Holding Hope
Holding Hope is a touching portrayal dedicated to one of the world’s killers, cancer. It is a well-told story of an arrogant young man played by Desmond Elliot who is also the director of the movie. The young man, known as Sydney, a wayward young man who does not seem prepared for the job at hand to prove he can properly manage the estate to be bequeathed to him by his mother, Mrs Badmus. He is soon shocked into becoming responsible when his mother announces that she is struck with cancer and has a short time to live. Faced with the risk of being all alone, the young man turns around, trying to grapple with the dynamics of the establishment but his problem is the uptight accountant, played by the very convincing Uche Jombo. The threat posed by the smart young lady soon changes when his late mother hands the company to her, forcing Sydney to pretend to love her. The biting climax establishes the movie as a worthy effort when he truly falls in love with her, she is also diagnosed of cancer also. His world shattered as his new form of security is threatened. Sydney has to seek heights that he is not familiar with to make a meaning out of life. Holding Hope comes out in DVD format as one of the top movies of 2010. It features terrific performances by Desmond Elliot, Ngozi Nwosu, Biola Williams, Rukky Sanda, Nadia Buari and Uche Jombo herself.
Bursting Out
Featuring Genevieve Nnaji, an uptight executive who runs her own company. Bursting Out is an exciting feature presentation yet again from the stable of Emem Isong’s Royal Arts Academy. If you excuse a beginning that looks pretty similar to Silent Scandals incidentally featuring the two same lead characters, Bursting Out is the kind of movie that makes you want to cry, laugh and generally get excited and it is up with the very best Nollywood has to offer, providing much spectacle and credit to the directorial ingenuity of Desmond Elliot and Daniel Ademinokan.
Playing on the theme of mistaken identity, the young man, a struggling dispatch rider, is taken as a date for a valentine gig after which love crops up but the showers of arrows soon hit the union by the people surrounding the classy and beautiful lady as an issue is made of the contrast between them.
Bursting Out, premiered in August this year, is one love story that ends well for the two love birds, making the movie even more exciting but predictable.
Anchor Baby
Anchor Baby is the thrilling story of a Nigerian couple, Joyce (Omoni Oboli) and Paul Unanga (Sam Sarpong) who have to battle with the issue of immigration laws in the United States. As a married illegal immigrant couple living in the US; Paul and his wife, Joyce, have been ordered by the US Immigration authorities to leave the country by voluntary departure and they agree to leave but only after Joyce gives birth to their first child. Joyce, already five months pregnant, and her husband believe delivering the baby in the US will guarantee automatic citizenship for their child. They subsequently ignore the deportation order and go into hiding afterwards to escape being caught.
Featuring Terry Oliver, Sam Sarpong, Omoni Oboli and others, the cinema effort, which is the first from Lonzo Nzekwe, Nigerian movie producer, director editor based in Canada, is sure to dazzle Nigerians for the rest of the year and more to come with this movie.
Paul is later caught and deported while Joyce stays back, struggling alone to achieve the dream that would make their child a US citizen, hence the name, Anchor Baby which is a kind of derogatory term used for a child born to illegal aliens who, upon reaching a certain age, can then facilitate the immigration through family reunification.
Anchor Baby, which premiered on December 9 at the Silverbird Cinemas, hitting other cinemas across the country from December 10, has won international awards including the Best Film award at the 2010 Harlem International Film Festival and has been officially accepted for screening at the ‘Fans of Film’ film festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA and others.
Ije: The Journey
This is another immigrant story dwelling on two sisters, Anya and Chioma. Anya (Omotola Jalade- Ekeinde), the elder of the two sisters, is more daring and has an unquenchable desire to be a movie star in Hollywood, which is the reason for her sojourn in God’s own country while Chioma, also carefree, is doing well as a banker in Nigeria. Anya is in trouble in the US and Chioma, who shares an unusually unbreakable bond, with her sister, is out to prove her sister is innocent once she is further reassured after speaking to her sister. Anya is standing trial for murder and the truth behind the circumstances that got her in jail is what her sister and a determined lawyer are in search of.
Produced and directed by Nigerian international filmmaker, Chineze Anyaene, many believe the movie is popular because it stars Omotola and Genevieve. But while it is not in contest that the two remain the biggest on the movie stage in Nigeria, the powerful storyline, profound editing and clear pictures all add up to making the movie the best in Nollywood yet. The awards are pouring in already, with Excellence in Filmmaking, Best Editing awards won by the movie as well as nominations for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Feature Film in various international awards.
A fact that must not be forgotten is that Ije: The Journey is reputed to have amassed a fortune of over 47 million naira in the first cinema run in Nigeria alone. This is despite the many that are yet to watch the movie and now have a chance due to popular demand, as the movie hits the cinemas again late December until early January.
D’ Comeback
If you say this is the year of movies from the Diaspora in Nigeria, you won’t be wrong. Another of these movies is D’ Comeback, a movie shot by a group of Nigerians in the United States of America who are interested in improving the entertainment scene. D’ Comeback is loosely based on the account of the Biblical character, King David. The relationship between David, a young man who helps Saul Johnson reclaim the control of Aijetan, soon turns sour as Saul, his former benefactor-turned adversary, begins to see him as a threat rather than a helping hand especially when David becomes engaged to his daughter. The movie, which premiered sometime ago, had a cinema run that got many Nigerians interested and although with a couple of alien elements like many dance scenes, unfamiliar location and actors that are not known to the Nigerian populace. The movie is good enough to stand tall in the terrain.
Jungle Ride
Jungle Ride, a production of popular Nollywood actress, Lilian Armah-Aluko, which premiered at the cinemas in the early part of the year, February to be precise, finally hit the stores in VCD/DVD format sometime in September, bringing much excitement to enthusiasts of the industry. The movie, concerning the youths of the country, is a fantastic portrayal and by any standards, one of the best works that got Nigerians talking this year.
Memories of My Heart
Among the likes of actors and actresses who turned towards production and directing this year, is the beautiful damsel that many followers of the Nigerian movie industry like to watch, Ini Edo. Although her marriage was a big deal sometime ago, she is back in style, armed even with a movie which premiered not too long ago at Coral Reef, Ikoyi.
Titled Memories of My Heart, the effort, done in conjunction with Royal Arts Academy, features Ramsey Nouah, Desmond Elliot (who also directed), Monalisa Chinda, Nse Ikpe Etim, Kofi Adjorlolo, Uche Jombo and others made an impressive statement going by its well-attended premier and first hand reaction of the audience.
Nollywood Hustlers
After a long wait, Nollywood Hustlers, again from the stable of Royal Arts Academy, which had its premiere alongside Guilty Pleasures, was released and it’s doing pretty well in terms of sales and patronage. The movie, featuring the likes of Monalisa Chinda, Ramsey Nouah, Steve Onu (Yaw), Bishop Umoh, Charles Inojie, Ejike Asiegbu, Uche Jombo and others, is a parody of some of the things that go on in Nollywood, hence the name, Nollywood Hustlers.
Purely a work of comedy, the movie throws up issues regarding unprofessionalism, desperation and other tendencies of mediocrity that pervade the industry crying for stability.
Source> Daily Independent
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