tansali paparazzi

By Habeeb Lawal
GISTS AND PICTURES FROM THE PREMIERE OF “STEPHANIE OKEREKE’S THROUGH THE GLASS”

Between being harrased by a really big muscle man and getting the evil eye from Fathia “don’t take my picture” Balogun, I managed to get gists and a few pictures at the premiere of Stephanie Okereke’s new movie “Through the Glass” this past Sunday.

First, I got my ticket to the event by entering and wining a contest on facebook.  I was elated because I had heard so much about the film, and here I was going to the premiere for free, and a chance to attend an event that had a promise of being great.   
The event was held at the Silverbird Galleria on Ahmadu Bello in Victoria Island, Lagos.  Like I expected, the event was graced by many Nollywood celebrities like Chidi Mokeme, Eucharia Annunobi, Mona Lisa Chinda, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Ngozi Ezeonu, Tchidi Tchikere, Emem Isong and Other socialites like Grace Egbagbe, john Fashanu and Sammy Okposo.
With all these people in attendance, I started taking pictures immediately I got to the red carpet. I was only on my 5th or 6th shot when some gigantic looking man tapped me on the shoulder. He asked if I had a press pass, I said no but I had an invitation which I was holding. Imagine my shock, when this man physically moved out of the way.  The worst thing was that there was a white man right in front of me who had the same colour invitation and doing the same thing but Mr. Hefty did not even go near him not to talk of asking him any questions. This is what we have to deal with in Nigeria. Our own people treating us like dirt but you have to learn to show tolerance or else you stand the risk of going bonkers.  
Apart from the above incident, I can report that the red carpet event was colourful. The event proper did not start until 7pm although red carpet commenced at 4pm. When it finally kicked off, Patrick Doyle was the MC.  He started by introducing celebs in the house and showed us clips of  Stephanie during her ghastly motor accident years back and her healing process.  This was indeed a touching moment, especially when she now came out to give a speech with two co-actors who flew all the way from Los Angeles to grace the occassion.

THROUGH THE GLASS is a romantic comedy that deals with issues of responsiblity, abuse, trust, betrayal and acceptance. It tells the story of Jeffery a promiscous and unserious lad who constanly gets reminded by his rich CEO father of how unreliable and inefficient he has been on being MD of the company and how he stands the risk of loosing his job if he doesnt show any form of seriousness or commitment to his job. He also has a strong bad repuation of being a womanizer and so when he finds a baby abandoned at his door steps, he is no least shocked and so were the welfare officers and police who strongly believe the baby could be his. Amidsts diificulties and tension, Jeffery with the help of his nigerian neigbour Ada( stephanie okereke) are able to take care of the kid and jeffery becomes fond of him but soon the junkie carefree mother of the child discovers how much money she could be making from the government by being a mother and decides to take her son back but Jeffery is ready to give it all he has got, he isnt ready to let go of that one person that has ever made him happy and content and doesnt criticize him.


All in all it was okay, simple story, no complicated plots, nothing extra-ordinary, even dialogue was as simple as it could get. My star of the movie was the little baby who cried at the right moment, stopped when it was needed and i couldnt just help but think it was all pre-planned towards the baby's moods. I didnt also understand why not even a scene throughout the movie could show us what the baby was called, they called him "baby" through the whole film, at least Jeffery who was getting so fond of him could have named him something, even the biological mother called him baby throughout, strange!.

And whats with everyone having sex when they are either supposed to be at duty or place of responsibility eg Police man when jeferry called to report found baby, Nicole, jef;s ex when he called to find out if she could help with the baby.....and even Jeffery in the office scene, not a bad idea, but sometimes i would rather a writer be more dynamic and with a unique sense of style when writing to make it come as real as possible, i almost did take some stuffs with a pinch of salt....I dont intend spoiling this by giving out too much since its unreleased...all in all it was a well attended event and not a bad start for a proffesional career, big ups to the NEXT PAGE PRODUCTIONS team.

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It is an incontrovertible fact that Cossy Orjiako remains, unashamedly, the bad girl of the Nigerian entertainment industry. Indeed, she is a bad mama jammer. Cossy, who since her emergence on the scene in the early 90s, has remained the reference point of all that is bad about womanhood, was in the news again last week. The boobs flaunting diva was the cover of a local soft sell magazine, with her photograph in a very compromising position with a dog. Since the magazine hit the newsstands, tongues have been wagging, most of them condemning her for the supposed act. Most of the comments naturally are negative and you wonder how the queen of boobs is feeling too. Though she kept a straight face, making you believe she is not in any way bothered, the looks on her face tell it all - Cossy is human after all, and she may have started to suffer the pains of stardom. With a bold face, Cossy maintained that she has no regrets because, according to her, the purported ‘doggy’ act was a mere shoot for a movie she did around 2001. And she went on to explain that she deserves an award for the movie role instead of the negative cries from the public. “I tell you, I believe that it was a really good movie that should have won me an award if it was done in Europe or the United States.” Despite her ‘bold face’, Cossy says the recent publication smacks of malice targeted at defaming her character. “As long as my parents, my fans and my friends are okay with what I do, I have no regrets”, she says. Cossy recounted all the painful experiences and the price she has to pay for being a star in Nigeria. “About four days back, a journalist called me on phone; he said there is a picture of me with a dog that he has in his possession. He said I made love to a dog. I said Oh! This old story again. I said it was for an old film I did around 2001, that it was a make-belief. Even if I am offered one billion dollars to pose nude, I would think twice about it, not to talk of sleeping with a dog.” Ojiakor continues: “He now told me that some blackmailers wanted to sell the pictures to him. But I told him that he does not need to pay the blackmailers, all he needs to do is to get the costumes and a dog, and I would pose the same way. He called me back and said he actually paid the blackmailers. That if I don’t want the pictures used, I should offset the money he paid. I said no, instead of paying him I would prefer to sleep with 10 dogs.” Continuing, Cossy said this was not her first encounter with the gentleman. According to her, she had her first encounter with him about four years ago. “When I was acting, there was this man, a popular politician (names withheld). He used to be a politician; I don’t know what he does now. He told me to bring my international passport that some people were going to Dublin for something and he would take me along. That it was government-sponsored trip and I had to pay N20,000 which I did.” At the time, Cossy was a simple and naïve village girl who had recently arrived Lagos from her base in the East after her National Youth Service programme. Eager for fame and stardom, Cossy said she was willing to do anything and receive nothing to get to the top. “When I started having all these movie roles, I was paid stipends like N3,000 or N5,000. So, I was happy when I started receiving about N30,000, N50,000 or more. So, I started telling my wakapass friends that the politician promised to take me to Dublin.” Her friends, who obviously were more street-wise, laughed at her naivety and foolishness. “They said the man does that to every young artiste that he meets. If you now go into his office to check, then he would have time to do what he wants. Maybe he loves girls with big boobs, I don’t know for him. When I heard these stories, I was disgusted. I wanted my passport back but he wasn’t ready to give me. So, I called a lady who is also a journalist with a soft-sell magazine. I told her to write about what happened between me and the politician.” “He kept telling me to come today and come tomorrow. When I told my wakapass friends what I did, they warned me to tread softly because the man was dangerous. I called the lady and asked her to forget about it. So, I said let me go and use my money to get another passport. But the girl still went ahead to speak with him about the matter”. However, it seemed the interview worked, as she was contacted and asked to pick her passport. “He said that there was this journalist in front of him saying he collected money from me. I said yes, you collected money for Dublin visa. He was now asking me if I had money to give him. It wasn’t like he came out to say I like you. He came out to say that he wanted to sleep with me”. And, the surprises continued: “I didn’t know that this journalist was recording everything. She now brought it out on the front page of the magazine. The embarrassment came in a big way and other people that he had been doing it to came out.” Then the event that would lead to her latest travails was set in motion when the politician allegedly forwarded her passport to her through the journalist. “He now told me that he would give my passport to the journalist in question. That was the first time that I heard about his name. He called me up and told me that he was the one managing the politician. He said I should come for my passport but when I went there, he told me that he forgot it in the house. “He told me that he was doing a show in Dublin and that I should pay N120,000 to take care of my accommodation or whatever. I told him that if a magazine wants to give me an award, it should be an all-expense paid trip. I cannot spend my money because I want to go and collect one stick abroad. I would rather invest the money here because that is how my brain works.” Unfortunately for the boobs queen, her brains could never have imagined that a job she did in 2001 would suddenly resurrect to haunt her almost a decade later.

http://nigeriafilms.com/content.asp?contentid=5161&ContentTypeID=1

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http://www.africanews.com/site/Malawi_Sexy_Nigeria_movie_star_visits/list_messages/23442

South African film wins 3 awards at the African Movie Academy Awards AMAA

Gugu and Andile, directed by Minky Schlesinger, walked away with 3 awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in Nigeria last week, including Best Picture in and African Language, Most Promising Actor and Most Promising Actress.

The film was nominated in 10 categories, and came home with awards for most promising Actor (Litha Booi) and most promising actress (Lungelo Dhladha), and the award for Best Film in an African Language. GUGU & ANDILE is a 90minute feature film produced by Luna Films (now rebranded as Fireworx Media) as a part of the Shakespeare in Mzanzi series for SABC in 2008. In the tradition of Romeo & Juliet, it's a love-story set against the backdrop of the war that raged through South Africa's townships in the early 1990s. It tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers, unlucky enough to be born into families on opposite sides of the political and cultural divide... Producer Bridget Pickering said: 'This is an incredible recognition for the years of hard work that the team put into developing the script, and despite the challenge of a limited budget, the production crew and director Minky Schlesinger pulled out all the stops under testing shooting conditions in the Thokoza township in the middle of the rainy season to bring the film in on budget and still focus on creating a compelling story with strong visuals that remained true to that difficult period in South Africa's history.' Producer Neil Brandt, who was in Nigeria with the lead cast, director and production designer Flo Ballack (nominated for best Art Direction), to collect the awards, said: 'The AMAAs was a truly fascinating experience, with the selection of films exceptional, and of course the opportunity to engage with fellow filmmakers from across the continent is an opportunity not to be missed. The awards ceremony itself was a well-produced live televised event, with stars such as Salief Keita providing entertainment, and Hollywood Danny Glover and Forest Whitaker providing some glamour. Our young lead actors, for whom this was their first time out of South Africa, could hardly believe it when they were personally congratulated by Danny and Forest! I strongly recommend that more South Africans submit their films to the AMAAs in future years. We at Fireworx are certainly going to be using this opportunity to explore future co-production opportunities with filmmakers in Nigeria.' For more information on Fireworx Media, go to www.fireworxmedia.co.za. For more information on the AMAAs go to http://www.ama-awards.com/ AMAA 2009 NOMINATION LIST (Fireworx Media nominations only) ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND 1. From a Whisper 2. Battle of the Soul 3. Seventh Heaven 4. Gugu and Andile 5. Grey Focus ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION 1. Small Boy - Michelle Bello 2. Five Apostles - Ifeanyi Onyeabor 3. Agony of the Christ - Jude Odoh 4. Gugu and Andile - Flo Ballack 5. Revolution - Eddybongo Uka MOST PROMISING ACTOR 1. Litha Booi - Gugu and Andile 2. Mavila Anthana Keriario - Battle of the Soul 3. Ruffy Samuel - Dead End 4. Segun Adefila - Arugba 5. Sherrif Ramzy - Seventh Heaven MOST PROMISING ACTRESS 1. Bhaira Mcwizu - Cindy’s Note 2. Bukola Awoyemi - Arugba 3. Lydia Farson - Scorned 4. Lungelo Dhladhla - Gugu and Andile 5. Mfouemon Bea. Flore - Ma Saah Sah BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 1. Femi Adebayo - Apaadi 2. Abubakar Mvenda and Ken Ambani - From a Whisper 3. Mac Mathunjwa - Gugu and Andile 4. Yemi Blaq - Grey Focus 5. Joel Okuyo Prynce - Battle of the Soul BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 1. Aggie Kebirungi - Battle of the Soul 2. Mercy Johnson - Live to Remember 3. Mosunmola Filani - Jenifa 4. Daphney Hlomuka - Gugu and Andile 5. Chika Ike - The Assassin BEST FILM IN AFRICAN LANGUAGE 1. Gugu and Andile - South Africa 2. Arugba - Nigeria 3. Mah Saah Sa - Cameroun 4. Uyai - Nigeria 5. Apaadi - Nigeria ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY 1. From a Whisper - Marius Van Graan 2. Seventh Heaven - Ramses Marzouk 3. Cindy’s Note - Izu Ojukwu 4. Gugu and Andile - Greg Heimann 5. Battle of the Soul - Stephen Njero and Tony Matomi BEST PICTURE 1. From a Whisper - Kenya 2. Arugba - Nigeria 3. Gugu and Andile - South Africa 4. Battle of the Soul - Uganda 5. Seventh Heaven - Egypt BEST DIRECTOR 1. Wanuri Kahiu - From a Whisper (Kenya) 2. Tunde Kelani - Arugba (Nigeria) 3. Minky Schlesinger - Gugu and Andile (South Africa) 4. Math Bish - Battle of the Soul (Uganda) 5. Saad Hendawy - Seventh Heaven (Egypt)