Africa, Art, Film, Good Info, International, TV, Video

THREE 2015 MOVIES TO WATCH OUT FOR — #Africa

September 4, 2015 Tosinger Leave a comment

This blog brings you the best and latest of African talent and art; on the continent and in the diaspora. Here are 3 movie finds that would be worth checking out-

thE CeO

Synopsis: TransWire Communications is a global phone network with major operation in Nigeria. The CEO, an expatriate, has retired hence the Global Chairman has decided to send five nominees amongst his most senior level staff across Africa on a Leadership course in order to determine which one to appoint as the new CEO of Nigeria.

Popular Nigerian filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, on Thursday in a press conference unveiled the full details of his next movie, The CEO. The film showcases a cross-selection of African & international cast and crew members with diverse talents and backgrounds.

The cast includes Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, entertainer and activist from Benin, Angélique Kidjo; Haitan actor and model Jimmy Jean-Louis, best known for his role as The Haitan on the NBC television series Heroes; actor and founder of the New Nigeria Cinema movement, Wale Ojo; French-Ivorian actress and model, Aurelie Eliam; South African actor and presenter, Nicolaos Panagiotopoulos; Nigerian actress, Kemi Lala Akindoju; Moroccan star, Fatym Layachi; Kenyan actor Peter King, and Nigerian actress, Hilda Dokubo among others.

Synopsis – The CEO tells the story of TransWire Communications, a global phone network with major operation in Nigeria. The CEO, an expatriate, has retired; hence the Global Chairman has decided to send five nominees among his most senior-level staff across Africa on a leadership course in order to determine which one to appoint as the new CEO of Nigeria. The process that started relatively smoothly suddenly climaxed in a game of an intriguing death.

(Trailer not yet released) To stay updated, follow on Facebook here or follow the hashtag #theceomovie on social media

FifTy

Hot off its selection for the 2015 BFI London Film Festival, EbonyLife Films today released the official trailer for its highly acclaimed feature film, Fifty. The movie stars Ireti Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli and Nse Ikpe-Etim.

Directed by Biyi Bandele and executively produced by Mo Abudu, FIFTY, captures a few pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are forced at midlife to take inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Lagos.

The trailer is a sneak peek into this tender but unflinching exploration of love and lust, power and rivalry, life and loss in twenty-first century Lagos. The four lead characters, six-inch heels, partying hard and loving strong, with courage and fortitude, navigate life’s unending curveballs.

Fifty will premiere in a special grand Lagos ceremony on the 13th of December 2015 at The Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and will be released in cinemas nationwide on the 18th of December 2015.

In the meantime, for more information, visit the website: www.fiftythemovie.com or follow on Twitter: @Fiftythemovie; Instagram: @fiftythemovie or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/FiftyTheMovie

beAsTs of No NaTioN

The powerful new film starring Idris Elba recently had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and will screen at the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, and London Film Festival. Beasts of No Nation, A Netflix Original Film.

Synopsis – When civil war tears his family apart, a young West African boy is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters and transform into a child soldier. Available in select theaters and on Netflix October 16.

Written and directed by Emmy Award winner Cary Fukunaga (“True Detective,” Sin Nombre) and starring Golden Globe winner Idris Elba (“Luther,” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Beasts of No Nation will debut Friday, October 16, 2015, the same day in Landmark theatres in the U.S. and worldwide on Netflix in all territories where the world’s leading Internet TV network is available.

Beasts of No Nation is based on the highly-acclaimed novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, bringing to life the gripping tale of Agu, a child soldier torn from his family to fight in the civil war of an African country. Newcomer Abraham Attah gives a stunning portrayal of Agu, while Elba dominates the screen in the role of Commandant, a warlord who takes in Agu and instructs him in the ways of war.

The film is produced by Amy Kaufman and Cary Fukunaga (who previously worked together on Sin Nombre), Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker and Dan Crown for Red Crown Productions, along with Elba. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King are executive producers for Participant Media; Donna Gigliotti is executive producer for Levantine Films; Elizabeth Koch and Kristina Kendall are executive producers for New Balloon; and Bill Benenson, Laura Bickford and Todd Courtney are also executive producers.

View Trailer

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing

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Nigerians Flying High and Taking the Space – @freeman_osonuga & @Kimbersfly

September 2, 2015 Tosinger Leave a comment

Introducing to some and presenting to others two Nigerians that are reaching for the heights, literally.

fReeMaN OsoNugA

Freeman Osonuga is one of Africa’s leading voices on poverty alleviation, advocacy and care for people with disabilities, orphans and the less privileged. Freeman is a One Young World Ambassador, one of the 2013 Ten Outstanding Young Persons In Nigeria, and Founder and Executive Director of Heal The World Foundation Nigeria. In 2014, at the Peak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, he worked as a volunteer and worked with the African Union team of Ebola responders for 6 months in Sierra Leone.

Freeman, a Medicine and Surgery graduate from Olabisi Onabanjo University, has been selected (through the Rising Star programme, which launched at the One Young World Summit 2014 in Dublin) to embark on a once in a lifetime flight to space and also offered a three year management contract. The programme invites both One Young World Ambassadors and outstanding members of the public aged 18-35 to be nominated to take on the trip of a lifetime.
If selected for the program, he will be the first Nigerian and First
black African to fly to space!
Osonuga is a 2015 WIRED Innovation Fellow. He will be speaking live on the London stage at the WIRED 2015 conference in October.
View Freeman’s profile here on the Kruger Cowne website and watch video below.

kIMberLy AnyaDike

Kimberly Anyadike is a young pilot who learned to fly from an after school program focused on helping at-risk youth realize dreams — Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum in Compton, CA.

Inspired by the Tuskeegee Airmen, then 15-year-old (now 21) US based Kimberly Anyadike of Nigerian descent flew a single-engine Cessna cross-country from her hometown of Compton, Calif., to Newport News, Va. Anyadike is said to be the youngest female pilot to complete the journey, which took 13 days.

“I set a record flying the plane in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen! The plane is named after Tuskegee Airman, Levi Thornhill, and I was accompanied by Major Thornhill during the trip. I am now the youngest African American female to pilot a flight across the country. After the flight, I was ready for my close-up. It took a lot of courage for me to speak in front of an audience!” – Seventeen.com

Born in Los Angeles in 1994, Kimberly Anyadike never remembers a time in her fifteen years she wasn’t interested in flying. Her passion for aviation began with a 20-minute demo flight at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, a flight school and youth mentoring center in Compton, CA. Kimberly washed airplanes and did other tasks to earn “museum dollars” that she traded in for flight lessons. Among the mentors available to kids in the program are several Tuskegee Airmen, who Kimberly has been immensely inspired by.

Exposed to a wide range of activities, Kim was a junior lifeguard at Venice Beach for five years, where she also learned how to surf. She attended the Lula Washington Dance Academy, taking ballet, hip-hop and tap dance classes. Kimberly is a youth member at her church where she learned how to read music, and is now learning how to play piano, violin and guitar.

Most recently she has completed college courses at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, the Saturday Science Academy at Charles Drew University and is taking a range of art courses at the Plaza De La Raza. She volunteers to feed the homeless in downtown Los Angeles and is very active in her church, while maintaining her G.P.A Kimberly’s career goal is to become a cardio-vascular surgeon with a pilot’s license. Like her FB page here

Kimberly Anyadike (born c. 1994) is known as the first Nigerian American teen to fly across the United States. Her Dad is from Nigeria, and Anyadike means (Eye of a Warrior). She flew from Compton, California to Newport News, Virginia in 2009. It took her 13 days to complete the flight The miles flown were 2,342. The plane used was a Cessna C-172. She was accompanied by safety pilot Ronnell Norman, a certified commercial pilot and Major Levi H. Thornhill, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who at age 87, is a member of the elite Tuskegee Airmen who served during World War II.

Anyadike is from Compton, California. She paid for her flight lesson by working many regular jobs around the compton airport — via wiki