Charles Okpaleke and Ramsey Nouah say they have acquired the rights to produce a movie about King Jaja of Opobo. The Nigerian movie producers broke the news on Friday, March 26 in a post on their individual Instagram pages.
King Jaja was a merchant prince and the founder of Opobo city-state, an area in Rivers. He was said to have been sold into slavery in Bonny at the age of 12
According to Okpaleke, the decision to secure intellectual property rights to produce the feature film followed meeting with Dandeson Douglas, the present ruler of Opobo.
Nigerian history does not have enough representation in media and Okpaleke thinks it is time we remedy that. He added that the movie is part of efforts to further tell African stories from a unique angle. Okpaleke and Nouah both wrote about the King Jaja of Opobo project; saying, “We can say we have the authentic account of the eventful life of King Jaja. We are set to tell it in a gripping way as you all have come to expect from us.”
Check out the full post below:
Nouah and Okpaleke worked together on the award-winning movie Living in Bondage: Breaking Free; which was the sequel to the 1992 classic Living in Bondage. The two made a great team then and it would be great to see what they have in store.
