Two Nigerian Air Force Officers are bent on rescuing their newly married course mate and fighter pilot in an enemy territory, the mission becomes a fierce battle to save the community of his refuge.
Writer/Producer/ Director Paul Apel Papel
Cast: Femi Jacobs, Enyinna Nwigwe, Yakubu Mohammed,
Francis Duru, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey Patience Ujah, Stephanie Apel, Jamila
Ibrahim Abdul Zada
DOP: Spindem Lot, VFX: Gabriel Keneni, Music Score: Chuck Okudo, Editor/Colorist: Paul Apel Papel.
Paul Apel Papel
Profile: Paul Apel Papel in a US trained filmmaker at Colorado Film School with many awards credits including the British Film Institute’s Best Production category at the ZAFAA Global Awards 2014 in the United Kingdom.
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 –
January 23, 2021) was an American television host, radio host, and paid
spokesman, whose work was recognized with awards including two Peabodys, an
Emmy award, and 10 Cable ACE Awards.
King began as a local Florida journalist and radio
interviewer in the 1950s and 1960s, and gained prominence beginning in 1978 as
host of The Larry King Show, an all-night nationwide call-in radio program
heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
From 1985 to 2010, he
hosted the nightly interview television program Larry King Live on CNN. From
2012 to 2020, he hosted Larry King Now which aired on Hulu, Ora TV, and RT
America. He continued to host Politicking with Larry King, a weekly political
talk show which aired weekly on the same two channels from 2013 until his death
in 2021.
A lot of the
new entrants into the business of motion picture production in Nigeria think
that the business of filmmaking started with Nollywood. It did not. Nigeria had
an indigenous film industry that dates back to the 70’s. Then, filmmakers such
as Dr. Ola Balogun, Late Chief Adeyemi Afolayan, late Chief Hubert Adedeji
Ogunde, and Chief Eddie Ugbomah amongst many others made films on celluloid
either on 35mm colour or 16mm colour.
But while the exploits of most of these pioneer filmmakers may have been
fairly documented in some of the early books written on the film industry in
Nigeria, notably Francoise Balogun’s The
Cinema in Nigeria and Professor Hyginus Ekwuazi’s Film in Nigeria, there have been very little mention about a period
in the history of the Nigerian film industry where making films using the
reversal technology reigned. That was the period of the 80’s when filmmakers
such as the late Yemi Meshioye led the crew at Meshfilms Limited to pioneer the
unconventional shooting of feature films with reversal film stocks as opposed
to negative film stocks which was standard for making films at the time.
It is a part of the untold story of that
period in the evolution of the film industry that is told in From
Reversal Filmmaking To God’s Bedroom and Back… Untold Story of the Nollywood
Revolution,
the bookby
the accomplished filmmaker Matthew Simpa who was a member of the Meshfilms
family and a key figure in the production of some of the film projects by
Meshfilms. Those films including Lori-Ere, Ijagbemi, Gbegede Gbina
and Iji
Aye unarguably became pathfinders for filmmaking in Nigeria.
I am familiar
with most of the books that have been written and published on the Nigerian
film industry. This book by Simpa is probably the second book on the Nigerian film
industry of the 70’s and 80’s devoted to the career journey of a versatile
thoroughbred professional with ramified experience and multi-faceted
professional training. The first of this kind of work that I have read is the
book by the late legendary filmmaker Eddie Ugbomah titled Eddie Ugbomah. But unlike the book by Chief Ugbomah, which is an
autobiographical account, Simpa saves the full account of his life for another
publication and shares just the story of his career journey pre-Meshfilms, his
personal recollection of how they made ‘magic’ with films like Iji Aye at Meshfilms and then his
journey post-Meshfilms in this book. The result is a very personal story of
those moments that shaped his dream, about the field experiences that sharpened
those dreams and about the struggle to fulfill them. It is the story of a
hardworking, humble and an honest personality who should be righty acknowledged
for his invaluable contribution to the evolution of the Nigerian visual media
industry that is today a global household name.
The
contributions of this book are manifold. But two things particularly stand out
for me. First is that through an account of his career, the author offers a
very resourceful and highly engaging book that lends tremendous insight to the
creative exploits of Meshfilms and that of other filmmakers of the era of
reversal films. Secondly, each chapter of the book is lucidly presented to
justify the competence and professional experience of the author in filmmaking.
Although there
are still so many efforts to be recorded regarding this period of Nigerian
cinema (and the author makes no pretence about writing a definitive book on
that period and history of Nigerian film industry), we must commend Simpa for
taking this bold step in documenting a significant aspect of the story, which I
consider central to our understanding and appreciation of the history of the Nigerian
film industry. Although usually a labourious task, but am sure Simpa considers
it an honour and a great responsibility to add to the growing body of works
that are helping to define the emerging trends with the vibrant Nigerian film
industry.
I can imagine
that Simpa’s saddening thought and our own thoughts too will be that nearly all
the reversal films and even the films that were produced on bigger gauges may
not have been preserved for posterity, I think we should be consoled by the
fact that one of the key players of that period has at least captured and told
a compelling story of the essence of that period in our filmmaking history.
I believe that this book is a valuable contribution to the field. The ultimate value of the book for me is that it points us both backwards to the past and forward to our future. I recommend it to everyone who is interested in the history of the Nigerian reversal film tradition especially and in the history of the Nigerian film industry before Nollywood. It is a welcome addition to the growing body of works on the Nigerian cinema and I feel honoured to be able to greet this new book in its opening pages.
Shaibu Husseini, PhD
Senior
Teaching/Research Fellow
Department of
Mass Communication
University of
Lagos
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Author Mr Matthew Simpa
Matthew Simpa was born in, Agege, in 1964. He began his film making career with Meshfilms as an Assistant Film Director in 1986. This was two years after graduating with a cinematography certificate from Nigerian College of Film, Owo, Ondo State. He was actively involved in the innovative film making process of using reversal film stocks to shoot theatrical films. He was also part of a series of hit Yoruba home movies in the early 1990s. In 1995, he veered into evangelical film making. Between 1995 and 2000, he directed over twenty movies on video among which was Valle de Baca, the first successful home movie shot in Benin Republic. Since 2004, he has been involved mostly in Christian television programming. He has also directed two soap operas, one in English (The Burning Spear) and the other (Angeli Nigeria) in Yoruba.
In recent times he has worked at Galaxy Television and is presently the General Manager of Ben Auto/Stedik Resources Entertainment Ltd in Lagos. His two most recent movies are Outside the Box (2014) and yet to be released Yoruba film titled Ito Okurin which he produced.
