The major newspapers in Nigeria are posting headlines on Mirror of Beauty, because it was accepted for screening at the 61st Cannes Film Festival and to them the so-called Nollywood epic directed by Okey Zubelu Okoh, has made history. They also boasted that the film was screened at the Odeon and Cineworld cinemas in the UK. That the film won the award of the Best Music Score at the last AMA-Awards and the award for Best Costume at the last Zuma Film Festival in Nigeria. But the Mirror of Beauty is not even in the competition at the Cannes. There was no information on which category of Cannes it would be screened. In fact, there is no press release on the film and the Nigerian Film Corporation does not have any media kit for the publicity of the Mirror of Beauty.
What ignorant Nigerians called epic movies in Nigeria have not even qualified for competition at the Cannes Film Festival where films by Cameroonian and other African filmmakers have competed for the highest honours such as the highly coveted Palme d'Or.
Nigerians love celebrating their ignorance, mediocrity and hypocrisy online and offline.
Ejike Asiegbu, the national president of the Actors Guild Of Nigeria (AGN), called it a feat as a major boost not only for Nollywood, but the African motion picture industry. His ignorance of the facts is abysmally ridiculous. I doubt if Mr. Ejike Asiegbu has any knowledge of "Yeelen" ("Brightness"), by the Malian director Souleymane Cisse. "Yeelen" became the first African film to win a major prize at Cannes when it won the coveted Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.
Many African films have been screened at the Cannes even before Mr. Ejike left high school, but since he has not taken time to study the history of the African Cinema, he is ignorant of the facts. He has no knowledge of such titles as Les Yeux Secs by Narjiss Nejjar from Morocco and Le Silence de la forêt by Didier Ouenangare and Bassek ba Kobhio from the Central African Republic and Cameroon screened at the Cannes in 2003. I met Bassek ba Kobhio at the screening of the film in Nigeria where notable Nigerian filmmakers and critics reviewed Le Silence de la forêt. Other notable African films screened at Cannes were Khorma by Jilani Saadi from Tunisia in 2003, Heremakono by Abdherrahmane Sissako from Mauritania in 2002, La Saison des Hommes by Moufida Tlatli from Tunisia in 2000, La Genèse by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali in 1999, Kini et Adams by Idrissa Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso, and Le Destin by Youssef Chahine from Egypt in 1997 and Po di Sangui by Flora Gomes from Guinea Bissau in 1996.
Please, if you are at the Cannes, and you see the Mirror of Beauty at the Théâtre Lumière or the Salle Debussy, send me the good news. The most likely place that Mirror of Beauty will be screened is at the Cinéma de la Plage for out of competition films at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Nigerian film industry is 104 years old and the first Nigerian film Palaver was shot in 1904. The most accomplished Nigerian filmmakers like Ola Balogun and the late Hubert Ogunde have produced notable films in the 1970s and 1980s and what is now dubbed as Nollywood is the result of the collapse of the Nigerian film industry in the late 1980s. Nigeria should be competing for the top prizes at Cannes and not calling the mere acceptance of screening a Nigerian film a feat!
Please, give me a break! We can do better than that.
Last year the Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was the winner.
Thanks Orikinla for helping to expose our ignorance.The truth is that our over celebrated Nollywood is all about mediocrity.Instead of finding out ways to improve and take oue movies to greater height like that of some of our Francophone neighbours,North Africans and South Africans,we are busy celebrating poorly produced dramas/concerts in the name of Nollywood.Its high time we wake up to reality.Why must Nigeria keep on being a sleeping Giant in all areas?
ReplyDeleteAustyn,
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, our so-called Nollywod stars cannot compete where professional standards rule as we have found out at international auditions and interviews. Only very few of them can prove their mettle. But as we have seen, tribalism and nepotism dictate the pace in their Nollywood.
They are scared of professionalism.
If they are capable, they would have qualified for the competition in Cannes where as you rightly noted, many African countries have done better internationally and they are not making noise that they are the third largest movie industry in the world. But when the chips are down, our Nollywood is often missing in action. In fact, our Nollywood stars develop cold feet where the stakes are high globally.
Dr. Ola Balogun and other capable Nigerian masters of the cinema are very humble and willing to help anyone of them who is ready to make a difference.
"Only the best is good enough for us."
~ Bishop Ajayi Crowther.