Showing posts with label Port Harcourt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Port Harcourt. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

I Can Win the Oscar for The Best Picture

 


I see a Big Picture of myself winning the Oscar for the Best Picture, widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the annual Academy Awards of AMPAS.

Yes, I can win the Best Picture Oscar with my my first feature.
The original screenplay has been cowritten by me and by the accomplished multiple award winning filmmaker, Dr. Chika Christian Onu, director of "Living in Bondage" 2 and famous for directing "Glamour Girls", in 1994, the first romantic comedy in the history of the phenomenon of Nollywood.

I have shortlisted two cinematographers I believe have the experience and expertise for the cinematography. My preferred director remains classified.
Locations are in Port Harcourt and Bonny Island in Rivers State.
The research for the screenplay took four years, including the time that Dr. Chika Christian Onu came to the Nigeria LNG RA 1 on Bonny Island where I was staying from 2004 to 2008.
I published the screenplay as a book in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

#BestPicture
#Oscars
#academyawards
#nigeria
#experience
#research
#cinematography


https://www.instagram.com/p/CtKE98NtWdr/?igshid=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Chinonye Chukwu: From Nigeria To Alaska

Chinonye Chukwu was born in Port Harcourt in Nigeria is an Alaskan-raised screenwriter, producer and director. A recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award, Chinonye’s short, The Dance Lesson, premiered at the Ritz Theater of Philadelphia and was later acquired by MindTV for regional network distribution. The film was also a Regional Finalist for the 2010 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards and an Honorary Mention at the Los Angeles International Film Festival. Chinonye’s other work includes Igbo Kwenu!, a recipient of the PIFVA Subsidy Grant from the independent film community and both the “Best Motion Picture Award” and “Best Screenplay Award” at the 2009 Diamond Screen Festival. In 2012 she completed her first feature narrative, Alaskaland, the story of an estranged Nigerian-American brother and sister who reunite in their Alaskan hometown. Her 2019 death row drama, Clemency, starring Alfre Woodard and Aldis Hodge, which she wrote and directed, received the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2019. She is a director on the TV series, Americanah, based on the novel of the same name by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her 2022, critically acclaimed, biographical drama, Till, based on the true story of Mamie Till-Bradley, received numerous awards and nominations.


FILMOGRAPHY

Igbo Kwenu! (2009)

The Dance Lesson (2010)

Bottom (2012)

alaskaLand (2012)

A Long Walk (2013)

Clemency (2019)

Sorry for Your Loss - Episode: I'm Here (2019)

Till (2022)



Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood

Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude Have the Best International PR for Nollywood


Mo Abudu, the Founder and CEO of the EbonyLife Group and Chioma Ude, the Founder and CEO of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have the best international public relations profiles for Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.
Both of them understand the importance and significance of international public relations for the promotion of Nollywood as a global brand of the Nigerian film industry. And that is why both of them are the  most recognised and have been attracting international partnerships with the leading film and TV entertainment companies in the world, including Netflix, Sony Pictures and Disney.

Mo was the first to gain international recognition with the influential Hollywood Reporter calling her Africa's answer to Oprah Winfrey and named her among Hollywood Reporter's MIPCOM's 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV.
Then the highly esteemed Forbes magazine named her Africa's Most Successful Woman. 
In 2021, She was selected to become a Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the annual Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.

Her international honours within 11 years have been really groundbreaking as a trailblazer for Nigerian women in the global entertainment industry.
Forbes Africa recognised Mo Abudu as the first African woman to own a Pan-Africa TV channel in 2013; Entrepreneur of the Year award by Women Week in New York in 2014; appointed a Director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences responsible for staging the annual International Emmy Awards.and later appointed her as the first African Chair of the 47th annual International Emmy Awards Gala, held in New York on Monday November 25, 2019; named on the Power list 2018 of UK's top 100 most influential people of African and Caribbean descent; the first African to be awarded the MIPTV's 2019 Médailles d'Honneur, in Cannes, France; named in the  Powerlist 2020 of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent and featured in the Greatest Blacks Ever: Top 100 Blacks Who Changed the World for (Peace: Progress: Prosperity).

Mo did not receive all the accolades of her outstanding achievements overnight. She started with her "Moments with Mo" on TV like the Oprah Winfrey Show that inspired her as she told the New York Times in her recent most comprehensive interview last week.
She talked about her influential family backgrounds, childhood dreams, education and top flight professional career as brand ambassador for AVON Cosmetics for the African market; HR consultant with Atlas Recruitment Consultancy firm in the UK; the Starform Group; Head of HR for Arthur Andersen and HR & Training for ExxonMobil. She was the Founder of Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited.

Her passion for the film and TV entertainment industry is powered by her vision to excel, succeed  and triumph in spite of the economic and societal challenges of Nigeria in competition with the best in the world. 


Chioma Ude has paid her dues before she became the first Nigerian woman to be in Variety's Annual International Women’s Impact Report for 2020

Before, Chioma became a trailblazer for Nollywood, she has been an Amazon in Corporate Nigeria as the Managing Director and CEO of JATA Logistics Ltd. Then she invested in the blossoming Nollywood as she co-organised and co-hosted the successful 6th ION International Film Festival (IONIFF) (a touring festival originating from Hollywood) in 2009 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State with the organizing committee of experts, including Peace Anyiam-Osigwe the founder and CEO of the annual AMAA Awards, Caterina Bortolussi, the co-producer of ION International Film Festival, Soledad Grognett, Ilaria Chessa, June Givanni, Alessandra Speciale and Celine Loader. Then the following year, 2010, she founded and organised the first edition of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in December and she has made it the numero uno of film festivals in Nigeria and West Africa.
She has invested her resources and quality time on the international profile of the film festival as I reported in my widely circulated "AFRIFF International Film Festival Brings Hollywood-Style Glitz and Glamour To Lagos"
https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2011/12/afriff-international-film-festival.

AFRIFF has awarded scholarships for international courses in filmmaking and film studies in America and France. 

In 2019, Chioma became the Co-Founder and Group CEO of Envivo Communications Limited, a multifaceted convergence of the entertainment industry, educational developments and technological applications for the fintech Industry.
Envivo launched the nVivo TV, a 
free video on demand streaming platform that offers diverse content from the best content providers in the world.

By their visionary leadership, Mo Abudu and Chioma Ude have shown us the Big Picture of Nollywood of the future as one of the most dynamic creative developments in the global entertainment industry of the 21st century.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor, 
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi




Thursday, November 26, 2020

Port Harcourt Belongs To Igbos

Dear Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, CON; Port Harcourt Belongs To Igbos

The West African Court of Appeal (WACA) judgement in the case between IKWERRE VS. OKRIKA in 1958 bordering on the status of Port Harcourt settled it.


WACA decided that Port Harcourt belongs to the Igbos. There was no appeal till date.


When the famous Nigerian author, retired Captain Elechi Amadi (12 May 1934 – 29 June 2016) was confronted with the WACA judgement by Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Counsel, he affirmed it and it was admitted in evidence.

His only remark was that "the Ikwerre people involved their wealthy Igbo brothers in litigation, fought for Port Harcourt under the shadow of their rich brothers against Okrika people and consequently, the court so ruled.

When asked whether he appealed against that judgement, he said NO.

That Port Harcourt is an Igbo city was a judgement of a superior court that has not been vacated.

The original inhabitants of Obigbo were mostly from Ngwa, Arochukwu and Owerri. 

WIKE can never change History!!!

And it is my duty to bring history before those of you that try to put it down.


Rumuobiakani or Umuobiakani? You can change the story but not the truth."

- By Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Africa International Film Festival Celebrates Cinema in Port Harcourt




The first edition of the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) opened Wednesday December 1, 2010, in the oil city of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Nigeria. The film fiesta celebrates cinema as an African panorama of the global village.


Chioma Ude, Founder and Project Director of the Festival, who produced the successful 6th ION International Film Festival (IONIFF) (a touring festival originating from Hollywood) in the same city says they have a competentorganizing committee of experts, including Peace Anyiam-Osigwe the founder and CEO of the annual AMAA Awards, Caterina Bortolussi, the co-producer of ION International Film Festival, Soledad Grognett, Ilaria Chessa, June Givanni, Alessandra Speciale and Celine Loader. They are poised to make AFRIFF the numero uno of film festivals in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.



Click here for more details



Monday, April 26, 2010

German hostages in Nigeria free

German hostages in Nigeria free


BERLIN, April 26, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The two German nationals kidnapped on 18 April near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, were freed today (24 April). In this connection Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle today issued the following statement:
“I'm delighted to hear that our two fellow Germans are free and in good health. They are in safe hands in Port Harcourt, and their condition is as good as can be expected under the circumstances.
I pay tribute to the tireless efforts of the crisis task force and of the German and Nigerian authorities involved for bringing this kidnapping to a rapid and successful conclusion.”


Source: Germany - Ministry of Foreign Affairs



Friday, September 11, 2009

The 10 Most Expensive Cities in Nigeria


Picture of the Civic Centre in Lagos at night. Photograph by Grace Bernard, 2009.

The 10 Most Expensive Cities in Nigeria

The mega city of Lagos tops the list of the most expensive cities in Nigeria, because of the high cost of living in the commercial capital of the most populous country in Africa. Lagos is followed by Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. and Port Harcourt, the oil rich capital of Rivers State.

What makes Lagos and the other capital cities expensive are the exorbitant rents for accommodation, overpriced real estate, expensive hotels and inflation caused by the daily influx of both local and international migrants and expatriates.


The Eko Hotel and Suites on Victoria Island, Lagos.

Lagos, the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, can boast of several exotic beaches and five star hotels and ritzy night life charged by the hottest music stars like King Sunny Adé, Fela Kuti the first son of the legendary king of Afrobeat Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Lagbaja, the masked one and the racy new Hip-Hop, Rap and Hip life stars like Tuface Idibia, D’bange, MI, Face, Ruggedman and many other upcoming Turks of the hyperactive Nigerian music scene and of course Lagos is the home of Nollywood, the third largest movie industry in the world. The spate of kidnappings of both foreign and local oil workers in the volatile cities of the Niger Delta drove many of them to relocate to the safe haven of Lagos where majority of the diplomatic community prefer to stay. The residents are competitive in the rat race with lusts for the luxuries of ostentatious lifestyles copied from Western nations. The hotels charge more than even many five star hotels in New York, Paris and London and renting a condo or an apartment can cost $30, 000 or more a year and buying one can cost you over a million dollars in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki.

1. Lagos
2. Abuja
3. Port Harcourt
4. Warri
5. Kaduna
6. Asaba
7. Aba
8. Owerri
9. Umuahia
10. Enugu

The most expensive cities in the world 2009 (ECA International Survey)



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Untold Truth About the Niger Delta Crisis

The Untold Truth About the Niger Delta Crisis

• MEND is not responsible for the Niger Delta Crisis
• The Nigerian Government and Multinational Oil Companies are responsible for the Niger Delta Crisis
• The Solution to the Niger Delta Crisis is the Administration of True Federal Democracy as Practiced by the United States of America.

In 2004 as I was aggrieved by the rampant cases of cultism and gangesterism in Rivers state and the destruction of innocent lives and properties, I felt the urgency to address the critical issues and meet with the leading principal actors I could reach and persuade them to end the violence. I informed the international headquarters of Shell of my pacific mission before I left Lagos for Port Harcourt on a night coach.

I arrived Diobu at midnight and was told that the town was a danger zone after the mayhem caused by warring cultists. But I went on to the residence of my elder sister Mrs. P William-West on Nnewi Street in Rumumasi. I discussed my mission with her two sons and daughters and one of my nephews told me that he had to leave a cult when he saw one of his closest friends shot and killed in a violent clash with a rival cult in the oil city of Port Harcourt in 2003. I told him I was glad he had become born-again as he confessed. He gave me the details of the genesis of the cultism ravaging Rivers state since they were affected by the violence from their home town in Buguma to the state capital of Port Harcourt. I stayed for a couple of days and crossed over to Bonny Island to continue my investigation and pre-production of my documentary on the causes and consequences of the Niger Delta crisis aggravated by the recruitment of many members of the cults as political thugs of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

From my safe haven on Bonny Island, I contacted an insider named Felix and told him of my critical mission and we agreed to meet at a popular hotel off Olu Obasanjo Road in Port Harcourt. He told me that Shell and the other multinational oil companies operating in the littoral states of the Niger Delta were not interested in peace, but to fish in the troubled waters, because they had little or nothing to lose. They were breaching the contract of the MOU they signed with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and they did not care about the devastation of the eco-system or the deprivations of the host communities.
Their cosmetic social community welfare projects and scholarships were only meant to white-wash their horrible and terrible acts since they began oil exploration in the Niger Delta region. I found out that the hotel was owned by a retired Major in the Nigerian Army and he has been actively engaged in illegal oil bunkering with other retired and active senior military officers, especial those in the Nigerian Navy and their criminal activities were not secret. Those engaged in illegal oil bunkering and those who acquired oil blocks were partners in crime and were well known title-holders in their respective communities. In fact my in-law Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) had a suite in the hotel.

I returned to Bonny Island and called Asari and we discussed on how to put an end to the violence and he told me that he was already now engaged in providing security service for the oil service companies in the region and was no longer engaged in any violent dispute with any rival cult or gang. I was glad to hear that and told Felix that Asari would fare better as a leader by contesting in a democratic election and could in fact be elected as the governor of Rivers state.
“He only needs to improve his manner of dressing and public relations,” I said.
I was glad that Asari would be willing to participate in my documentary film and commended the website Akumafiete of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force

I was meeting with a top official of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Lagos, because Shell wanted to sponsor my documentary film and in fact the top official asked me if the documentary could be produced in a week, which was not realistic, even though I was working with one of the best filmmakers in Nigeria who has won awards for his documentaries.

I was still making progress when the Nigerian government ordered for the arrest of Asari Dokubo and detained him for outrageous statements of treasonable felony. I warned the government to release him or the situation in the volatile Niger Delta region would become worse. But the government ignored my warning and the SPDC now felt that the government had succeeded in caging the lion of the Niger Delta militants and thought the unconstitutional detention of Asari Dokubo would tame the thousands of members of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force and allied groups. But I warned the government there was a greater militant group in the offing and they thought I was joking until the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) shot up from the creeks!

The solution to the protracted Niger Delta crisis is the administration of true Federal Democracy as practiced by the United States of America and this is what both MEND and NDPVF have been demanding for and also the prosecution of all the retired and serving senior military officers found guilty of illegal oil bunkering.
The Nigerian Navy can actually stop illegal oil bunkering by asking for the assistance of the US Navy to patrol the territorial waters of Nigeria and to attack all tankers, boats and barges engaged in illegal oil bunkering since they can be easily identified from the authorized tankers and vessels on Nigerian waters.
Then the multinational oil companies must be prosecuted for the violations of the MOU they signed with the Federal Republic of Nigeria since 1956 to date.

The Joint Task Force of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the Niger Delta should be withdraw, because it an unconstitutional mission.
All licenses of illegal oil blocks must be withdrawn.
The local and foreign bank accounts of Nigerians suspected of ill-gotten wealth from misappropriations of revenue allocations for the oil producing states and over-invoicing of government contracts should investigated and those found guilty should be prosecuted in a public trial and not behind closed doors.

The former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State and Obasanjo's successor, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua have the full list of the criminals who are still engaged in illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Juju Ritual Politics: Shocking Revelations from Abia State

The Woman of God from the East


Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie is the woman of God from the East who has been called to minister and bring divine deliverance to the poor and needy widows in Eastern Nigeria and other places and to heal the sick and comfort the broken hearted.
She is happily married with five children who are glad and grateful to the Almighty God Jehovah for what He is doing in their family and for using their mother for His awesome miracles with signs and wonders following her wherever God has led her.


She was in Lagos to ask her cousin Hope who is the Publisher of Supple magazine in Nigeria to produce 3, 000 copies of the poster of her forthcoming deliverance crusade in Umuahia, Abia state and she shared the divine rhema of her ministry with me. I told her that obedience to the command of God is better than sacrifice and recalled how God gave me the grace to preach on public transport buses in Lagos city for 11 years, working as a project secretary in the office of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and how I also enjoyed the company of fellow Christians in preaching the good news and planting churches on Bonny Island in Rivers state. She told me about the horrible and terrible human sacrifice made by the politicians in their cult in their desperation for power and wealth.

“Many virgins were murdered in their human sacrifice and in fact a young man was burnt alive in one of their cultic rituals,” she said.
I was shocked that such demonic rituals were done in my state of origin.
She disclosed the identity of the great harlot holding the political leaders captive in Abia state. Her harlotry and sorcery have been used to rule and ruin Abia since her son became the governor. She is the High Priestess of a goddess worshipped by her devotees and the politicians in her cult. The woman of God from the East said that God is already exposing the occultists and destroying their evils to deliver Abia state.

Hope had to delay other printing jobs to respond to the urgent order of the woman of God from the East and within 16 hours, his Art Director produced the camera ready artwork of the poster and Hope printed the 3, 000 copies of the poster, because he cannot delay the work of God for the benefit of our Abia state and the rest of Nigeria. The printer worked from afternoon to 9.30 pm and we had to carry the copies of the poster and the woman of God from the East to the branch of her church near the NNPC depot in Ejigbo, Lagos. She told us that she had forgotten her bag in our production office in Shomolu. We got to Ejigbo at 10.30 pm and after dropping the woman of God from the East, we left for our residence in Ifako, Lagos and got there at about 11.25 pm. I was glad and grateful to the Almighty God for granting Hope the grace to do this divine assignment to support Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie. She came to our office the following day to collect her bag and prayed for us before she left.


Later, I met with a pastor who was one of those consulted by Theodore Orji, the governor of Abia state during his power tussle over the gubernatorial post with Chief Onyemma Ugochukwu of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). The pastor told me that he had to travel all the way from Lagos to the Federal Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, to take some portion of the soil from the grounds of the court and returned to Lagos to pray for the defeat of Chief Onyemma Ugochukwu.

I asked him why he prayed for the success of the governor of Abia state who is an occultist. He could not give me any word to approve or justify what he did. I knew that he had done so to get favours in return from the governor. I asked him if it would be righteous to accept ill-gotten money from an evil man? He agreed with me on rejecting ill-gotten riches from evil people, because God said we must not accept evil goods and in fact, we must not eat of their dainties.

The pastor confirmed what Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie disclosed to me on the occultists holding Abia state captive and that they were led by the mother of the former governor whom he called the most powerful witch in Nigeria. I told him that we should expose this so called most powerful witch and the evil occultists in government in Nigeria. The pastor warned me that it would not be wise to dare them without having the powers to do so, because they would attack and destroy anyone who would dare them.