BY IKENNA OBIOHA
Yesterday, television mogul and CEO of EbonyLife Films Mo Abudu announced on her Instagram page the receipt of a gold membership card from the Emmy Award body. In the post she said:
“Good morning beautiful people, what an honor! I just received a gold membership director’s card of the International Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for staging the world famous international Emmy awards.”
This may seem like a personal win for the 54 year old media personality, at least directly. With a critical assessment of the Nollywood space, the win goes beyond that, as its ripple effect will be felt throughout the entire industry in years to come, even if it means starting from the EbonyLife stables.
The film industry has not being as lucky as its music industry counterpart in terms of growth. The music industry since the days of 2baba’s African Queen has seen a meteoric rise in reach across various mainstream platforms over the past two decades while the film landscape maintained a vicious cycle of low budget filmed milked by piracy. But more recently, the movie industry has seemed to found its place at the table through international film festivals.
The exposure of the local film industry to the international film community kicked off few years ago with Nigerian films being accepted into film festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival, a platform that saw most of EbonyLife movies reach international audiences.
With this festival culture adopted by Nigerian filmmakers to showcase their work came the acquisition of Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, a first of such deal in the industry. This not only inspired other filmmakers to pursue a deal with the streaming outfit, but has also engraved in the minds of filmmakers to deliver quality over quantity.
Although Abudu isn’t the only one basking in the circle of the few chosen as committee members for an internationally recognised body. Actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and documentary filmmaker Femi Odugbemi have received slots to serve as members for the Academy Awards.
Obviously, these award bodies are adapting to the changes in the industry, hence the need for inclusivity and diversity. But in the long run, Abudu’s appointment which comes with the responsibility of acting as judge may help shine light on narratives that promotes African cultures which may have little values to the other committee members owing to their poor education in the cultural significance of the story.
Also, the perks that comes with this includes networking with other committee members who are also filmmakers to bring about a creative collaboration, thus putting Nigerian actors and narratives on the world stage.
