Universal Movie Awards second edition entry is still going with submissions streaming from all over the world. See link to submit your film – https://filmfreeway.com/UNIVERSALMOVIEAWARDS
Below are list of countries we have already received films for the second edition of the award event slated to hold in November 26,2022.
United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Russian Federation, India, Ukraine, Uganda, Turkey, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Portugal, Poland, Namibia, Kenya, Italy, Guadeloupe, Ghana, Germany, France, Ethiopia, China, Belarus, Austria, Australia
Many years ago, I heard this unsettling, heart rending story
about a young girl preparing for her university education.
Brilliant. Beautiful.
She was violated; sexually abused by her own relation. That led
to different other unfortunate incidents that caused her self-esteem, her
future, her dreams, her essence, and sadly put an end to her education.
She ended up an attendant in a local bar and became an object of
sexual pleasure to some of the customers who easily lured her.
Some thought she was loose, treated her as a prostitute. Indeed
she had become loose. She was lost! Lost to what it meant to be a girl, lost to
the virtue and pride that comes with being a woman. She was lost. Damaged and
reduced to an object of ridicule.
But behind that pseudo veil of warmth and smile she put on her
face in order to serve the bar costumers and earn her wage, was that
distraught, pained, hopeless, morbid emptiness, and even suicidal burden that
taunted her.
Her story haunted me for days. It felt like the pain of razor
cuts all over my body. It left a certain sour taste in my mouth each time I
thought of her story. The fact that there was no happy ending at the time made
it the more excruciating.
The writer in me revolted.
I felt the strong urge to retell the story, to bring it to the
front burner, to give it a happy ending and more importantly to give her a
voice.
Though I never got to meet her, I strongly desired to change the
ending of the ugly narrative (at least in my mind) from one that was a victim
to one that found her voice, got back control, regained her self-esteem, spoke
her truth and rose from the ashes of shame and ridicule to the place of power
and inspiration, a happy ending not only for her, but for every person;
especially every girl or woman who has been a victim of abuse.
So I wrote a story inspired by her. I wrote the screenplay and
titled it CHATROOM. www.chatroomthemovie.com was made into a movie.
We had an exclusive screening at the request and at the
residence of the British Deputy High Commissioner in commemoration of
International Women’s Day andd now, I am delighted to have you all see it.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day , I want you – every woman – to know that you are special, you are powerful and you matter.
CHATROOM is live on afrocinema.tv and can be watched from anywhere in the world from April 15, 2022.
CHIKE IBEKWE Film Producer / Director
CHATROOM features award winning stars; Omawumi Megbele, Nengi
Adoki, Odunlade Adekola, Tony Umez, Ibrahim Suleiman, Sambasa Nzeribe, Rykardo
Agbor, Vivian Anani, Damilare Kuku, Joshua Ojo, ace comedian Akpororo with
cameo appearances by Victor Okhai and veteran TV host and broadcaster Adesuwa
Onyenokwe.
The Canon/Ekoiff film industry workshop will hold during the
festival event.
The focus of the workshop is on Canon Camera products
e.g. EOS C500MKll, EOS C300MK3, EOS
C70 and Cinema Prime Lenses and also how to operate them to achieve best picture and sound
qualities in tune with recent online platforms and cinemas. Discount available
on any camera and lenses buy.
The workshop is strictly for Cinematographers, Directors and
Producers.
Date: 9th & 10th
March 2022
Time: 10.30am prompt.
Venue: Silverbird Cinemas 133 Ahmadu Bello Way Lagos
European Film Market 2022: Exhibition Spaces in the
Gropius Bau and in the Marriott Hotel Largely Booked Out / Under the title
SHAPING CHANGE “EFM Industry Sessions” Call on the Film and Media Industry to
Jointly Shape the Future
The EFM will take place from February 10 to 17, 2022 under the motto “It all (re)starts here”. The “EFM Industry Sessions” will discuss the three core themes Future, Diversity & Inclusion and Sustainable Development in the four programme strands “Producers”, “Distribution”, “Documentary” and “Series.
The Homage section of the 72nd Berlin International
Film Festival will be dedicated to French film and stage actor Isabelle
Huppert, who will be awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement.
In conjunction with the Award Ceremony on February 15, 2022 at the Berlinale
Palast, the festival will screen as Berlinale Special Gala À propos de Joan
(About Joan, dir: Laurent Larivière). Huppert is one of the most versatile actors
in the world, and has played an impressive range of characters in almost 150
cinema and television productions.
Isabelle Huppert has been closely linked with the
film festival for many years and starred in seven Competition films to date.
She was first a guest in Berlin with La vengeance d’une femme (A Woman’s
Revenge, dir: Jacques Doillon). Director François Ozon cast her in his dark
musical comedy 8 Femmes (8 Women) as an unprepossessing woman who emerges in
the end as a confident beauty. The ensemble cast was awarded a Silver Bear for
outstanding artistic accomplishment. In L’Avenir (Things to Come), she also
plays a woman re-discovering her freedom as a philosophy teacher in a failing
marriage. Director Mia Hansen-Løve won the Silver Bear as Best Director for the
film.
“We are proud to welcome Isabelle Huppert back to
the festival,” say Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian,
“the Honorary Golden Bear may seem like a natural progression in a career
without equal, since Isabelle Huppert is one of the few artists recognised with
acting awards at all major film festivals. But Isabelle Huppert is more than a
celebrated actor — she is an uncompromising artist who doesn’t hesitate to take
risks and flout mainstream trends. Awarding her our most prestigious prize is
to accentuate cinema as an art form, independent and unconditional. We often
see actors as tools in the hands of filmmakers, but Isabelle Huppert is a clear
example that the dynamic can be a true exchange. Actors can be the true engine
of creating not only emotions, but also concepts of cinema.”
Isabelle Huppert began studying acting at the age of
14, and later attended the Conservatoire nationale supérieur d’art dramatique
in Paris. She began her career on stage
and made her screen debut with Faustine et le bel été (Faustine and the
Beautiful Summer, dir: Nina Companeez). Huppert’s first appearance in an
international production was in the film Rosebud (dir: Otto Preminger). Two
years later, her starring performance as the shy young woman Béatrice in Claude
Goretta’s La Dentellière (The Lacemaker) won her the BAFTA as Most Promising
Newcomer.
Huppert early on came to the attention of a host of top filmmakers, such as Jean-Luc
Godard and Bertrand Tavernier. Her first turn for Godard was as the star of his
Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Every Man for Himself). Other world-renowned directors soon seized on
Huppert’s diverse acting talents, including Olivier Assayas, Catherine
Breillat, Patrice Chéreau, Claire Denis, Andrzej Wajda, and Joachim Trier, as
well as American filmmakers such as Curtis Hanson, Hal Hartley, Ira Sachs, and
David O. Russell. Italian filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani gave her the
lead in their film Le affinità elettive (Elective Affinities) and she was part
of the ensemble in Marco Bellocchio’s Bella Addormentata (Dormant Beauty).
French acclaimed director Claude Chabrol cast
Isabelle Huppert in a total of seven films, with each character as mutable and
complex as the next, beginning with the
title role in Violette Nozière. That garnered her her first Palme D’Or for Best
Actress at the Cannes film festival. Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire played a
pair of homicidal friends in the director’s La Cérémonie, a role that won her a
César. Huppert’s final collaboration with Chabrol was her complex portrayal of
a powerful judge in L’ivresse du pouvoir (Comedy of Power), which premiered in Competition
at the Berlinale.
The actors film career has also been shaped by her
work with Austrian director Michael Haneke, with whom she has made four
movies. Her outstanding lead performance
in his controversial 2001 drama La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher) brought her
accolades as Best Actress in Cannes and at the European Film
Awards, among others. Beginning with her appearance
in Brillante Mendoza’s Captive, shown in Competition in Berlin, Huppert has
increasingly worked with Asian directors. That same year, she was in Hong
Sang-soo’s Da-reun na-ra-e-seo (In Another Country), playing three different women
who all have the same name.
Huppert has also made successful films with other
German-language directors and actors. She appeared alongside Hanna Schygulla in
Storia di Piera (The Story of Piera) directed by Marco Ferreri. And she took on
the lead as the nameless writer who increasingly loses touch with reality in
the film adaptation of Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina (dir: Werner Schroeter), winning
the German Film Prize. She was top-billed in Swiss director Ursula Meier’s
Home.
Isabelle Huppert has been nominated for the French
film prize César more than any other actress in France, and has twice won
one. Her virtuoso acting style has also
brought her two Palmes D’Or at Cannes. She has appeared in more than 20 films
shown in competition there — yet another record. She won a Golden Globe as Best
Actress for her work in the thriller Elle (dir: Paul Verhoeven). That role as a
successful businesswoman who takes revenge on her rapist also resulted in her first
Academy Award nomination.
In addition to her successful onscreen career,
Isabelle Huppert also continues working on stage and has been awarded the
Europe Theater Prize, among others. After premiering the French version of
Orlando, she took to the stage under Robert Wilson’s direction once again as
the glacial marchioness Merteuil in Heiner Müller’s Quartett. She was equally
brilliant in Sarah Kane’s play 4.48 Psychosis staged by Claude Régy. A guest
performance of that play in Berlin marked the first time that Huppert appeared
on a German stage, entrancing audiences with her intense portrayal.
The French-German-Irish co-production À propos de
Joan (About Joan) directed by Laurent Larivière, which stars Huppert alongside
Lars Eidinger, will be released in Germany in 2022.
The Homage films:
La Dentellière (The Lacemaker), France / FRG / Switzerland,
1977, Claude Goretta
Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Every Man for Himself),
France / Switzerland / FRG / Austria, 1980, Jean-Luc Godard
La Cérémonie, France / Germany, 1995, Claude Chabrol
La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher), France / Austria /
Germany, 2001, Michael Haneke
8 Femmes (8 Women), France / Italy, 2002, François
Ozon
L’Avenir (Things to Come), France / Germany, 2016,
Mia Hansen-Løve
Elle, France / Germany / Belgium, 2016, Paul
Verhoeven
The Homage is mounted under the aegis of the
Deutsche Kinemathek.
There are times when one’s
workplace is akin to a war front. That is, there are always battles to be
fought, won or lost. With each loss or victory, enemies are created. It does
not matter that the victor was right. Once he wins a battle, he creates
enemies. And makes a few friends perhaps. Most of the battles are not
necessary. They are often petty. Divisive. Deadly. They are not always strictly
in the line of duty. They are not on principles such as what suits the
organization best or what approach would be less challenging for the group. The
battles emanate from petty jealousy, self-aggrandizement, inflated ego, and
envy. Such battles affect both men and women. They are often deadly. They
sometimes result in backbiting, planting evil stories, spreading false rumours,
backstabbing, gossiping to the Chief Executive, and outright lies against
persons. In African countries, sometimes the use of juju and other diabolic
means such as enchantment and witchcraft are not ruled out. Ask pastors what
their ears hear from adherents!
Sadly, it is not only in
workplaces that envy exists. It exists in any group of persons assembled or
related for any cause- familial, political, religious or commercial. Sometimes,
in a church or mosque, petty jealousy snowballs into a conflagration and people
change the location of worship. A pastor or a member becomes casualty
sometimes. Faith is undermined. When petty jealousy creeps into church
administration, God and His benevolent guiding principles are forgotten by the
combatants- they fight to finish. In a family, the man who is the only
successful person in life needs divine help to save him from wicked arrows from
siblings or cousins. Have you witnessed some deadly intra-family fights
resulting from jealousy and greed and small-mindedness? Sometimes it is so bad
that even in death enmity continues! Truly, Jesus Christ, the Righteous
declared: a man’s foes shall be they of his own household!
Sometimes envy and petty
jealousy also creep into relationships among friends. It is often said that
twenty friends cannot play together for twenty years! This saying becomes
meaningful when you see a friend gradually become an enemy through word and
deed. Except you are perceptive, you may not realize the slide or degeneration
or transmutation in time. It slips through snippets of statements attributed to
supposed friends which filter into your ears through third parties. For
example, it was at the wedding ceremony of my son that I realized that one of
such fellows, a crafty, wily devil, was a friend no more! Other manifestations
followed. But it’s better that one knows his enemies, what the Pentecostals
call ‘friendly enemies’ and decide on how to relate with them!
Envy of one for the other
is as old as man on earth. It accounts for the first recorded murder on earth
if the Bible is our guide. Cain killed his brother Abel. Abel, we are told, had
offered a better sacrifice than that of Abel. God accepted Abel’s. Cain’s
sacrifice was rejected because it was ill-conceived. In the Abel-Cain case,
there was sibling rivalry. And as we know, sibling rivalry still exists in
families across the world. It manifests in different ways especially when one
or some are more successful in life than others. It is in poor families. It is
in rich families. Some siblings have sworn never to set eyes on each other
forever! Can you beat that? Children from the same womb? Indeed, that desire to
maim, destroy or kill a rival is still very much with man.
In the office, it gets
worse as people rise in their career. The top is usually slim. In an
organization only one person gets the top job. But before you get there, there
are battles. There are many people who could get the plum job. Sometimes, the
set criteria point in the direction of one person. In Nigeria, if that person
is not from the favoured group, there is no guarantee that they would get the
job. As a result, there is intense jostling. For example, where there are five
deputy directors, seniority is decided by date of first engagement or
promotion. The person who is second in line may have vaulting ambition and may
resort to elimination means to clear the path for himself. This could be
dangerous. There have been too many mysterious and sudden deaths when there is
a struggle for a position.
Sometimes envy arises not
from what a target had done or said. It arises from the evil heart of the other
man. It is involuntary sometimes. Why you? Why not me? They seem to ask no one
in particular. It can also be planned and schemed over a period of time. If we
remember that not everyone is happy with our success in life, perhaps we would
be more circumspect in revealing plans to so-called associates and friends. In
some instances, small-minded friends or associates would simply be interested
in embarrassing or maiming you once they think or perceive or see that you are
ahead socially and financially. Nollywood Films often depict aspects of envy
and jealousy among friends, families and associates. Although often presented
in a melodramatic style, the incident of a successful man dying in mysterious
circumstances after extended family meetings or a man falling ill just when it
is time to climb the final step of the ladder is as common as it is as scary in
typical African settings. This by way no way suggest that there are no good
friends!
As much as possible, one
must be conscious of people around them as they make career growth. Too much
disclosure could be deadly. Plans should be kept to oneself. Sharing food or
drinking office tea are opportunities for some wicked actions. Our people say
that food that has been ingested is difficult to vomit. So, as much as
possible, rising persons should be careful of their drinks and food. In extreme
cases, rivals, known and unknown, resort to physical elimination. For this
reason, travel plans should be kept close to the chest. Above all, prayers of
protection are essential in a country as ours in which God is worshipped on
Sundays and ignored during the week by millions. When a workplace or church
environment becomes toxic, if we can let us move to another branch. If it is in
church of course there are laid down principles about inviting the person for a
discussion, getting a third party involved and treating the person like a
gentile. But a change of environment or avoiding proximity is a practical way
of reducing danger.
The final point to be made
is that nemesis awaits anyone who schemes evil against an innocent person,
whether at the workplace or in the family, in church, mosque or business
premises. Sadly, workers in the universities, including some professors, are
not excluded from this penchant for destroying people through all kinds of evil
schemes, means and shenanigans. Indeed, one professor was once reported to have
said to a colleague during a squabble: ‘remember that you have only one child!
In all of this, we all
must remember Emerson’s observation, made popular by Thriller Writer James
Hadley Chase, that ‘nemesis, is that recoil of nature, never to be guided
against, that ever surprises the most wary transgressor! Anybody who destroys
another will pay for it ultimately.
PROFESSOR HOPE EHGHAGHA write from the University of Lagos
VOICELESS (Nigeria) MISSION TO RESCUE (Kenya) A DANCE TO FORGET (Nigeria) HEROES OF AFRICA (Ghana)
BEST ACTOR MALE NOMINEES
JORGE LUIS CASTRO (OCEAN) Russia ADAM GARUBA (VOICELESS) Nigeria SEUN AKINDELE (DESPERATE PROPOSAL) Nigeria BERNARD ADUSE POKU (HEROES OF AFRICA) Ghana
BEST ACTOR FEMALE NOMINEES
UFUOMA MCDERMOTT (MR & MRS OKOLI) Nigeria LARA LAZARETTI (NOVEMBER) Portuguese Brazil NANCY ISIME (A DANCE TO FORGET) Nigeria ASABE MADAKI (VOICELESS) Nigeria
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR MALE NOMINEES
TONY AKPOSHERI ( Mr & Mrs Okoli ) Nigeria NANJIE RAMESH (BROKEN POT) Cameron SANI MU’AZU (VOICELESS) Nigeria FREDERICK LEONARD (VENDETTA ) Nigeria
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR FEMALE NOMINEES
NGOZI EZEONU (A DANCE TO FORGET) Nigeria YANA IVANOVA (GRAND CANCAN) Russia REKIYA ATTA (VOICELESS) Nigeria MA-BI ETONGO CELESTINE (BROKEN POT) Cameroon
BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES
ROBERT PETERS (VOICELESS) Nigeria GILBERT LUKALIA (MISSION TO RESCUE) Kenya FRANK GHARBIN (HEROES OF AFRICA ) Ghana) MIKHAIL KOSYREV-NESTEROV (OCEAN ) Russia
BEST SCREENPLAY NOMINEES
JENNY AGUNLOYE OKOLIKO (VOICELESS) Nigeria KOSYREV-NESTEROV (OCEAN) Russia NAJID ALFRED TOOFE, STANFAME AJALAJA (MR & MRS OKOLI) Nigeria FRANK GHARBIN (HEROES OF AFRICAN) Ghana
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES
JONATHAN KOVEL ( VOICELESS ) Nigeria OLEG LUKICHEV (OCEAN) Russia VINCENT BAFFOUR (HEROES OF AFRICA) Ghana VICTOR OMBOGO (MISSION TO RESCUE) Kenya
BEST STORY NOMINEES
HEROES OF AFRICA (Ghana) OCEAN (Russia) BROKEN POT (Cameroon) VOICELESS (Nigeria)
BEST CAST DIRECTOR NOMINEES
OCEAN (Russia) HEROES OF AFRICAN (Ghana) VOICELESS (Nigeria) MISSION TO RESCUE (Kenya)
BEST FILM EDIT NOMINEES
VOICELESS (Nigeria) NOVEMBER (Brazil) MR & MRS OKOLI (Nigeria) MISSION TO RESCUE (Kenya)
BEST SOUND NOMINEES
HEROES OF AFRICA (Ghana) VOICELESS (Nigeria) MISSION TO RESCUE (Kenya) NOVEMBER (Brazil)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN NOMINEES
VEGAS (USA) VOICELESS (Nigeria) A DANCE TO FORGET (Nigeria) OCEAN (Russia)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE NOMINEES
VOICELESS (Nigeria) A DANCE TO FORGET (Nigeria) NOVEMBER (Brazil) DESPERATE PROPOSAL (Nigeria)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG NOMINEES
A DREAM TO FORGET (Nigeria) OCEAN (Russia) NOVEMBER (Brazil) TWISTED (Nigeria)
BEST MAKEUP COSTUME NOMINEES
DESPERATE PROPOSAL (Nigeria) PIOUS LOVE (Nigeria) HEROES OF AFRICA (Ghana) A DANCE TO FORGET (Nigeria)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS NOMINEES
MISSION TO RESCUE (Kenya) OCEAN (Russia) JUDAS KISS (Uganda) VOICELESS (Nigeria)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM NOMINEES
NYARA “The Kidnapping” by Ram Ally K (Tanzania) MARIA KRISTU: The Buumba story by Paul.S. Wilo (Zambia) SHUJAA WETU (OUR HERO ) by Tom Johns (Tanzania) FURROWS by Julio Mazarico (Spain)
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM NOMINEES
GOLDEN FISH,AFRICAN FISH by Thomas Grand, Moussa Diop from (Senegal) GUNS, BOMBS & WAR: A LOVE STORY by Emmanuel Itier from (USA) FREEPLAY by Ivan Torres (Spanish,United Kingdom)
SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM NOMINEES
YABÁ by Rodrigo Sena (Brazil) ARCTIC by Josu Venero, Jesus Mari Lazkano from (Spain) HALF-DROWNED by Nnadi Hillary Ikenna (Nigeria)
INDIGENOUS FILM CATEGORY NOMINEES
EFUNSETAN ANIWURA by Joshua Ojo (Nigeria) ISHI ANYAOCHA by Jhonpaul Nwanganga (Nigeria) THE WIDOW’S SON – HAUSA VERSION by Willie Workman Oga (Nigeria) GRAVE by Adeshina Abiola Paul (Nigeria)
INDIGENOUS FILM ACTOR NOMINEES
YEMI SOLADE (EFUNSETAN) CLARION CHUKWURA (EFUNSETAN) WALE ELESHO (EFUNSETAN) JESSICA RAYMOND (THE WIDOW’S SON – HAUSA) CHIDIEBERE ANEKE (ISHI ANYAOCHA)
BEST SHORT FILM NOMINEES
MUM by Kenechi Oraghalum (USA) BROTHERLY by Best Okoduwa (Nigeria) ARIZONA 1878 by Manuel Jose Olaya MuÑoz (Spain) CLICHÉ – REFLECTION OF A SILHOUETTE by Jesper Skoubølling (Denmark)
