Rita glows from the United States

BY SHAIBU HUSSEINI
Done with an aspect of her brief as Ambassador with the telecommunication giant, Globacom, popular actress, Rita Dominic heeled to London and the United States to ‘rest’ and; to touch base with her family. Moviedom caught up with the Imo State star actress and the exchange did not end without a word about what Rita termed the greatest lie of the century — her involvement in the raging Monalisa Chinda and Dejo Richards marriage break up. In an interview with a national daily and in a couple of other newspapers, Victor Segun Dejo-Richard had named Rita as one of those who ‘destroyed’ his marriage to Nollywood actress Monalisa Chinda

I am in the states to rest
What I am doing in the States? I am just resting. I have been working so hard, so I decided to take a little vacation. I went to see my brother and sisters in England and; now I am in the states.

My fans should have no fear
GLO has been wonderful. We have been promoting GLO Text for millions and getting a chance to meet the millionaire winners. I also hear GLO 1 has arrived so I am so excited to see what it will do for telecommunications services in Nigeria. My fans should not have any fears. I am still around. Endorsement is part of the job and it will not make me be missing in action at all. What GLO has done is to indirectly bring positive change to Nollywood. Years from now, historians will mark this time in Nollywood history and GLO will be praised for it. Me, Monalisa and Mr. Dejo Richard I’ve been away on vacation for twoweeks and was unaware that they had separated. Two days ago, my line started ringing and it was some members of the press asking questions about statements made by Mr. Richards. I don’t know him and have never had any communications with him. I was not close to Mrs. Richards when they got married, so, this is like a joke. It is obvious that he is trying to use discussions they had about me while married to gain cheap popularity. Every interview Mrs. Richards has had in the past five years, she has made it clear to reporters that I was not her friend. So how could I have influenced the crash of their marriage? I’ve worked very hard to stay away from these kinds of scandals but it seems Mr. Richards is intent on dragging innocent people down with him but his plan will not succeed.
Don’t know what could have led to this
You have to ask them if there was any rift that led to this assumption. From Mr. Richards’ utterances, it seems that there is a lot of anger directed towards me and other actresses. Before now, it was just a rumour but now, I know better and; as I said, it seems Mr. Richards is intent on dragging innocent people down with him but his plan will not succeed. He will not.

The gist about your wedding
Ha, it seems that these days people have learnt how to make smoke without fire. It is important to marry a “real man” and it seems there are few out there. God will bless me with a real man, and I will let you

Around and about Nollywood..

The Figurine arrives October 2 The world premiere of Kunle Afolayan’s latest movie, The Figurine, will hold on October 2, 2009, at the Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, Lekki, Lagos after an advanced screening on October 1 to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day anniversary. The film, which will also be premiered in Abuja on October 8, Port Harcourt on October 9 and at the Odeon Cinemas, London, on October 17, will open simultaneously on October 2 at the Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, The Palms, Lekki; Ozone Cinemas, E-Centre, Yaba and Silverbird Cinemas, Victoria Island. The Figurine is centered around two friends, Femi (Ramsey Nouah) and Sola (Kunle Afolayan), who discover a carved artwork in the forest while on the compulsory National Youth Service Corp scheme in Araromire village. Against Femi’s advice, Sola picks up the mysterious artwork, which bestows good luck on him. He becomes a successful man with a happy family, but the story changes suddenly after seven years. Things go awry and the two friends and Mona, Sola’s wife, have to contend with unseen forces to get their lives back on track.

Mba drops hint of a new law for the censors
The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB)’s enabling law is to be amended to provide more stringent punishment to those who violate regulations on film distribution and exhibition according to a News Agency of Nigeria report. The Director General of the Board, Emeka Mba, said the proposed amendments had been tabled before the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. Beyond amending the sanction in the act to meet with present reality, Mba disclosed that one of the changes would also involve the Managing Director of the Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC), Jos, serving on the Board of the NFVCB and vice versa. This, according to Mba, is to avoid tension experienced in the past between both bodies. He reasons that the NFC’s membership of the governing board will enable it appreciate the level of work done by the film censors as well enable the two agencies identify areas of cooperation. The report also quotes the Censors Board as saying that the Board had taken into consideration the convergence in the information and communication sector and the role of technology in the industry, a reason Mba stressed the need for the NFVCB enabling law to be amended to fit into the trend in the modern technology of a rapidly changing world. Established by Act 85 of 1993, the NFVCB is the official regulatory body for the film and video industry in Nigeria.

Omotola takes campaign to Freetown
Popular Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde was in Freetown, Sierra Leone recently as a part of the Amnesty International delegation to launch a campaign against maternal death. Accompanied on the visit by the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, Omotola, who is popular as ‘OMO T’ was a visible part of the launching of a report, Out of Reach: the Cost of Maternal Health, which uses graphic and personal testimonials to show how women and girls are often unable to access life saving treatment because they are too poor to pay for it in Freetown. Reports indicate that Omotola and Khan’s visit to Sierra Leone marks the start of Amnesty ’s action against maternal mortality in the country. A very busy actress but with passion for humanitarian activities, Omotola has been working with Amnesty International to raise awareness about the high incidence of maternal deaths in Sierra Leone.

Here is ION Film Festival
Organizers of the international touring film festival -ION International Film Festival, have confirmed that the feast will still hold in Port Harcourt between December 9 and 12, 2009. Dubbed ION International Film Festival Port Harcourt’09, the touring film festival, which moves every year to a new location around the globe in an effort to promote global awareness, peace and unity will make its debut in Africa with this edition in Port Harcourt. The festival has been staged in Los Angeles in 2007, then Dubai in 2008 and now Port Harcourt. It is expected to move to Istanbul in 2010. This is the first time ION lands in Africa and will be hosted in Port Harcourt on December 9-12 , 2009. ION launched the call for entries in 12 official categories on 1st April and submissions are welcome by filmmakers before the deadline of 30th Sept 2009 - International submissions can be done through www.ionfilmfestival.com or www.withoutabox.com. Those wishing to make submissions from Nigerian should check submission details at www.omcomm.org. Again, call for entries will close on 30th of September 2009. See www.ionfilmfest.com or www.omcomm.org for details.

Why we shifted 6th Abuja International Film Festival, By Duker
The organizing committee of the 6th Abuja International Film Festival has issued a formal press statement, informing that the festival earlier scheduled for the 22nd to 25th of September 2009 in Abuja has been regrettably shifted to allow for maximum participation of delegates, visitors and participants as a result of festivities after the Islamic Ramadan period. Signed by the Festival Manager, Ebiere Ajibola Bodude, the shift in date will not affect the programming of the festival this year, as it will also afford the organizers ample time to plan for the event. The new date has been fixed for the October 27 to 30 at same venues of Musa Yar’Adua Centre and Bolingo Hotel, Abuja. The Festival has so far, received 211 entries of which 43 are from Nigeria and the remaining 168 from other parts of the world. Some of the major entries received include Run Game (S/Africa), Close Enemies (USA/Nig), The Figurine (Nig), POW (Canada), Mauroo Shampoo (Brazil), Storm of Emotions (Israel), The Kiss (France), Four Element (Portugal) and others.

WAKA PASS
Producer- Amebo A. Amebo
Director- Mr. Gossip
Actors- Nollywood Celebrities

The crack in the actors fold deepens
Just when we make up our mind to black out any gist from the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) something bizarre happens. Anyway, someone called from Port Harcourt during the sallah break that stars have invaded the Rivers State capital. We gathered that the Garden City have been taken over by popular Nollywood actors, who identified themselves as delegates to the national election of the AGN that will be conducted by the ‘olding’ actor, Sam Loco Efe. Election ke? We asked and the fellow confirmed that all was set and that indeed Sam Loco was addressing the delegates as we spoke. Anyway it was with baited breath that we waited for the outcome of the election. And when the sunset, our phone buzzed and the voice at the other side confirmed that the AGN now has a new President in the deep actor, singer and voice over artist, Segun Aina Padonu aka Segun Arinze. The actor of many credits reportedly ran over the equally popular actor Charles Awurum to emerge -- in the words of the waka pass who filed in the report -- ‘the third democratically elected (not appointed) President of the AGN’. The waka pass also informed that the actor and television show host, Abubakar Yakubu emerged National Public Relations Officer of the guild while Chuma Onwudiwe was elected National Secretary. One waka pass who heard the news with Moviedom almost asked for a bottle of his usual to celebrate Segun’s victory but he froze action when we read a text message we got from the Chairman of the Interim National Working Committee of the AGN Kanayo O. Kanayo. The text message read: ‘Ejike Asiegbu has ignored the court order and went ahead to conduct illegal election to put Segun Arinze as President. No other positions were contested for. Please ignore any SMS saying Segun is President’. This text caused ‘things’ not to flow after that news from Port Harcourt. So, where do we stand? Nowhere oooo. The matter should be between Black Arrow… we mean Segun Arinze and those who are occupying his presidency. We mean now that Asiegbu has joined the list of the ‘former’ by commission or omission.
Achor Ugenyi finally shows up
Although we have not set eyes on him and he has not returned our many calls to his only GSM number that we know, a recent widely circulated email message has it that the ‘former’ or is it ‘immediate past’ Secretary General of the embattled Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Achor Ugenyi, has finally resurfaced. Hard as we tried to get Ugenyi to ‘look us in the face’ and confirm most of the tales that have been making the rounds about him was like trying to get to Aso Rock with or without appointment. Anyway we got this forwarded email message from the ‘factional’ leader of the Actors body, Kanayo O. Kanayo, who just wanted to prove to waka pass that the walls that the embattled President of the AGN Ejike Asiegbu was clinging to has since crumbled. The message was a scanned newspaper report of an interview that Uncle Achor (as we, his younger colleagues call him) granted and where he suggested that he relocated to his hometown to receive treatment when Asiegbu couldn’t raise funds to treat him. Well we read through the interview Achor granted and this is the part we thing that Kanayo wanted us to see. Hear Achor: ‘There can never be two presidents at the same time in a guild or association like ours. Talking about the impasse, when we were sworn in, according to the constitution that was operational then, we had a two-year mandate, which was supposed to lapse in 2007. In the course of the administration, there was need to review the constitution. After we did that, there was congressional meeting on the 27th of June 2007, where the new constitution was adopted. After the adoption, a communiqué was raised, which of course, highlighted a summary of the decisions reached. We were given an extra one year in 2007 to conduct election at the state and national level. Based on this new development, our tenure including the one year extension expired in 2008. So, there can’t be two presidents. Most of us that served in the exco have since moved on. Anybody insisting we are still in office is deceiving the general public. There is no division in the Guild. The person in charge of the affairs of the guild is KOK’. Now to Uncle Achor from one waka pass: ‘did you move on because your tenure expired or because you had to go treat yourself when you couldn’t extract a commitment from Asiegbu to treat your ailment’? Our email and number has not changed!

Omotola was at Silverbird
Hey, how could we have left out the fact that we saw popular actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde the other day at the galleria. No, she didn’t come to see the vexatious film District 9, which has not allowed Auntie Dora Akunyili to drink water and keep cup. The actress who is popular as Omo T or Omo Sexy was at the Galleria as one of the honoured guest at the premiere of Stephanie Okereke’s debut movie as a director, writer and producer, Through the Glass. Her white coloured Infinity jeep was conspicuously parked in front of the galleria with the usual customized plate number –OMO T. Anyway, we didn’t see her when she drove in oooo, but one waka pass, who stood sentry as she alighted, said she really took her time to step out of the car as if to say to fellow celebrities like Oby Edozie who came with motor vehicle that e no easy oooo. And by the way, if you drive anything less than a jeep in Nollywood, your vehicle is categorized as ‘motor vehicle’. We are working on a list of those who drive cars and those who drive motor vehicles. To God be the Glory.