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Onyeka Onwenu, who had a storied career across Nigerian entertainment, media, and politics, has died at age 72 in Lagos. The country’s president, Bola Tinubu, released a statement mourning the loss from his official X handle on July 31. Peter Obi, who ran for president against Tinubu in 2023 and lost, shared on X that he was at the hospital where Onwenu died. “I watched in pain as the doctors and medical staff fought tirelessly and battled to save her life, doing everything possible to bring her back to life but eventually...

The film was deemed ineligible because more than 50 of the film’s dialogue is in English.

Zornitsa Sophia’s Mother, the Bulgarian entry for the Oscars’ best international feature film award, has been rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The film was deemed ineligible because more than 50 of the film’s dialogue is in English, according to the Academy, in violation of its entry requirements for the category.

The Academy wrote in a letter to Maria Bakalova, the breakout star of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and president of the selection committee for the Bulgarian National Film Centre...

Dorothy Ghettuba remembers the moment that changed her life. The Kenya-born entrepreneur was traveling with friends in Zambia when their driver fell asleep at the wheel, sending their van careening off the road and into a tree. The group left the accident unscathed, but the brush with death rattled Ghettuba. “Things can happen to you that make you pause,” she tells Variety. “And that was a thing that made me pause and say to myself, ‘If today was my last day, have I lived my best life?’”

Ghettuba had been working at a venture capital firm in Canada, but she left her job and returned to Kenya, where she began to chase a lifelong dream to join the entertainment industry and tell the kinds of stories that spoke to her. Within a few years she’d produced her first pilot for public broadcaster Kbc and was soon developing a slate...

The streaming giant’s ambitious initiative Made By Africa, Watched By the World is a welcome platform for the continent’s overlooked cinematic talent

‘Have you ever had someone tell your story, take your voice … and replace your face until no one else can see or hear you?” These are the powerful words that Nigerian actor/director Genevieve Nnaji speaks to introduce the Netflix initiative Made By Africa, Watched By the World. Mixing new, original content with older African classics that have not previously been streamed elsewhere, this initiative, much like Strong Black Lead (2018), aims to showcase content that centres black stories but – unlike Strong Black Lead – it will be by and about Africans. It creates a path for stories that specifically address different slices of the African experience to see the light of day and reach a wider audience. Considering that there’s a growing feeling among Africans that...

The Toronto Film Festival has revealed further details about its 2020 edition, which will be a hybrid physical and digital event with a streamlined lineup.

All industry engagement will be online, including press and industry screenings and the festival’s Industry Conference, taking place September 10-15.

The online screenings will be hosted on a professional version of TIFF’s digital screening platform, developed by Shift72. National promotional agencies will be offered sections on the platform to promote films, talent and initiatives in lieu of a physical Industry Centre.

Film professionals can register for one of two pass options: the Digital Pro Pass is designed for distributors, exhibitors, sales agents, talent agents, producers and writer-directors, while the Digital Talks Pass is designed for new filmmakers, actors, students and scholars.

Registration for the Digital Talks Pass opens Monday, July 27. Industry delegates can register for the early-bird rate until Friday.

The Industry Conference will...

This year, the motion picture academy achieved its five-year goal of doubling the number of women among its membership. In all, 819 film professionals were invited to become part of the organization that hands out the Oscars. Compare this intake to the totals of the previous five years: 842 in 2019; a record 928 in 2018; 774 in 2017; 683 in 2016; 322 in 2015; and 271 in 2014.

While Academy Awards nominees are automatically eligible for consideration, the rest of the candidates must go through a fairly cumbersome process. A candidate must meet certain branch specific requirements before even being eligible.

For example, actors must “have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy.” For writers, directors and producers they need have just two of these credits.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 819 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

The 2020 class is 45% women, 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 49% international from 68 countries. There are 75 Oscar® nominees, including 15 winners, and five recipients of Scientific and Technical Awards. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2020.

“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy President David Rubin.

In 2016, the Academy set specific inclusion goals as part of its A2020 initiative to double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities by 2020. Through dedicated and intentional work by the Board of...

Awkwafina, Kaitlyn Dever, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Brian Tyree Henry, Niecy Nash, Florence Pugh, Lakeith Stanfield, Olivia Wilde and John David Washington are among the 819 film professionals who have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced on Tuesday.

Additional invitations went to directors Ari Aster, Mati Diop, Robert Eggers, Ladj Ly and Lulu Wang; to documentary filmmakers David France and Jeff Reichert; to executives Jennifer Salke and Teddy Schwarzman; to musicians and composers Larry Mullen Jr., Max Richter, Arturo Sandoval and Bernie Taupin; to producers Ryan Murphy and Rosalie Swedlin; and to writers Lucy Alibar, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth.

A dozen different people from the Best Picture winner “Parasite” were invited to join: actors Choi Woo-Shik, Jang Hye-Jin, Jo Yeo-Jeong. Lee Jung-Eun and Park So-Dam, costume designer Choi Seyeon, editor Yang Jinmo, composer Jung Jae-Il, producer Kwak Sin-Ae, production designer Lee Ha Jun,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 819 artists and executives to join the organization in 2020.

In doing so, the Academy continues its work on diversifying its ranks. If all 819 invitees accept their invitations, 45% of the new members will be women and 36% are from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities. International make-up is 49% from 68 countries.

“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy president David Rubin said in a statement.

In 2016, as part of its A2020 initiative, the Academy promised to at least double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities by this year. “Through dedicated and intentional work by the Board of Governors and members on the branch executive committees, the Academy has surpassed both these goals,...

Netflix has released a trailer for its anticipated first African original series, titled “Queen Sono.” The series represents the streaming giant’s ongoing push into the African continent — a still relatively untapped source of talent and content.

“Queen Sono” is a South African crime drama created by actor and director Kagiso Lediga, starring Pearl Thusi (“Quantico”) as a Jason Bourne-like operative who tackles dangerous missions while contending with personal challenges.

Thusi is joined in front of the camera by Vuyo Dabula, Sechaba Morojele, Chi Mhende, Loyiso Madinga, Rob Van Vuuren, Kate Liquorish, Khathu Ramabulana, Enhle Maphumulo, Abigail Kubeka, Connie Chiume, Otto Nobela and James Ngcobo. The series was ordered for a six-episode first season by Netflix in December 2018, with Lediga as executive producer alongside Tamsin Andersson. Lediga and Tebogo Malope directed all six episodes.

The first season is set to be released on Netflix in its entirety on February 28.

In...

“I grew up watching foreign-language films,” director Alfonso Cuarón quipped after his “Roma” won the Oscar for foreign-language film last year. “Learning so much from them and being inspired. Films like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘Jaws,’ ‘Rashomon,’ ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Breathless.’”

For foreign-language committee co-chairs Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, who had taken over the position that year from Mark Johnson, the co-chair for 17 of the previous 18 years, Cuarón’s joke was enough to prompt a change that had been a long-standing debate within the Academy. The category that had been called foreign-language film since 1956, when Federico Fellini’s “La Strada” won the award, was changed to international feature film, to reflect a more inclusive understanding of global cinema.

“It was something that has been discussed for years and years and years,” says screenwriter Karaszewski, whose latest, “Dolemite Is My Name,” co-written with longtime creative partner Scott Alexander, is up for Oscar consideration this year.

The decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in November to disqualify Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart” from the international feature Oscar race marred an otherwise promising awards season for Africa, which still saw its total number of submissions reach a record-breaking nine. The ensuing controversy brought filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, into the fray, and prompted the Academy to defend its decision on the grounds that entries must be mostly filmed in a language other than English, Nigeria’s official language.

But the dust-up also served to underscore broader structural challenges for African filmmakers dreaming of Oscar glory. Production across the continent has been steadily rising, with such debutantes as Niger, Malawi and Mozambique recently entering the awards race. Yet most countries lack either the financial resources to mobilize a selection committee — an often expensive proposition — or the political resolve to pursue an award that many perceive as...

New name, same category, new problems. Over the past decade, reforms to the submissions, voting and nomination procedures for the foreign-language feature category — now dubbed international feature — have led to a stronger and edgier group of nominees. But this year, the disqualification of a couple of submitted titles and concern over other rules has some publicists are calling for tweaks.

One reason for the concern is that two titles were disqualified after international feature submissions closed on Oct. 1. In November, Nigeria’s first-ever submission, “Lionheart,” helmed by Genevieve Nnaji, and Austria’s “Joy,” a quasi-documentary drama about Nigerian sex workers in Vienna from Sudabeh Mortezai, were declared ineligible because they were deemed to contain more than 50% English-language dialogue. Clearly, the 95-minute “Lionheart” features only about 10 minutes of Igbo dialogue and the rest English, which is the main language in Nigeria. The Austrian committee responsible for selecting the country’s submission...

This story on Mati Diop, Antoneta Kastrati and the female directors in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category first appeared in the International Film issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

When Mati Diop first heard questions about gender inequity in the film business, she didn’t know how to react. A mixed-race woman of Senegalese descent raised in Paris from the age of 8 by a strong single mother, she had been directing short films and acting since her early 20s, seldom stopping to consider that her opportunities might be restricted by her gender.

“When people started to talk to me about misogyny, I was like, ‘What is it?'” said Diop, whose haunting feature debut, “Atlantics,” is Senegal’s entry in the Best International Feature Film race. “I think I was in denial.”

Even as she worked on “Atlantics,” Diop said she resisted being a standard-bearer for her gender.

Editor’s note: Noah Tsika teaches media studies at Queens College, City University of New York. His books include “Nollywood Stars” and a forthcoming history of film distribution and exhibition in Nigeria.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently elected to remove Genevieve Nnaji’s Nigerian film “Lionheart” from the Oscar race — or, at least, from competition in the category now known as Best International Feature Film — it entered fraught territory: In a decision that stems from longstanding submission guidelines, the Academy ruled “Lionheart” ineligible because it’s an English-language production. But the outrage surrounding the ruling speaks to enduring debates about the postcolonial employment of European languages — the colonizers’ tongues — and why these debates remain so contentious.

The issue goes beyond this incident. Nigeria, and Nigerians, remain so unfamiliar to the Hollywood establishment that Ridley Scott’s production company, seemingly responding as much to the star...

On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disqualified Nigeria's entry for the best international feature film Oscar, Genevieve Nnaji's Lionheart, because it is predominantly in English.

The rules for the 92nd Academy Awards state: "An international film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (defined as over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track." Lionheart has a 95-minute running time, but only 11 minutes and 35 seconds of non-English dialogue.

The complication? As a result of centuries of colonization and growing globalization, the official language of Nigeria is....

On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disqualified Nigeria's entry for the best international feature film Oscar, Genevieve Nnaji's Lionheart, because it is predominantly in English.

The rules for the 92nd Academy Awards state: "An international film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (defined as over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track." Lionheart has a 95-minute running time, but only 11 minutes and 35 seconds of non-English dialogue.

The complication? As a result of centuries of colonization and growing globalization, the official language of Nigeria is....

China’s Huahua Media and Nigeria’s Corporate World Entertainment and FilmOne Entertainment are partnering on the first co-production between the two countries, “30 Days in China,” starring Nigerian actor-comedian Ayo Makun, popularly known by his stage name A.Y.

The film, slated for release next year, will feature Chinese and Nigerian actors and marks a step forward for the Nigerian industry. “We are enthusiastic about this opportunity because it extends the influence of our art to global markets,” said Makun, who has produced and starred in smash hits such as “Merry Men,” “A Trip to Jamaica,” and “10 Days in Sun City” (pictured), which rank among the 10 highest-grossing Nigerian films of all time.

“30 Days in China” pairs the world’s second-largest film market (China’s) with the growing international ambitions of Nollywood, Nigeria’s nearly three-decade-old film biz. Though the industry has long been known for straight-to-dvd works made on a shoestring,...

Updated with Academy statement: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s decision to disqualify Nigeria’s first International Feature Film submission, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, has been met with criticism since the news first broke. But the Academy said in a statement Tuesday that the film simply didn’t meet eligibility requirements.

The pic, which Netflix acquired ahead of its debut at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, was one of 93 films officially submitted to the Oscars this year, in the newly named International Feature Film category.

But on Monday, news broke that the Academy said Lionheart did not meet eligibility requirements of a submitted film being predominately in a foreign language. Most of the film is in English, with a small portion of the 95-minute run time in the Igbo language.

“In April 2019, we announced that the name of the Foreign Language Film category changed to International Feature Film.

Exclusive: Following online criticism over the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s decision to disqualify Nigeria’s first International Feature Film submission, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, co-chair of the International Feature Film executive committee Larry Karaszewski has responded, calling the situation “less of a controversy, and more of a misunderstanding.”

Academy rules for the category stipulate that “the recording of the original dialogue track as well as the completed picture must be predominantly in a language or languages other than English.” Lionheart’s 95-minute running time is understood to contain a little more than 11 minutes which are not in English.

Nevertheless, when word began to spread that the film had been deemed ineligible, names including Ava DuVernay took to Twitter to question the ruling. DuVernay commented, “English is the official language of Nigeria. Are you barring the country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language?...

Amid biting criticism of the Academy’s decision to disqualify Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart” from the Oscar race for best international feature film, Nigeria’s selection committee called the move “an eye-opener” and said Tuesday it would urge local filmmakers to take care to follow Academy guidelines in the future.

The committee acknowledged that “Lionheart” – Nigeria’s first-ever submission for Oscar contention – departed from the requirement that contenders feature “a predominantly non-English dialogue track.” The 95-minute comedy is mostly in English, with a short section in the Igbo language.

However, English is Nigeria’s official language, the result of decades of British colonialism before the country gained independence in 1960. Numerous indigenous tongues are also spoken in Nigeria, including Igbo and Yoruba.

Despite the selection committee’s conciliatory statement, the disqualification of “Lionheart” has sparked a social media backlash. Director Ava DuVernay lent her support to the film’s entry in the Oscar race,...

Film ruled out of international feature race by Academy for containing too much English dialogue.

The Academy on Tuesday (5) issued a statement following the decision to declare Genevieve Nnaji’s Nigerian best international feature film Oscar submission Lionheart ineligible on grounds of containing too much English dialogue.

In a statement the Academy said, “In April 2019, we announced that the name of the Foreign Language Film category changed to International Feature Film. We also confirmed that the rules for the category would not change.

“The intent of the award remains the same – to recognize accomplishment in films created outside of the...

The film has been disqualified by the Academy for having too much English dialogue.

Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart has been disqualified from the Academy’s best international feature film Oscar category for having too much English dialogue.

In a statement issued on Tuesday (5) the Academy said, “In April 2019, we announced that the name of the Foreign Language Film category changed to International Feature Film. We also confirmed that the rules for the category would not change.

“The intent of the award remains the same – to recognize accomplishment in films created outside of the United States in languages other than English.

Ava DuVernay sharply criticized the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Monday, after the group voted to disqualify Nigeria’s first-ever Oscar submission on the grounds that the movie’s dialogue is primarily in English.

“Lionheart,” from actress-director Genevieve Nnaji, was submitted for the Best International Feature Film category, formerly known as Best Foreign Language film. “Lionheart” is partially in the Igbo language of Nigeria, but most of the film is in English, a violation of an Academy rule that entries in the International Film category must be in “a predominantly non-English” language. The academy announced its decision Monday morning.

“To @TheAcademy, You disqualified Nigeria’s first-ever submission for Best International Feature because its in English. But English is the official language of Nigeria,” DuVernay tweeted Monday afternoon. Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language?”

Also Read: Here's Why Nigeria's...

The Academy has disqualified Nigeria’s “Lionheart” from the Oscar race in the Best International Feature Film category, dropping the number of films competing for the award to 92 from what had been a record 93 entries.

This year’s field is now tied with 2017’s as the largest in the category’s history. Snce “Lionheart” was made by actress-turned-director Genevieve Nnaji, its disqualification drops the number of female directors in this year’s race to 28, which is still a category record.

It was the first film ever submitted to the Oscars by Nigeria.

Also Read: Oscars International Race 2019: Complete List of Films

“Lionheart,” in which Nnaji also stars, is partially in the Igbo language of Nigeria. But it is mostly in English, which violates an Academy rule that entries in the category must have “a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”

The film had not been vetted by the Academy’s International Feature...

Earlier this month, the Academy announced that 93 countries submitted films for its International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards. Ten of these came from Africa, a new record for the continent.

It remains to be seen whether any of these titles will be shortlisted in order to make the final list of five nominees. Of the 10 films, Senegal’s “Atlantics,” Mati Diop’s 2019 Cannes Grand Prix winner acquired by Netflix, probably has the strongest chance.

The last time a film representing an African country won this category was South Africa’s “Tsotsi,” by Gavin Hood, at the 78th Oscars in 2006. It’s one of just three wins from African countries, which also include Algeria’s “Z” by Costa-Gavras in 1969 and the Ivory Coast’s “Black and White in Color” (“La Victoire en chantant”) by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 1976.

In 2018, eight submissions included African first-timers Mozambique (“The Train of Salt...

A record 93 countries submitted entries in the International Feature Film race at the 2020 Oscars. That is up by six from last year,when the category was still called Best Foreign-Language Film, and eclipses the record 92 submissions in 2018. The nations represented ranged from A (Albania) to V (Vietnam). Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees is made difficult by the two-step process.

First, the several hundred academy members of the Foreign-Language Film screening committee are required to watch a number of the submissions (upwards of a dozen) over a two-month period that ends in mid December. They will rate them from 6 to 10 and their top six vote-getters make it to the next round, as will three films added by the 20 members of the executive committee.

Those nine semi-finalists will be screened three per day beginning in early January by select committee members in Gotham, Hollywood, London and San Francisco. These 40 folks will...

Expanded shortlist of 10 films to be announced on December 16.

The Academy on Monday (7) confirmed that 93 countries have submitted films for consideration in the international feature film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.

Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants with Kwabena Gyansah’s Azali, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, and Umid Khamdamov’s Hot Bread, respectively.

Earlier this year, the Academy board voted to rename the category formerly known as foreign language film, and expand the shortlist from nine to 10 films.

The shortlist will be announced on December 16. Nominations for the 92nd Oscars will be unveiled on January 13, 2020, and the Oscars...

The 2020 foreign-language Oscar nominees will come from submissions from 93 countries, up from last year’s 87, and breaking the record 92 from 2017. A contender for the renamed Best International Feature must be a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.

Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.

The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;

Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;

Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;

Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;

Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;

Austria, “Joy,...

The 2020 foreign-language Oscar nominees will come from submissions from 93 countries, up from last year’s 87, and breaking the record 92 from 2017. A contender for the renamed Best International Feature must be a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

Ghana, Nigeria, and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants, but Uganda did not qualify. China (Yu Yang’s “Ne Zha”) and Senegal (Mati Diop’s “Atlantics”) submitted their films under the wire on the deadline of October 1.

Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted not only to rename the Foreign Language Film category, but to expand the shortlist from nine films to 10.

The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;

Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;

Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;

Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;

Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;

Austria, “Joy,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the full list of countries that have submitted a pic for consideration for the new International Feature Film Oscar category.

Here are the 93 nations and their hopefuls, in alphabetical order:

Albania, The Delegation, Bujar Alimani, director;

Algeria, Papicha, Mounia Meddour, director;

Argentina, Heroic Losers, Sebastián Borensztein, director;

Armenia, Lengthy Night, Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;

Australia, Buoyancy, Rodd Rathjen, director;

Austria, Joy, Sudabeh Mortezai, director;

Bangladesh, Alpha, Nasiruddin Yousuff, director;

Belarus, Debut, Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, director;

Belgium, Our Mothers, César Díaz, director;

Bolivia, I Miss You, Rodrigo Bellott, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Son, Ines Tanovic, director;

Brazil, Invisible Life, Karim Aïnouz, director;

Bulgaria, Ága, Milko Lazarov, director;

Cambodia, In the Life of Music, Caylee So, Sok Visal, directors;

Canada, Antigone, Sophie Deraspe, director;

Chile, Spider, Andrés Wood, director;

China, Ne Zha, Yu Yang, director;

Colombia, Monos, Alejandro Landes, director;

Costa Rica, The Awakening of the Ants,...

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

Scroll down for latest entries

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

Scroll down for latest entries

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

West IndiesOne of the biggest revelations at the 72nd Locarno film festival was a film made 40 years ago. Playing as one of only two African films—the other being Ousmane ‎Sembène’s redoubtable La Noire de…—in a terrific “Black Light” retrospective curated for the festival by American Greg de Cuir Jr.—West Indies (1979), directed by the late Mauritanian filmmaker Med Hondo has been infamously out of circulation for decades. This despite its landmark status as one of the most important films to ever come out of African cinema.Adapted from a play, Les négriers (The Slavers) by Daniel Boukman and shot in Creole and French, the fate of West Indies was perhaps sealed back in 1979 when it landed on an unsuspecting French public and was received with a shrug. It would take another six years for the film to get an American release. Hondo’s epic, considered as his crowning achievement,...

Lionsgate has unveiled the first trailer for British-Nigerian actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s feature directorial debut, “Farming,” a fascinating true story about a young black boy’s search for love and belonging within a savage skinhead subculture. Based on Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s own unbelievable story as a troubled youth in London, the title “Farming” refers to the practice of giving children over to informal fostering, which many Nigerian parents did in 1960s and 1970s Britain.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s parents, at the time students in 1967 London, gave him to a white working-class couple in Tilbury, which was then a fiercely insular, majority white dockside community. He was in constant danger of physical attack from local kids who, encouraged by their parents, nurtured a violent fear of black people.

Seeing his skin color as a burden, and actually thinking of himself as white, Akinnuoye-Agbaje developed a reputation for violence, eventually joining the local skinhead gang...

"You ain't like them... You're better." Lionsgate UK has unveiled an official UK trailer for the indie drama Farming, which is the feature directorial debut of English actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. You will recognize Adewale as Killer Croc from Suicide Squad, or Algrim from Thor, or Heavy Duty from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, or Mr. Eko from "Lost" - now he's telling his own true story. Based on Adewale's childhood, Farming is about a young Nigerian boy who "farmed out" by his parents to a white British family in hopes of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang in 1980's England. The cast includes Damson Idris, Kate Beckinsale, John Dagleish, Jaime Winstone, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Genevieve Nnaji, as well as Adewale. Damn - this looks very powerful and brutally honest. Worth a watch. Here's the first official UK trailer for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Farming,...

Lionsgate has launched the first UK trailer for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje hard-hitting directorial debut, ‘Farming’.

Written and directed By Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the film stars Damson Idris, Kate Beckinsale, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, John Dagleish, Jaime Winstone, Ann Mitchell, Genevieve Nnaji, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lee Ross and Zephan Amissah.

The film premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the ‘Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film’ at the 2019 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Also in trailers – Noomi Rapace is a woman on the brink of madness in trailer for ‘Angel of Mine’

The film is released in UK cinemas October 11th

Farming Synopsis

Based on his own life story, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Farming charts the extraordinary journey of a young fostered Nigerian boy who, struggling to find an identity, falls in with a skinhead gang in 1980’s England.

At six weeks old, Enitan (Zephan Amissah) is left in the care...

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s feature debut, the award winning “Atlantics,” which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Prix.

The film’s Cannes premiere earned Diop, niece of the late, great Senegalese cinema pioneer Djibril Diop Mambéty, a spot in the history books: she became the first woman of African descent with a film in the 72-year-old festival’s Competition section, and has proven to be one of the biggest breakouts at Cannes this year.

Previously titled “Fire Next Time” (although not based on James Baldwin’s famous essay collection of the same name), the film was in rare company. Diop and French-Malian Ladj Ly were the only filmmakers of African descent represented in Competition at the world’s most prestigious film festival this year.

The acquisition represents Netflix’s ongoing aggressive push into the African continent — a...

Netflix, which sat out Sundance this year, has snatched up its first buy of the Cannes Film Market, taking rights for the world, excluding Spain and France, on Eye for an Eye, a revenge thriller from [Rec] director Paco Plaza.

The deal with sales operation Film Constellation, for a reported seven-figure amount, is Netflix's biggest acquisition for an indie Spanish-language film.

As Netflix boosts local-language content on its platform, the streaming giant has become a major buyer for non-English fare. In Toronto last year, Netflix nabbed its first-ever Nigerian movie, taking worldwide rights to Genevieve Nnaji's directorial debut Lionheart.

Eye for an Eye features ...

Netflix, which sat out Sundance this year, has snatched up its first buy of the Cannes Film Market, taking rights for the world, excluding Spain and France, on Eye for an Eye, a revenge thriller from [Rec] director Paco Plaza.

The deal with sales operation Film Constellation, for a reported seven-figure amount, is Netflix's biggest acquisition for an indie Spanish-language film.

As Netflix boosts local-language content on its platform, the streaming giant has become a major buyer for non-English fare. In Toronto last year, Netflix nabbed its first-ever Nigerian movie, taking worldwide rights to Genevieve Nnaji's directorial debut Lionheart.

Eye for an Eye features ...

Netflix continues its push into the African continent — a still relatively untapped source of talent and content — with its latest originals order, which is also its first original African animated series, “Mama K’s Team 4,” produced by Cape Town, South Africa-based Triggerfish Animation Studios and London-based kids’ entertainment house Cake.

Bringing a fresh perspective to a classic cartoon genre, the series tells the story of four teen girls living in a neo-futuristic Lusaka, Zambia, who are recruited by a retired secret agent still committed to saving the world.

The news comes four months after Netflix announced its first African original, “Queen Sono,” starring veteran South African actress Pearl Thusi (“Quantico”) as a secret agent fighting crime while dealing with her messy personal life. It followed that up in February with a series order for the South African teen drama “Blood & Water,” which is directed by Nosipho Dumisa, the helmer behind...

Celebrating International Women’s Day, Variety salutes women making an impact in showbiz around the globe with their annual Women’s Impact Report 2019. The report represented women from all corners of the world in the creative and business sectors including both Oscar winners and power players in executive suites.

As Variety announced its report today, Sonam K Ahuja becomes the only star from the Indian film industry to be part of the list. With this she joins Hollywood star Lupita Nyong’o, French actress Juliette Binoche, Hollywood actress Emily Blunt, Georgia Brown UK Head Amazon Studios, Mary Guu CEO CAA China, Pippa Harris BAFTA Chair and Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji among others.

Representing the voice of Young India with films like Neerja, Padman, Veere Di Wedding and the recent Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Sonam K Ahuja has truly been a game changer in every sense of the word.

Netflix has ordered its first African original series, “Queen Sono,” a drama about a secret agent who fights crime while dealing with crises in her personal life. The series will launch globally in 2019.

“Queen Sono” stars veteran South African actress Pearl Thusi, who tweeted in an emotional video Monday that she “cannot wait for…every woman on this continent, and actually on this planet, to meet Queen Sono.” Of the deal with Netflix, she added: “It’s going to change the game for every artist on this continent.”

The announcement of the show comes barely a week after Erik Barmack, Netflix’s vice president of international originals, told a gathering in London that the company would begin commissioning original series in Africa starting in 2019.

Speaking about “Queen Sono” with South Africa’s Independent Online, Barmack said: “Taking talent like this and telling stories to the rest of the world puts...

The 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (Nov 30 – Dec 08) has set a jury comprising Suspiria star Dakota Johnson, Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!), Lebanese filmmaker and visual artist Joana Hadjithomas (I Want To See), Brit director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Moroccan director Tala Hadid (House In The Fields), French director Laurent Cantet (The Class), German actor Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Mexican director Michel Franco (April’s Daughter). As previously revealed, director James Gray will serve as jury president.

A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.

The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...

Netflix has acquired Emmanuel Mouret’s critically acclaimed French period drama “Mademoiselle de Joncquières,” which world-premiered at Toronto. The deal for most rights worldwide excludes France, Switzerland, Canada and the Benelux countries.

Represented in international markets by Indie Sales, “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” competed in Toronto’s Platform section. The 18th-century love-triangle drama is inspired by Didier Diderot’s classic work “Jacques the Fatalist and His Master,” and stars Cecile de France, Edouard Baer and Alice Isaaz.

De France plays Madame de la Pommeraye, a young and reclusive widow who falls in love with the seductive libertine Marquis des Arcis (Baer) against her better judgment. Feeling betrayed by his fading love, she orchestrates an intricate plan for revenge involving the seemingly pious Mademoiselle de Joncquières. Variety’s review called it “a shrewdly choreographed roundelay of scheming, seduction and revenge in the spirit of ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses.'”

Frédéric Niedermeyer at Paris-based...

Powered by growing demand for local content and a rapidly expanding theatrical sector, Nigeria is expected to hit box-office highs in 2018, with the industry on track to shatter the record it set last year.

As Africa’s largest economy continues to rebound from recession, bizzers are bullish that steady gains in recent years will continue to push the industry toward new heights. “It’s looking really positive for the prospects for the industry,” said Moses Babatope, group executive director and COO of FilmOne Distribution.

Total B.O. is on track to top 5 billion naira ($13.8 million) for the first time in 2018—a 25% increase from last year’s record-setting haul. While the actual take is still a drop in the ocean by global standards, investors continue to pour money into new theaters, fueling hopes that Nigeria is only beginning to scratch the surface of its exhibition potential.

“The thing that we’ve...

When Netflix acquired “Lionheart” following its Toronto International Film Festival world premiere, the acquisition marked a new arena for the global streaming platform — Nigeria. The directorial debut of Nigerian superstar actress Genevieve Nnaji, “Lionheart” drew a new level of international attention to Nigerian cinema. However, as Nigerian movies get more notice outside the country, it’s also raising the issue of exactly what a Nigerian film is supposed to be.

“It’s a complicated question,” said 31-year-old Nigerian-American filmmaker Faraday Okoro. He’s the writer and director of “Nigerian Prince,” the first film to win the At&T/Tribeca “Untold Stories” initiative, a multi-tier alliance between At&T and the Tribeca Film Institute that supports underrepresented filmmakers and awarded $1 million in funding for the winning script. Born and raised in the Us, Okoro is a graduate of both Howard University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he received his Mfa.

Exclusive: Lauded Nigerian actress and filmmaker Genevieve Nnaji has signed with UTA for representation in film, TV, and production. This comes after Nnaji’s directorial debut film, Lionheart, was picked up by Netflix prior to its Tiff premiere last month.

Nnaji also co-wrote and stars in the comedy that follows Adaeze who, in an effort to prove her worth in a male in a male-dominated industry, steps up to the run the family business when her father, Chief Ernest Obiagu is forced to take a step back. Tasked to run the company with her uncle Godswill, it is discovered that the family business is in dire financial straits and both Adaeze and Godswill try to save the company in their own way to crazy and often hilarious results.

Lionheart marks the first original feature from Nigeria to debut on the streaming service.

Nnaji, who is one of the highest paid actresses in Nollywood,...

What if the black protagonist of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” was not a cop infiltrating a racist institution in order to bring it down, but a true believer finding a violent outlet for a psychological Molotov cocktail of internalized racism and pathological self-loathing? This is, roughly speaking, the extraordinary premise of British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s directorial debut “Farming,” which is based with queasy authenticity on his own experiences as a teenage member of a 1980s white skinhead gang in Tilbury, Essex.

Unremittingly, bludgeoningly bleak in its portrayal of his own degradation and humiliation, and displaying only a passing interest in his eventual rehabilitation, the film is remarkable for its lack of self-pity, but it makes the experience of “Farming” a merciless one for the audience too. The process by which a young boy can be turned inside-out against his own skin is scary; scarier still is the sense that deprogramming this mindset,...

Lionsgate U.K. has acquired “Farming,” one of several international deals for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s directorial debut, which had its world premiere in the Discovery Section at the Toronto Film Festival. HanWay Films, which is handling sales, has also closed deals with Ad Vitam in France, September Films in the Benelux region, Icon in Australasia, and Cdc in Latin America and South Korea.

“Farming” starts out in the 1960s and follows Enitan, a young Nigerian boy played by newcomer Damson Idris. He is farmed out by his parents to a white British family in the hope of giving him a better future. Kate Beckinsale plays Enitan’s foster mother; John Dagleish, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jaime Winstone, and Genevieve Nnaji also star.

“The film happened when it was actually meant to in society,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje recently told Variety about the long-gestating, semi-autobiographical project. “Now we’re in a time when diverse voices have a platform.