim in Liberia, the team at first consultant led by Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh quickly deduce there is more to his case than malaria. Their vigilance leads to an early detection that Mr. Sawyer indeed had the Ebola Virus disease. Now it’s a race against time to contain a deadly disease from breaking out and infecting an entire city population and beginning what could be the biggest deadly disease outbreak the world has ever known. The scare is palpable across the country. The doomsday scenario imagined is here. Over a 93-day period from when Sawyer comes in men and women from Nigeria, WHO and MSF do battle with this deadly disease. At its core, 93Days is a compelling human story of dedication, sacrifice, resilience and survival.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPeNgs6bMkY

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced that a series of Nigerian movies will premiere on its prestigious opening night as a selection of the Spotlight City to City programme.

The TIFF City to City program which will focus on Lagos, Nigeria is curated by Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, and it will run from September 8 to 18, 2016.

Movies such as Kemi Adetiba’s “Wedding Party’ Omoni Oboli’s Okafor’s Law, Niyi Akomolayan’s “The Arbitration”, Steve Gukas “93 Days”, Izu Ojukwu’s “76” and a host of others will feature at this year’s festival. The program also includes a TIFF Rising Stars spotlight of two up-and-coming actors from Lagos: OC Ukeje and Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama; as well as an “In Conversation With” segment that will feature Nigerian actor and film producer Genevieve Nnaji, as well as actor, film producer, and director Kunle Afolayan.

According to Cameron Bailey “Hundreds of films are made every year in Lagos for a voracious audience around the world. Our City to City spotlight brings some of Nollywood’s most popular filmmakers together with new voices who are introducing an alternative, indie spirit to Nigerian cinema.” We’re excited to share this unprecedented showcase of talent from Lagos with our Toronto audience.”

The full Lagos City to City lineup trailers are as follows:

Kemi Adetiba’s – Wedding Party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8XaN1DtI7E

Omoni Oboli’s Okafor’s Law

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuWaXpUz6os

Niyi Akomolayan’s – The Arbitration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96a_agrtfnU

Steve Gukas – 93 Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPeNgs6bMkY

Izu Ojukwu’s – 76

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuWL33z7brM

Abba Makama – Green White Green

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_Eizv2JUY

Uduak-Obong Patrick – Just Not Married

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tKbF9z0Vs

Daniel Emeke Oriahi – “Oko Ashewo” (“Taxi Driver”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcTQ61ykHgc

Purchase TIFF Choice ticket packages until August 24, while quantities last, online 24 hours a day at tiff.net/tickets; by phone from 10am to 7pm ET daily at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433.

Follow the festival on Twitter @TIFF_NET using the hashtag #TIFFxInstagram or #TIFF16.

Director – Chioma Onyenwe

Producer- Chioma Onyenwe

Cast- Bimbo Akintola, Wale Ojo, Linda Ejiofor, Ibukun (IBK) SpaceshipBoi, Ade Bantu

and Kehinde Bankole.

Genre- Drama

Year- 2016

Linda-600x900

The premiere of 8 Bars & A Clef had been making the waves and I made up my mind to watch it at the cinemas. I walked into FilmHouse cinema hall to a handful of people and even though the movie had kicked off, I settled in perfectly to the movie.

“8 Bars and A Clef,” chronicles the rise to grace of a talented act, Victor E played by first timer in the industry IBK Spaceship Boi (like what What kind of name is that for 2016 biko)? The young rapper battles a learning disability, a dysfunctional home, betrayal and still makes it in the Nigerian music industry.

With the little I had encountered from the production, it somewhat reeked of poor sound quality, in fact the sound quality was horrible from beginning to the end. The soundtrack which I had heard on various online blogs was one I looked out too but couldn’t pick out as the movie progressed. Soundtrack generally was a mix of the situations on ground at a point it seemed there was a halt on the tracks and this made the production dry and seemed to drag in certain scenes.

IBK Spaceboi plays the lead in this production and even though no other actor comes to mind for this role, he didn’t work totally for me. He seemed to be tensed rather than relaxed and the only times he felt okay in the role was when he was making out or apologetic to his girlfriend. He was obviously portraying a character a character that was struggling, but I would definitely like to know who he observed of got in contact with to get into character. The younger Victor wasn’t bad at all, the struggle to gain his mother’s trust, help his sister and be the man of the house was one with him. His learning abilities felt a little weak but his struggle to make ends meet was well appreciated and carried out nicely by him.

Wale Ojo takes the role of ‘The Fixer’ never in my life, before series like Scandal and Ray Donovan have a seen a name tag called “Fixer” as in really? Words fall me in describing this roll and while I like the personality Wale Ojo, I feel to see his relevance. If he was a shrink, I fail to see what he brought to the life of Victor E who seemed to figure things out be himself or basically when his sister died, by himself. Linda stumbled on some of her lines making it difficult to reconcile the good actress from other good productions and then this one. As a talent hunter, she was one with her character, as a lover, girlfriend and eventual confidant of Victor E sister; she pulled off the role okay.

The story which leads to the script seemed clear but wasn’t a tight script! There was a thought that the movie was going to focus on the disorder which is dyslexia and how people suffering from it can get help, but if the ideal help to get is in the person of Wale Ojo, I am sure people would rather remain with the disease. The scenes to help build this case felt like hot pancake that had been scoop from the pan in quick succession. Words felt that acts were counting, while sound recording like I mentioned at the beginning was pretty crass.

As it relates to directing style, Lord save us! Camera angles were put together haphazardly showing clearly that an experience director was lacking. Makeup and costumes especially costumes could have been tighter for the musician Victor E. The scene of his sister nearing death just weirded me out, gloves, the makeup like what research was put into place to discover what cancer patients look like ?

8 Bars & A Clef isn’t for viewers lacking patience to deal with what Nollywood has to offer, guess that’s why Xplore is saving you the trouble. It earns 3/10.

When I started reviewing Nigerian movies on www.xplorenollywood.com exactly 3 years ago (yep I’m 3 years and excited) many of my friends felt I something had really gone wrong with me. I spent time, in fact in the early days, I spent a whole month plus watching nothing else but Nigerian movies and at the end I felt brain dead and lacking some semblance of intelligence.

However, before anyone gets interested in a movie though, there are those elements that viewers are exposed to that gets them expectant or excited, to want to see the movie. It can either be a good trailer or a creative poster (don’t mean the Ruth Kadir kind).

Times have changed, though. Back in the day, our trailers consisted of that Igbo actor can’t remember his name and Segun Arinze, either shouting us down or scaring us shitless into watching the movies and ending with blah, blah, blah Ebimpejo Lane or somewhere else in Aba. Now you see some of these trailers and then see the movies and wonder, erm… director/scriptwriter, do you think we are stupid? But slowly, things are getting better and improvement can be noticed in the stories, plot and delivery.

Recently, some Nollywood trailers have stepped up, conveying everything to get you excited for a film. With the dawn of YouTube, number of views and comments received, one can tell that people are genuinely interested in seeing your movie or would not make the effort at all. There are obviously the trailers that make you want to slap yourself for wasting your data, but today is not for those trailers.

I present to you, the top 6 movie trailers for half year 2016 that translated to nice movies



Gidi Blues -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxjcB84uOYU

From the director that brings us ‘Tinsel’ comes this romantic comedy. While I might be tired of the series, the movie is the only Nigerian rom-com that has been released. With only 1,990 views, the trailer gave more of a dramatic side than comedy, but from the lines, you could tell it was in the right direction. With great acting and fluidity from Gideon Okeke, the trailer (which was shorter than 2 minutes) tried in featuring those aspects that would get us talking and drive us to see the movie. It was okay to watch and also featured the likes of Hauwa Allahbura, and Nancy Isime – upcoming actresses that I would love to see again.

Suru L’ere -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMDTInbe49w

With 10,785 views (this doesn’t mean they watched the full movie though), Suru L’ere one of the anticipated movies of 2016, was highly expected. The movie was the second from the award winning duo of Mildred Okwo and Rita Dominic and featured an array of stars, which included Beverly Naya, Kemi ‘Lala’ Akindoju, Eyinna Nwigwe and Seun Ajayi. The trailer captured correctly the funny moments and once I watched the movie translated nicely. It didn’t score high points in my review though, as lines didn’t elicit any funny reactions; but it did make for good viewing.

Couple of Days -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poTUVhmETLw

From FilmOne Distribution had a total of 20,693 views a good feat for a relatively new director in the person of Tolu ‘Lord’ Tanner. Couple of Days had a very energetic cast with the new school Nollywood stars in the persons of Enyinna Nwigwe, Lilian Esoro, Adesua Etomi, Ademola Adedoyin, Kiki Omeili and Okey Uzoeshi. Initially I thought it would model American movie ‘Couples Retreat’ which was extremely funny, but still had it underlining message, however, there was no such luck. Packed with more drama than comedy, the trailer struck an emotion and the feeling of what really happens with young couples when they tie the knot, is everything truly fine and dandy with them? With good lines, cinematography and great aerial and close up shots, the movie did justice to its trailer, did it transcend expectations, hmmmm….

Remember Me -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G6_IHLpwMs

Uru Eke’s debut attempt at producing earns her a spot on this trailer count down. With only 4, 650 views though, nothing prepared me for what I was going to see in this movie; and with the trailer, I was wowed. Even though my initial thought was, another Nollywood actress, moving to production when she hasn’t completed horned her craft, I kind of bit my lip when watching the movie. Directed by Izu Ojukwu with story by Uru Eke and screenplay by Onyinye Egenti. Remember Me was good to watch, outrightly spooky and delivered to its story of accountability and transparency through citizen engagement, a subject not really touched in our movies. For a first timer, both trailer and movie delivered to its story.

The CEO -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm0pmb0CXxg

Another anticipated movie of 2016, The CEO trailer from Kunle Afolayan had all the markings of a wonderful movie – espionage, psychotic thriller, an underlining meaning and great music. With 35,729 views, 288 likes and 5 dislikes, the trailer got me edged up for the movie, so much so I went for the premiere. Written by Tunde Babatola (A match made in Nollywood heaven) and starring Angelique Kiddo, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Wale Ojo, Fatym Layachi, Nico Panagio, Kemi ‘Lala’ Akindoju, and Hilda Dokubo, The CEO trailer was a masterpiece, with story premise and strong actor delivery and did every bit of justice to the production.

Wives on Strike -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1slrlMao2nM[color=#990000][/color]

Omoni Oboli’s 3rd feature movie, as triple threat (writer, producer and director)! The trailer was comical and hilarious and this totally came through in the movie. With over 53,000 views, 254 likes and 11 dislikes the movie which has grossed over 6omillion in ticketing sales couldn’t have come at a better time. Using comedy to drive home a critical issue in our country was sheer brilliance. Featuring the likes of Ufuoma McDermont, Chioma Akpotha, Uche Jumbo, Omoni Oboli, Kenneth Okonkwo and Julius Agwu, from production, quality to sound and the story line (copied or not), Wives on Strike trailer shone through for the movie and holds the number one spot for top trailers that translated to good movies.

What do you think of these trailers?

This article was written by TuriDee an ardent lover of movies and current publisher of www.xplorenollywood.com a Nigerian film critic site that reviews everything Nollywood with the aim of strengthening the Nigerian Movie Industry. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram on @Xplorenollywood and listen to her live on 92.3 Inspiration FM every Saturday at 9pm.

Alcatraz, Season 1.