STAR ACTRESS GENEVIEVE NNAJI SET TO ACT ALONGSIDE ANGELINA JOLIE

Genevieve Nnaji has turned out to be the best that the Nigerian movie industry known as Nollywood can boast of in the international market at the moment going by her exploit in the make believe business. Aside being the most-sought after by the producers, the very pretty lady has been able to register her presence in the international market that top producers now consider her for top movie jobs. The mother of one would have emerged the new Bond Girl but she lost it by the whiskers to another Hollywood star. As her career seems to be flying north, we sourced that the mother of one has been penciled down by yet another producer to star alongside American super star Angelina Jolie in another block buster movie. We shall keep you posted as event unfold.

..Nollywood’s ‘A’ List Actresses

... Who is an ‘A’ list actress? An entertainment celebrity who frequents the red carpet or the one who constantly adorns the cover of magazines? The controversial and trouble-shooting or the one who is rich and popular but lacking in charisma? The one who, despite his talents and riches, has a mind driven by charity, conscious of her environment and is always available to those in need? Do we have any in Nigeria? Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Genevieve Nnaji The duo are bankable Nollywood stars, and if both star in a movie (like they did in ‘Ije’, Nigeria’s highest-selling movie of all time), the probabilities of the producer reaping bountifully are very high. They are famous within and beyond the borders of the country. Lately, both actresses have made strong impacts beyond Nigeria; Omotola was in Germany to shoot ‘Ties that bind’, where she hob-nobbed with United Nations bigwigs, due to her charitable work. Genevieve, on the other hand, not quite long ago, featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and was interviewed twice on CNN International. She has also endorsed MUD cosmetics’ products. Omotola has been in the industry for 15 years while Genevieve has put in over a decade. Stella Damasus Immensely popular, and though she is reputed to be among the industry’s top earners, not much has come her way from corporate endorsements. Stella’s face on a film jacket is a huge plus any day. She started her acting career in 1992 with ‘Abused’ and has not looked back ever since. She has gone on to carve a remarkable niche for herself with the debut of her charity-based show, Changing Lives On The Stella Damasus Show, albeit she has not been a constant feature in movies, lately. Uche Jombo what this actress, director, producer, script-writer and brand ambassador lacks in movie roles, she makes up for in corporate endorsements. Her 12-year stint has made her so comfortable that she had to jettison ‘Asaba movies’ for what she called "quality works". In her new capacity as a producer, Uche has to her credit works like ‘Holding Hope’, ‘Damaged’ and ‘Nollywood Hustlers’ in her kitty. The first movie she acted in was ‘Visa to Hell’ in 1999. She also acted in ‘Adure’, an Igbo movie sub-titled in English. She is also conversant with the Yoruba movie genre. Her newest work and socially-conscious movie, ‘Damaged’ is a bold proclamation of her versatility. Kate Henshaw-Nuttal some call her "the ageless Kate", not because of her vivacity, but simply because she’s been there, she’s still there and will likely be there for some time. Also a Glo ambassador, she kicked off her acting career in 1993 with ‘Sunset’ and followed it up with ‘Domitilla’. She’s the face of Onga seasoning, a product of Promasidor and also a spokesperson for the Lagos State government. Scarcely associated with scandals, she has distinguished herself from others. Recently, she starred in Nigeria’s first all-asha oke movie, Saheed Balogun’s Eti Keta was a real plus for her. Rita Dominic Rita Dominic Nwaturocha became popular in the late ‘90s for her numerous romantic roles, most notably in the 1998 flick ‘time to kill’. One of Nigeria’s popular actresses yet, she has several endorsement contracts from Multichoice and Globacom. A stickler for quality, according to her managers, Rita is an embodiment of finesse, a fact which she proved by floating her own production company, Audreysilva. Stephanie Okereke After her ill-fated marriage to footballer Chikelue Illoanusi and surviving an accident that nearly took her life, Stephanie Okereke took control of the reins of her life and has since moved on. Her movie ‘Through the Glass’, was an instant hit, as it grossed N10m at the Box Office. It also set the tone for quality of Nollywood movies at the cinema. The graduate of English and literary studies from the University of Calabar, who ventured into the industry in 1997 with ‘Compromise’ and ‘Waterloo’, became a power broker of sorts, after she joined President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team. Ini Edo Ini ventured into acting in 2004 with ‘World Apart’ and and ever since, she has consolidated her A-list status. A graduate of English from the University of Calabar, the corporate ambassador for beverage-makers, the House of Chi and Globacom is seen as another Genevieve in many circles, but has claimed that she lives under no one’s shadow. She has upped the ante for herself by co-producing ‘Memories of My Heart’ with Emem Isong. Mercy Johnson Talented, popular and controversial, Kogi State-born Mercy is popular for direct intrepretation of roles and for ruling the tabloids for some weeks now, no thanks to her protracted wedding plans that has seen different turns and twists. She has had her share of bad press, but has managed to keep her head above and concentrate on her job.

Actor Desmond Elliot and family escape fire outbreak

Actor Desmond Elliot and family escape fire outbreak

Actor Desmond Elliot and his family narrowly escaped a fire outbreak that started in the early hours of Saturday August 26th at his Ajah residence in Lagos, Nigeria. And in tune with keeping his fans updated about the situation and their current condition, he tweeted the following message:

Thank God wit me- my family delivered frm fire outbreak ..he’s stil God.
Been putting out fire since 3am

It surely comes as good news that Desmond escaped the outbreak considering the spate of unfortunate incidence that have occurred in recent times including vehicular accidents to both Uche Jumbo and Adaora Ukoh.

P-SQUARE NEW MANSION IN PROGRES

Do you have a story/gist for publication? Please email it to story@nigeriafilms.com

ben louis swiss | 8/29/2011 1:21:17 AM when ever peace and God is in front,and in any familly and in friendship every thing is a blessing,,,
congrats my wonderful igbo twins,,,you both are blessed,,i thanks God for you guys,, Reply this thread

ben louis swiss | 8/29/2011 1:21:18 AM when ever peace and God is in front,and in any familly and in friendship every thing is a blessing,,,
congrats my wonderful igbo twins,,,you both are blessed,,i thanks God for you guys,, Reply this thread

Giga | 8/29/2011 2:09:03 AM Great. God bless them more. I like it so much Reply this thread

keee.... | 8/29/2011 2:33:06 AM one thing i know is that this guys knows what they are doing..........there is something different about this guys.....other nija stars can only be making noise........among nijs stars this guys are the only guys living like world class stars........most american stars do not have what this guys have

Tinu, a fashion artiste-musician-entertainer, born in Brooklyn NY, and spent her childhood days in Nigeria.…

Norwegian woman, Ingrid Midtgaard, among 18 killed in UN bomb attack

On 26 August, the government of Norway reported that a Norwegian woman was among the 18 people killed in a suicide bomb attack on the office complex of the United Nations (UN) in Abuja, Nigeria.

In a first statement in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, the country’s Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, had said “a Norwegian woman employed by the UN was among the dead”, but did not identity the victim.

The Norwegian government subsequently named the victim as Ingrid Midtgaard, a 30-year-old lawyer.

Ingrid joined the UN Country Office Nigeria in November 2010 as an Associate Expert on the Nigeria Country Team of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Information on a UNODC source in Abuja said “she was assisting in backstopping in the anti-corruption related portfolio”. Her work also involved “supporting future programming in the areas of drugs and crime, anti-corruption and Justice Sector Reform”.

The First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan you to fine oooo

Two Nigerian nationals arrested in New Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) With the arrest of two Nigerian nationals police today claimed to have busted a gang which had allegedly cheated several people in the name of fake lottery.

Igbinovia Osayando Jeffery (32) and Ejezie Arinze (33) were arrested from a house in Mehrauli area after receiving secret information that some Nigerians involved in fake lottery scam were operating from the area, said Chhaya Sharma, DCP South.

A team, formed following recent incidents of innocent people being cheated in the pretext of fake lottery, raided the house. They found two Nigerians standing outside the house who rushed inside after seeing the police party.

Police then asked them to produce their passports.

It came to fore that Jeffery and Arinze were not having valid passport and visa and both were booked under Foreigners Act.

During interrogation, they said that they had come to India on three months visa but didn''t went back even after expiry of the visa.

"While staying in the country, they pretended to be merchants dealing in readymade garments and other house hold articles. But actually they cheat people by offering them huge rewards or lotteries through e-mails or SMSes and induced them to get some amount deposited in the bank account on the pretext of getting the clearance of amount from various government agencies," Sharma said. (More) PTI SMJ

NOLLYWOOD THROUGH PIETER HUGO’S LENS

Dirk Bogarde was quoted to have said that the camera can photograph thought. Therefore if the collection of pictures, the South African photographer named Pieter Hugo has been exhibiting over the world as a reflection of Nollywood is his thought about the Nigerian film industry, then this thought is not only unapprised but unschooled. Those images alone made my skin crawl.

The level of interest and/or contempt Nollywood has generated is such that emergency critics have been made of people who have never seen a Nollywood movie. Some have turned their apathy towards Nollywood into status symbol. In the main, Mr. Hugo’s collection of photographs about Nollywood, evidence a conclusion based on a stereotype. It is an intelligent effort to creatively manage ignorance.

The photographer assembled a team of ‘actors’ and assistants in Enugu and Delta States to recreate scenes fresh from his nightmares and name them Nollywood verisimilitude. From February 25 – April 10 2010, these weird pictures were on exhibition at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA. The same exhibitions have been held in Rome and California to critical acclaim from an elite tribe of the uninformed.

Grotesque images

In one of his images we see a cutlass through the heart of a woman, the bodice ripped wide and the loose breasts roll. A female gang of three wielding rifles, a lady wielding a rod, eyes rolled in semi-consciousness and hands protruding from her mouth. There is another of a vampire-like creature wielding a rifle with children gaping at the background. And another of a burnt corpse emerging from the wreck of a vehicle… Pray how does this lunacy reflect Nollywood?

The props used in the re-enactment of Pieter’s nightmares range from machetes, screw bars, hammers and firearms. They often look extraneous to the setting. The images lack balance; it creates a subjectivity of only the dark kind.

The characters, in the main, didn’t need the efforts of a Make-up artiste to look hideous; their parents made that easy. And that perhaps seemed to be the only redeeming thing in the horrid collection. Mr. Hugo’s ability to assemble a cast of characters that seemed to have crawled out of slime is indeed remarkable with their faces like a stretch of unpaved road. Perhaps, he should google Genevieve Nnaji or Mercy Johnson, or Ramsey Nouah… these are sights for sore eyes and they are all Nollywood acts. There are many more too numerous to mention in a single breath.

The settings of the collection are dreary, bland or outright creepy. For emotion, there is dread and an uncanny melancholy. They seem to choke you as they gasp for air to breath. The subjects fly out at your face, you lock eyes with them and you will be the first to avert a gaze. In Nollywood films, we see palatial mansions, choice cars and pleasing sights. Nollywood destroyed the myth that Africans still lived on trees.

When images this grotesque are collected as part of a continuum, they tell a story powerful enough to influence thoughts and colour judgment. It is even worrisome when they seemed to have been formed upon the canvass of a lie. They feed on the imagery that Nollywood is only digitally enhanced voodoo. Even if this is the intent, they miss an important link. There is a curious disconnect between voodoo as seen in Nollywood and their relation to reality. Worse still, they ignore completely the place and purpose of rituals in African thought.

Through the aid of 3D and superior technical expertise, Hollywood monsters appear cooler than those of Nollywood. Yet, to judge Nollywood’s rendition upon the standards set by Hollywood is to judge a Miss World pageant with a condition that all the contestants must be white. The monsters created in Nollywood do not just help the story along, their intent is both creative and didactic and often with spiritual connotation. Pieter Hugo’s images share no such similitude. They are the stuff of nightmares.

Writing about the images, Stacy Hardy wrote “Pieter’s monsters confront us on their own terms; head on, they stare us down. Instead of lurking in the shadows or hiding under the bed of our eternal subconscious nightmare, the figures are starkly light. Their bodies undo sight. Monsters from a nation’s Id suddenly demanding equal time as thinking and dreaming and sexual citizens. They face us without even the faintest glimmer of a possible absence, in the state of radical disillusion; Baudrillard’s “obscene transparency” of “pure presence.”

Nollywood is not all voodoo

Pieter Hugo’s collection is hardly what Nollywood represent. Nollywood is an extension of African story-telling culture. The images created in these stories find relevance in their power to reprimand and teach object lessons. To achieve this objective, fictional characters are given human personae though inanimate or non-human. The subjects in Pieter’s images do not satisfy this need.

And this really is the power of the phenomenon called Nollywood. It is the spirit of a people to re-create their world first for themselves and
invite others to share in their reality. It is the power to laugh at our own idiocy without the embarrassing stench of self-deprecation. It is the ability to define our world without the burden of borrowed and often skewed lenses. Ansel Adams said that “A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into”.

I have looked into Pieter Hugo’s images of Nollywood and I can smell the stench from a mile away.

KOKO CONCERT LONDON TOMORROW AUGUST 29TH. #DONTDULL BE THERE!!

Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo popularly known as Dbanj is showing that hard work does pay with the announcement of Kokoconcert Series 3 on Monday the 29^th of August 2011 at the Hammersmith Apollo – London

Dbanj has won several music awards including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007 and Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.

This concert is brought to you from the team who brought you hits like:

Fall in Love,  Gbono Feli Feli, Suddenly, Maje, Booty call, Tongolo, Ololufe, Kiss your hand, Why me, Mr Endowed, Bumper to Bumper, Mr Endowed Remix with Snoop Dogg, You bad, Igwe, Close to you, Give it to me, Ten Ten, Kiss your hand, Who born the maga, Over the moon, Pop Something, Pere, Scape Goat, Give it to me, Omoba – And the list goes on!!!!!!!!!!!

Dbanj has recently appeared on BET in an exclusive interview. He has won several MTV awards, and has won best African Act at the Mobo’s 2 years in a row.

He has been nominated for a MOBO award in 2011 yet again!!! With the Endowed remix with Snoop dog done and dusted; he can currently be found tweeting and receiving tweets from Kanye West.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBCKwlgHT8