Egyptian-American Oscar winner, Rami Malek, has hinted he would appear as a villain in the latest James Bond film starring Daniel Craig, alongside a cast including Ralph Fiennes and Lea Seydoux.
Rami Malek, who won the Oscar for his performance as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”, said in a video message: “I promise you all I will be making sure Mr Bond does not have an easy ride in this”.
By Joseph Longo
Rafiki, based on the Ugandan short story “Jambula Tree” by Monica Arac de Nyeko, follows a Kenyan Romeo and Juliet romance between the daughters of rival politicians. Kena (Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva) explore first-time love in a country where being gay is illegal. Doused with saturated colors and tender performances, Rafiki is a rarity in queer cinema with a bright and hopeful tone.
By Angy Essam
Famed Egyptian/American actor Sayed Badreya is currently shooting his role in “Vanguard” movie alongside the megastar Jackie Chan.
Badreya told Egypt Today that ‘’Vanguard’’ will be a massive global production.
Continue reading “Egyptian star Badreya to co-star with Jackie Chan in “Vanguard””
Egyptian football sensation Mohamed Salah has been listed among the TIME’s 2019 most influential people.
The 26 year old star also features on the cover of the magazine. Inside, HBO John Oliver paid tribute to the footballer, calling him an “an “iconic figure for Egyptians, Scousers and Muslims the world over.”
Continue reading “Mo Salah and Rami Malek Among TIME’s 2019 Most Influential 100”
In his feature film debut The Burial of Kojo, Blitz Bazawule tells a story of two brothers through the gaze of a gifted girl who travels between gorgeous lands that exist in life and death.
It’s not your ordinary narrative film, but a cinematic fable that is surreal, magical and infused with Afrofuturistic elements. Yes, it is complex and yes, it will probably make your brain bleed with its visual prowess, but Bazawule isn’t here to give you normal. He’s here to change the game while rattling your senses with a dose of global and inclusive storytelling. As Bazawule said, “Nobody cares about normal, right?”
By Glenn Kenny
When musicians turn to film directing, it doesn’t always work out. Ask anyone who’s seen Bob Dylan’s nearly-five-hour musical romance “Renaldo and Clara” (although that oddity does have its wary admirers).
But it more than works out with “The Burial of Kojo,” written, directed and scored by Blitz Bazawule, a Ghana-born musician now based in New York who traveled back to his birth country to make this dazzling modern fable.
Kris Mokwunye, 25, is a Nigerian filmmaker, content creator and a lover of creative works generally. All his life, from secondary school to university education, he has been doing creative works.
An award-winning short filmmaker, his showbiz career started with organising an event, Chill with a Star, before branching into filmmaking, which saw him garlanded at the Abuja International Film Festival in 2017.
So far, he has done and directed eight short films, for himself and for others.
Continue reading “Kris Mokwunye takes Nigerian short films to America”
By Ernest Bazanye
Ms Lupita Nyong’o pleased news magazines when she announced that she is in works to produce a TV miniseries based on Americanah, the award-winning bestselling novel from Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.
This news, from the star of Us, has made Africa ecstatic. If you feel left out, here is the simple explanation.
Continue reading “Why is Lupita Nyong’o making Chimamanda’s Americanah?”
On April 1st 2019, The Official Convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), CinemaCon recognized the Nigerian movie industry with the Emerging Market Award at Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas, U.S.A.
The award was presented to CEO of The Filmhouse Group, Kene Okwuosa and MD, FilmOne Production and Distribution, Moses Babatope.
Continue reading “CinemaCon celebrates Nigerian cinema with the Emerging Market Award in Las Vegas”
Kenyan Lupita Nyong’o has said the Horror film Us took an emotional toll on her and it was exhausting as she had to play different versions of the same character
“This movie stretched me, it bent me, it cost me a whole lot,” she told the BBC’s Radio 1Xtra. Us is a horror film written and directed by Oscar-winner Jordan Peele – the man behind Get Out.
Continue reading “Lupita Nyong’o: Horror film Us took an emotional toll on me”
Global streaming giant Netflix has appointed Kenyan award-winning TV producer and Spielworks Media chief executive Dorothy Ghettuba as its manager for International Originals.
The move comes after global streaming giant Netflix announced last year that it would commission original shows from Africa by 2019.
This could increase demand for the platform among viewers from the region and eventually reduce the cost of access.
“Telling our African stories. Onwards and Upwards,” said Ms Ghettuba in an Instagram post announcing her appointment.
Continue reading “Netflix appoints Kenyan as manager International Originals”
By Margaetta wa Gacheru
The team was offering aspiring young filmmakers a chance to take an online documentary film-making course run by Atlanta-based filmmakers Bud Simpson and James Martin. Kenyans selected for the course would then take part in making a film short or two that highlighted elements of contemporary Kenyan culture.
“More than 300 Kenyans applied to take the course,” says Evie Maina, the former anchorwoman of local TV shows like KBC’s Art-itude and Arts and Culture as well as KTN’s Artistic Thursday.
Continue reading “US Online course jumpstarts Kenyan film-making”
By Jeffery Fleishman
Those times of on-the-fly editing and pocket-change financing have since grown into one of the largest film industries in the world, a quicksilver business that is as attuned to juju priests as it is to the love affairs and nightclubs of the new rich.
The reach of what is known as Nollywood often strikes Kemi Adetiba, one of its most acclaimed directors, when she’s in Jamaica or New York. A taxi driver will invariably say, “Oh, God, I love Nigerian films” while waxing on about how those stories connect him to ancestors who centuries before had been uprooted from Africa by slavery and colonialism.
Continue reading “Watch out Hollywood, Nollywood is coming to town for a festival of African film”
Nigerian actress, Amanda Ebeye, recently visited Canada where she went to shoot her first movie, a short film titled, “Horrors”.
The movie marked her directorial debut and is centred on single mothers.
On her experience while filming in Canada, Ebeye said,
“It was actually amazing filming a movie in Canada. Canadians are about the nicest people in the world. And just like Nigerians, they are very welcoming to filmmakers.”
“It was a beautiful experience, from the owners of the locations we used, to the cast and crew, and onlookers that cheered us on.”
Continue reading “Nigerian actress, Amanda Ebeye, shoots directorial debut in Canada”
By Mildred Europa Taylor
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Oscar-nominated actor, Djimon Hounsou, will kickstart shooting the much-anticipated biopic ‘Panzi’ this summer.
The Beninese-American actor and model who is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in “Blood Diamond,” is set to portray the role of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Denis Mukwege, in the film “Panzi”.
The film will be directed by actress-turned-director Marie-Helene Roux, Variety reports.
Mukwege was jointly awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad for “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”
Continue reading “Djimon Hounsou set to play Congolese Nobel Peace Laureate in new film”
When Godwin Jabangwe stood in front of a room full of Hollywood movie executives to pitch his first feature film last November, he knew his idea wasn’t exactly the stuff of a conventional blockbuster.
He wanted to make an animated movie called “Tunga,” he explained, about a young girl who travels to a mythical lost city on a quest to save her village from drought. It would be set in Zimbabwe. Oh right, and it would be a musical.
“Five years ago, with an idea like that, you would have been laughed out of the room,” Mr. Jabangwe says. But his idea immediately caught the ear of a big production company, and last month, after a scrappy bidding war, Jabangwe signed a deal with them. “Tunga” is going to be a Netflix original.
Continue reading “Netflix increases production of African films”
Kenyan screen beauty Lupita Nyong’o may not have won an award at the 91st Oscars but she made her presence felt with this beautiful outfit.
Continue reading “Lupita Nyong’o, A Gracious Role Model for Our Times”
Djimon Hounsou was born and raised in Benin Republic. The actor came to America as an adult to work in the fashion industry before landing his leading role in Amistad that changed everything. He has since gone on to star in Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy .
He dated fashion and reality TV star, Kimora Lee Simmons, with whom he has a son, Kenzo Lee Hounsou. Last summer, Hounsou took Kenzo to Benin Republic to acquaint him with his African roots. This report by Sarie on bckonline.com
Continue reading “DJIMON HOUNSOU, the Hollywood star who remembers his roots in Africa”
