A Red Carpet Welcome for Patience Ozokwor in New York

The car finally arrived. It was late of course, but the crowd had waited patiently. It was going to be a rare opportunity to see “live” Patience Ozokwor, the actress they fondly call Mama G after a role she played in one of her numerous movies.

We were all at the new yet-to-be-opened extension of African Movie Mall in Brooklyn, NY. The event was the public introduction of Nollywood aficionado Dan Ashitey’s A Booklet for Nollywood Movie Lovers & Buffs. It was a formal launch, autograph and book signing, and one-on-one picture taking session with the guest movie star for interested fans. In Ashitey’s words, “We have invited probably the most versatile and prolific actress in Africa today”.

Explaining how he got attracted to Nollywood home video films, Ashitey said he liked a movie he watched in 1999. That first encounter became a hobby that burgeoned into a passion that soon saw him watching 10 titles a week. Surprised that “such a very vast movie industry that is churning out about a 1000 movies a year” does not have adequate exposure in North America, he took it upon himself to create a worthy front for the industry. “My main goal for writing the book is to inform the public, especially non-Americans and Africans in Diaspora about the emerging Nigerian film industry”

Today, the writer believes Nigerian movies have tremendously boosted the African image abroad, helping greatly to correct the widespread “Tarzan” mentality in the Western media. “Nollywood has responded very appropriately” to all the media jabs and “brightened the image of Africa” in the process, he says.

The booklet contains sections like The Nollywood Test, 12 Things You May Not Know…, Identify The Stars, How Many Nollywood Movies Have You Watched, 161 Nollywood Movies You Should Have Seen and lastly, For Your Eyes Only. Aside the information in the compilation, it is also an activity book that keeps the enthusiast fascinated with fun quizzes. Nkem Owoh, Ramsey Nouah, Chidi Mokeme, Olu Jacobs, etc., are some of the 25 leading actors and actresses whose photos appear in the book

Ashitey presented Ozokwor a huge bouquet of flowers on behalf of all the Nigerian movie fans in the USA. Ozokwor also symbolically received the first copy of the book before it went on sale. In her response to all the warmth, the actress thanked the writer and audience for strongly representing Nigeria and Africa here in the US. “I assure you that Nollywood will grow from strength to strength, incorporating everybody in Diaspora and at home”

A Booklet for Nollywood Movie Lovers & Buffs is published by SCA Publications based in Brooklyn. You can get a copy by calling 917 328 6670