The Oscars: NOT so white this Year…

By Dapo Oshiyemi

27^th January, 2017

 Viola Davis, Naomie Harris & Octavia Spencer compete for best Actress in a supporting role.

The nominations for the 89th annual Academy Awards have been revealed, and one has to praise the Oscars this year. A total of 12 black nominations in top categories, three nominations for best Picture, three for best supporting Actress, one for best Director, one for lead Actress, one for lead Actor, one for supporting Actor and two for adapted Screenplay not bad at all considering where we were last year.

No doubt this is good news but it is very important to say, whilst we must keep the pressure on the Oscars to do their bit for diversity, Black filmmakers must continue to make great black films depicting our history, culture, lifestyle, and this must not be left to our African-American brothers and sisters alone, so the onus is firmly on Countries with large black populations like the UK and France but most of all AFRICA!! to step up to the plate.

The Oscar ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 26. For the full list of nominations relating to the global Black community see below.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR

• Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• Ruth Negga (Loving)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Denzel Washington (Fences)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Viola Davis (Fences)
• Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
• Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Fences Screenplay by August Wilson
• Moonlight Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

AMVCA’s 2016: Adesua Etomi wins Best Actress…

Adesua Etomi won her first, best actress award at the AMVCA’s, Africa’s most important film awards. She overcame stiff competition from fellow nominees Genevieve Nnaji, Mary Lazarus, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Belinda Effah and Fulu Mugovhani to pick up the prestigious award in a lavish ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria.

Adesua is certainly an actress on the raise not just in Nollywood but on the international stage. She recently snapped up the highly sort after lead in the much anticipated Michelle Bello film ‘And the Spirit Slowly Dies’ a psychological family drama about the breakdown in a father, daughter relationship with devastating consequences, the film will be distributed by Talking Drum Entertainment.

Adesua Etomi to Star in Powerful Drama ‘And the Spirit Slowly Dies’

British, Nigerian actress Adesua Etomi is to star in the UK, South African and Nigerian psychological family drama “And the Spirit Slowly Dies” alongside soon to be announced top African film Stars.

Adesua who has recently been nominated for the prestigious 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards in the Best Actress category will play the daughter of a powerful billionaire businesses mogul, as their loving father, daughter relationship disintegrates into a complex and tortured physical, emotional, and psychological battle, with each one becoming the biggest obstacle to the others happiness.

Michelle Bello, Director of the 2013 smash hit African romantic comedy ‘Flower Girl’ will direct from a script written by Dapo Oshiyemi and edited by Script Consultant Ann Woods.

Michelle said “I’m extremely happy to have a talent like Adesua on board but what really excites me is, over the three auditions we had, Adesua has shown the ability to grow in her craft and I can’t wait to see where she goes with the character from here on, and how an international audience reacts to her.  She is definitely one Nollywood actress who has the potential to sit comfortably on the world stage”.

Dapo Oshiyemi, Mmabatho Kau and Dipo Abdul and are producing and Talking Drum Entertainment are acting as Distributors/consultants for the film.

 

‘Birth of a Nation’ seals the largest deal in Sundance history and it wasn’t even the biggest offer on the table

By Dapo Oshiyemi

Wow, Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” as secured a $17.5 million pay day from Fox Searchlight for global rights, the largest deal in the history of the Sundance Film Festival. Insiders say Netflix offered $20 million,” but Parker turned it down because he didn’t like the idea of premiering the film on Netflix at the same time as the theatrical release, a very wise decision in my opinion as the theatrical window is still very profitable and the Idirs Elba vehicle “Beasts of No Nation.” left so much money on the table by not fully exploiting the theatrical window. Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios also offered $20 million, while the Weinstein Company made a $14 million bid.

Very few have managed to successfully write, direct, produce and star in a film as Parker did with “The Birth of a Nation”  but the film will present some risks for Fox at that price point, as it will need to take at least $50 million at the Box Office to break even but on the positive side the film will tap into the under-served global black audience that were responsible for propelling films like “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” “Django Unchained” and “12 Years a Slave,” to huge Box office numbers.

Fox Searchlight’s plan to release “The Birth of a Nation” near awards season on at least 1,500 screens is a wise one but means they will be spending over $12 million on marketing, but so far so good the film as gotten off to a great start with news of the historic nature of the deal, the story of Parker’s drive and determination to make the film and the fact that the Oscars for the second year in a row only nominated white actors and films, meant that the film got unprecedented global news coverage that has raised the awareness to great heights. And if the early words of some critics are to go by, in which they praised the film then it will be a very brave Academy (Oscars) next year not to nominate the film in the most prestigious categories.

Fox Searchlight’s previous success with the Academy helped close the deal with Parker, the studio in the past 12 years has scored 13 Best Picture nominations and won three in the last 10 not bad going.

This brings me to my final point and it’s directed at Nigeria and South Africa the two biggest film industries in Africa, Come on! How long will you continue to allow the weight of Black story telling in film depicting our history, culture and lifestyle, rest solely on the shoulders of our African-American Brothers and Sisters? Isn’t it about time you pulled your weight and brought to the global stage all the great stories the continent has to share with the world? The millions of dollars that come with commercial success in film would also be very helpful to the continent.

Michael B. Jordan & Idris Elba overlooked by Oscars.

By Dapo Oshiyemi

Not for the first time, Academy voters ignored black films and artists….. fair enough, black films have to hit the ball way, way out of the park to get anywhere near a clutch of nominations…. Nonetheless, none of the acting or directing nominations went to people of colour despite strong performances by Idris Elba in “Beasts of No Nation” and Michael B. Jordan in “Creed” but Sylvester Stallone did get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the same film.

The hit film “Straight Outta Compton,” about the rap group NWA did get a nomination for Best Original Screenplay though…….

‘The Revenant,’ ‘Mad Max’ Lead Oscar Nominations

“The Revenant,” the gritty account of frontier retribution, led the Oscar nominations picking up 12 nods including those for Best Picture, Best Director, and for the performances of stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, followed closely by another survival tale, the action adventure “Mad Max: Fury Road,” with 10, the other six Best Picture nominations were “Spotlight,” “The Martian,” “Bridge of Spies,” “The Big Short,” “Room,” and “Brooklyn”.

David Oyelowo & Idris Elba receive Queens Honours

British, African film stars David Oyelowo and Idris Elba have been recognised for their contributions to drama in the annual Queens honours list.

David Oyelowo, an awards contender last year for his performance as Martin Luther King in Selma, will get an OBE and Idris Elba, a frontrunner in the Oscar race for his role as Commandant in Beasts Of No Nation, will also get an OBE.

Talking Drum Entrainment and the whole black community worldwide are extremely proud of these gentlemen.

Beasts of No Nation Premiere: Idris Elba and Cast jet into Nigeria.

Fresh from his Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Idris Elba along with Co star Abraham Attah and the writer of the 2005 novel upon which the film is based Uzodinma Iweala son of former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala  landed in Lagos, Nigeria for the ‘Beasts of No Nation’ Premiere. The star studded night was graced by many of Nollywood’s biggest stars and industry movers and shakers.

Co-operation between South African and Nigerian filmmakers forges ahead.

KwaZulu Natal Film Commission unveils exciting funding initiatives for filmmakers at the South Africa Day Conference in Lagos, Nigeria.

In continuation of the South African, Nigerian Co-production initiative lead by KwaZulu Natal Film Commission’s Jackie Motsepe and Mahmood Ali-Balogun, the Africa International film festival hosted South Africa Day at this year’s festival in Lagos, Nigeria.

The day was graced by Ambassador Sam Mokgethi Monais, Consul General of the Republic of South Africa to Nigeria, Mayor Cynthia Mqwebu of Hibiscus in Port Shepstone and other dignitaries from South Africa.

Presentations and discussions at the event revolved around galvanising projects already in development between the two countries, initiating new co-production projects and KwaZulu Natal film executives detailing the grants and funding opportunities available for filmmakers in South Africa.

Following the impressive presentations from the South African party, filmmakers from Nigeria asked Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun the head of the Nigerian delegation why no representative from the Nigerian Film Corporation or Nigerian Film & Video Censors Board were present at the event, in which Mr Ali-Balogun replied:

“We have made frantic attempts since the first Summit in South Africa in March this year to get the Agencies responsible to attend and contribute but each time we have met a brickwall. We will continue to try and engage them but it is sad that in the light of Nigerian’s present economic situation and the Federal Government’s determination to diversity the Nigerian economy away from Oil, that one of the jewels in our crown which generates over $600m every year for Nigeria’s economy and employs over 1 million people is not being given the attention it deserves and as usual the private sector is left to drive things along on its own”.

To further drive the programme forward the KwaZulu Natal Film Commission is actively seeking Co-production projects to add to the exciting list of:

• Coma (South Africa, Nigeria)- Producers Fabian Logede and Mickey Dube

The film follows two siblings battling over the life of their ailing mother (Mary Twala) who is in a coma. One wants to pull the plug, the other wants to keep her alive. One is male and the other female, one resides in Lagos and other in California, inevitably they engage in a battle of wills as dark family secrets come to light, relationships are shattered and the true meaning of love is revealed.

• And the Spirit Slowly Dies (South Africa, UK, Nigeria) – Drama/Thriller. Producers Dapo Oshiyemi, Mmabatho Kau and Dipo Abdul. Director Michelle Bello. Distributors Talking Drum Entertainment.

The film tells the story of the only daughter of one of the richest and most powerful men in the country. Both Father and Daughter love and admire each other dearly but when their dreams clash, they embark upon a monumental psychological, emotional and physical battle as they become the biggest obstacle to each other’s happiness.

• The Wedding (South Africa, Nigeria)- Romantic Comedy. Producers: Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Menga Nhlabathi. Lead Cast: Ramsey Noah, Xolile Tsabalala.

If you have any questions or a project that could work under this programme please contact:

Simphiwe Ngcobo

KwaZulu Natal Film Commission

Production & Development

Email:     simphiwen@kwazulunatalfilm.co.za

Website: http://www.kwazulunatalfilm.co.za

Mmabetho Kau joins ‘And the Spirit Slowly Dies’

Mmabatho Kau will join Producers Dapo Oshiyemi, Dipo Abdul and Director Michelle Bello as Co-producer on the film ‘And the Spirit Slowly Dies’.

The widely-respected South African development and production executive will take up the position immediately and work with the team on the financing, production and marketing of the film.

Dapo Oshiyemi, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Mmabatho to the team, her wealth of experience, knowledge and contacts will be of huge value as we strive to make ‘And the Spirit Slowly Dies’ a critical and commercial success, I’m really looking forward to working closely with her”.

Mmabetho described joining the team as “One of the best opportunities to come my way in recent times and I’m really excited to take a Nigerian/South African film to a world audience.”

“I’ve always had a passion for film and filmmakers and been a huge advocate for and a supporter of the African film industry so I am really excited about joining And the Spirit Slowly Dies,” she added.

And the Spirit Slowly Dies is scheduled to shoot early 2016 and will be represented by UK Distributors Talking Drum Entertainment.

Black films continue to smash US Box Office

By Dapo Oshiyemi

As the old saying goes, you wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time or should I say three in this case. First ‘Straight Outta Compton’ impressed, and to date has taken a staggering $181m at the Box office, ‘War Room’ followed with $40m and now ‘The Perfect Guy’ starring Michael Ealy, Sanaa Lathan and Morris Chestnut opened at number 1 in the US with $28m.

What’s great about this is Straight Outta Compton, War Room and the Perfect Guy were made for very modest budgets by Hollywood standards, $28, $3m and $12m respectively therefore are set for healthy profits and that brings me to the not so great aspect and that is the Studios in this case Sony Pictures and Universal are still the main drivers behind the accomplishments of these films but you can’t have it all I guess.

The success for these films is particularly important to the global black community as it again reinforces the fact that films that tell black stories with black leads can be very profitable indeed. This accomplishment further piles the pressure on Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and other Countries who have a stake in making films for this target audience to up their game and join the party and what a party it could be….

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