Nollywood Film, The Asylum, Premieres in London
Written by Kate Chukwu Thursday, 15 May 2008
There is a marketing embargo in place in the Nigerian film market. This has meant that no new films (Nollywood) have been released via the main marketing structure in Nigeria since the end of February. Basically, the Marketer Union which represents the bulk of Nigerian film distributors have decided to down tools as a prelude to what the president, Emma Isikaku has called drastic changes in the way Nigerian films are being distributed. It is rumoured that there will be fewer films released and fewer distributors granted the licence to release films. This they say will lead to better standards for Nollywood.
With the embargo still in place, it is refreshing to see a Nollywood film, The Asylum premiere in London . And this is not just any old film. It is the brand new work of London based director, Obi Emelonye. Mr Emelonye has brought many Nollywood classics in UK cinemas like Echoes of war, The Successor, and Lucky Joe. The Asylum stars Patience Ozokwor (a.k.a Mama G), Okey Bakkasi, Enebeli Enebuwa, Emma Ehumadu, Emma Ayalogu, Sandra Achums, Ofia afuluagu Mbaka and Azubuike Erinugha (The Scriptwriter).
The movie was first premiered at a film Festival in Germany to rave reviews. It will be showing at the Odeon Cinema, Surrey Quays, London on Saturday, 17th May 2008 at 9.45pm.
I was privileged to have an exclusive interview with the director of this Movie, Mr Obi Emelonye. This is a shortened version of the interview.
INTERVIEW WITH MR OBI EMELONYE
Q: Tell me briefly about this film
A: A state government in Nigeria decides to include mad people in their political agenda. The director of a lunatic asylum sees this as a opportunity to get more allocation. So he sends his men to gather mad men on the streets. Now they capture an unemployed man, who when he arrived at the asylum, made great effort to explain that he wasn’t mad. And the more he did that, the ‘madder’ they thought he was. Once inside, he found that there were some strange conspiracies behind some of the inmates in there.
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