admin
The body who hosts the Oscar Awards has released the names of 928 members that will be joining the 2018 voting membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science and four Nigerians made it to the list.
The Academy only invites notable industry professional in the Film Industry such as Actors, Producers, Directors to Filmmakers and Writers and among the diverse invitees are Nigerian film producer and directors Femi Odugbemi and Ngozi Onwurah; Nigerian actresses Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, and Wunmi Mosaku.
Femi Odugbemi, renowned filmmaker and producer who studied Film and Television at The Montana State University. He has scripted, directed and produced numerous documentaries, short films and drama. He produced Tinsel, a widely acclaimed soap opera that started airing in August 2008 and celebrated as successful drama on Nigerian television. The producer’s filmmaking credits include ‘Gidi Blues’, ‘Battleground’, ‘Maroko’ and ‘Bariga Boy’. Odugbemi was the President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria in 2002, a tenure that ended in 2006. In 2008, he produced ‘Abobaku’, a short film directed by Niji Akanni. The film won the Most Outstanding Short Film at the Zuma Film Festival held in 2010. It also won Best Costume at the 6th Africa Movie Academy Awards held on April 10, 2010 at the Gloryland Cultural Centre in Bayelsa. In 2013, Odugbemi scripted, produced and directed a documentary titled, ‘Literature, Language and Literalism’ about the late Nigerian writer, Daniel O. Fagunwa, the author of ‘Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀’
Nigerian-British Ngozi Onwurah was born in 1966 in Nigeria to a Nigerian father, and a white British mother, Madge Onwurah. Her family was forced to leave Nigeria in order to escape a Civil War. They fled to England, where Ngozi and her brother Simon spent the majority of their childhood. During their youth, they endured much racial discrimination, which influenced many of her films. Onwurah, studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and the National Film and Television School and has been directing her own films since 1988, starting with Coffee Colored Children and Best Wishes. She has also written several of the films she directs, including Hang Time. Her first feature film, Welcome II the Terrordome, won first prize at the Birmingham International Film Festival, the Cologne Film Festival and the Audience Prize at the Verona Film Festival. She produced Shoot the Messenger in 2006. She has directed a number of challenging short films, often foregrounding issues important to black women and has won the best short film at the Melbourne Film, Australia and best documentary at the Montreal Film Festival, Canada for “The Body Beautiful”.
Nigerian Super-talented actress, Model and Humanitarian, Omotola Jolade-Ekehinde She got the invite due to the blockbuster movie she starred in called “Private Storm” and 2012 award-winning “Last Flight to Abuja”. Omotola is truly remarkable and since coming into limelight in 1995, she has been a star. In 2013, she was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in the world together with Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama and Beyonce in the Time Magazine. Also in 2014, Omotola became a Member of the Order of Federal Republic, MFR by the Nigerian Government for her contributions to Entertainment Industry.
Wunmi Mosaku, a Nigeria-British actress migrated to Manchester, England and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2007. She made her stage debut in a production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s The Great Theatre of the World, and then later appeared in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. In 2010 Mosaku was named one of The Seven Fresh Faces of Toronto International Film Festival for “I Am Slave,’’ in which she starred. For her performance Mosaku won awards such as Best Actress at the Birmingham Black Film Festival, Best Onscreen performance at the Cultural Diversity Awards and Best Female performance at the Screen Nation Awards. Similarly in 2011, Mosaku joined Vera and played the role of Holly Lawson but left the show after just one year and won the 2017 BAFTA TV Award for Best supporting actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film “Damilola, Our Loved Boy”.
Other notable invitees that are Africans includes ‘Girl’s Trip’ stars Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Hadish; and ‘Black Panther’ star Daniel Kaluuya.
