IKENNA OBIOHA
Nollywood producer Kunle Afolayan has released two trailers for his upcoming film Mokalik (Mechanic) to kickoff the fanfare for the film’s future release.
Mokalik follows the career of an 11-year-old boy, Jaiye, from the middle-class suburbs who spends the day as a lowly apprentice at a mechanic workshop in order to view life from the other side of the tracks. When his father arrives to take him home, Jaiye has to make up his mind if he wants to return to school or take on his apprenticeship full time.
The film has award-winning singer, Simi in her debut acting role. The lineup also include Femi Adebayo, Charles Okocha, Faithia Williams, Lateef Oladimeji, and comic actors like Wale Akorede (Okunu), Ayo Ogunshina (Papa Lolo) and Dayo Akinpelu (Alabi Yellow).
Like his previous cinematic offerings, Afolayan remains positive that Mokalik will replicate the commercial and critical successes that characterised films like The Figurine- Araromire; Irapada, Phone Swap, October 1, The CEO, and The Bridge.
Acknowledging the power he wields as a filmmaker in Nollywood, Afolayan plans to leverage the reach that streaming media company Netflix will provide.
“We are excited about having our other films, including Mokalik on Netflix, as that will assuage our fans who have been sending messages from all over the world, complaining of not having access to our films,” he said.
As part of plans to push his artistic projections to the rest of the world, he also partnered with Air France to have Mokalik and his other films on several platforms like French premium television channel, Canal+.
Impressed by Afolayan’s delectable artistic works, and the road he paves for progression in Nollywood, Commercial Director of Air France/KLM, Mr. Remco Bohre said: “Our partnership with Kunle Afolayan is another way of showing how excited we are –at Air France and KLM– about Nollywood and the Nigerian entertainment industry at large.”
Shot on EOS C300 Mark II, with Canon Cine lenses, The filmmaker expressed his satisfaction with the UltraHD (4k) output of the cameras. The output quality he said, would help produce fine details for post-production purposes.
Senior Sales & Marketing Manager – B2C, Canon Central & North Africa, Mr. Amine Djouahra also disclosed that Canon is proposing a media screening of the film between March 19-21, 2019.