BLACKBox is envisioned as a dynamic space for nurturing talent, shaping narratives, and supporting creators across the spectrum of storytelling, spanning television, film, documentary, and branded content.

With state-of-the-art facilities and a flexible design, the hub can host up to 50 participants for hands-on workshops, with group breakout areas, meeting rooms, and roundtable discussion spaces to foster creativity and collaboration.

“BLACKBox is more than just a space,” says Odugbemi.

“It’s an ecosystem for shaping compelling African stories with global impact. Our goal is to support creators not just in storytelling craft, but also in the development, structure, and delivery of content that is authentic, innovative, and commercially viable,” he added.

READ ALSO: PHOTO NEWS: Faces at launch of ITU Africa-BB-Maps initiative

As part of its core offerings, BLACKBox will provide project development consultancy for both emerging and established creators, supporting the journey from concept to screen.

The hub will host a series of training intensives, masterclasses, and mentorship programmes designed to build capacity in key areas such as script development, production design, directing, and audience engagement.

In addition, Zuri24 Media, the acclaimed production company behind celebrated television series such as Battleground, Brethren, Covenant, and the award-winning feature films Gidi Blues and The Man Died—will now operate out of the BLACKBox facility.

This strategic co-location provides a real-time environment for learning, collaboration, and hands-on industry experience.

By combining consultancy, content development, and continuous professional training under one roof, BLACKBox is set to become a vital engine in Nigeria’s creative economy, offering a unique blend of artistic mentorship and strategic support.

The post Femi Odugbemi launches creative hub, BLACKbox appeared first on Frontpageng.

Inspired by the prison notes of Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature, Wole Soyinka, The Man Died, will be screened on June 15 at the FACETS, 1517 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago at 3.30 pm.

It is the 134-mins (longer) version of the film that will be screened.

Other festivals where the film had featured – across three continents – on its current global tour had screened the shorter (105 mins) version.

After the screening, the director of the film, Awam Amkpa, trained-artist and Professor of Art and Media at the New York University, Abu Dhabi and NY, will have conversation with guests to the screening. This is the exact format adopted at the Luxor International film Festival, LAFF, in January, where it won the “Best Film that treats an important African Issue.”

In its invitation to the producer of the film, Femi Odugbemi of Zuri24 Media, the ADIFF directorate, said it was inviting The Man Died to feature at both its Chicago and Washington DC iterations

Part of the invitation reads: “On behalf of the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF), I am delighted to formally invite “The Man Died,” directed by Awam Amkpa, to screen at both ADIFF Chicago and ADIFF DC.”

The Washington DC screening will hold in August.

Before now, the film has had a great run in the American circuit, having been to the Pan African Film Festival, PAFF, Los Angeles, (February 4-17); Nollywood in Hollywood, California, (February 28-March 1), and African Film Festival Atlanta, (March 13-17 ).

READ ALSO: I have no regret naming conference centre after Tinubu –Wike

A promo on the Chicago festival screening published by the directorate of the ADIFF, Artmattan Productions, captures the film’s synopsis as:

“Based on the gripping true story of Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian literary giant who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. When his principled intervention to halt a burgeoning civil war is twisted into an act of rebellion, he finds himself unjustly incarcerated by the military regime. Inside the confines of his cell, his unwavering ideals are pushed to their breaking point as he fights to maintain his mental fortitude and stay alive… The Man Died is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished.”

Established in 1993, the Harlem-based minority-led not-for profit, the ADIFF, “presents, interprets and educates about films that explore the human experience of people of colour all over the world in order to inspire imaginations, disrupt stereotypes and help transform attitudes that perpetuate injustice.”

Other details in the invitation state:

ADIFF Chicago: We are thrilled to offer a screening slot for “The Man Died” at FACETS in Chicago, from June 13th to June 15th, 2024. We believe this powerful film aligns perfectly with ADIFF’s mission to showcase diverse and thought-provoking cinema from Africa and the African diaspora.

ADIFF DC: We are also very pleased to invite “The Man Died” to screen at ADIFF DC, to be held at George Washington University in August… We see a strong potential audience for the film in Washington D.C. and are excited to bring it to this new venue.

Director Attendance (Chicago): We would be particularly honoured to explore the possibility of having the director, Awam Amkpa, attend the ADIFF Chicago screening. His presence, and the potential for a Q&A session with the audience, would significantly enhance the event and provide a valuable opportunity for engagement with the film’s themes.

Written by the renowned United Kingdom-based screenwriter, Bode Asiyanbi, the film stars a coterie of popular names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, the protagonist; Sam Dede as Yisa, Wole’s tormentor and antagonist; Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmond Enaibe (Commissioner); as well as international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.

After Chicago, the next port of call for the film will be Europe, where it has been elected a “star attraction” at the 2025 African Theatre Association, AfTA annual conference holding in Stuttgart, Germany in July.

It is also being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; at New York University, Harvard University, and at Ithaca College, all in the USA; at Oxford University, in the United Kingdom; as well as at the House of World Culture in Berlin, Germany, among others.

This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms, and international distribution channels.

The post ‘The Man Died’ in Chicago for African and Diaspora Film Festival appeared first on Frontpageng.

The Man Died will be screened at 6.00 pm, and is expected to attract a diverse cadre of audiences beyond the festival guests and patrons.

There is an expected large turn-out of audiences from the Nigerian and African communities, as well as from New York University, NYU, the home-base of the director, Awam Amkpa, a professor of Cultural Aesthetics.

Co-presented with Film at Lincoln Center (FLC – May 7 – 13), the festival events will also hold at Maysles Cinema (May 15 – 18), and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM – May 23 – May 29), the AFFNY, sometimes also called New York African Film Festival, NYAFF, founded by the renowned film worker and activist, Mahen Banneti, is reputed as one of the most important outlets for exposition of stories from Africa in North America.

In an invitation letter extended to the producer of the film, Femi Odugbemi, Bonetti, who doubles as Executive Director of the AFFFNY, stated: “This year, the flagship festival is presented under the banner, Fluid Horizons: A Hopeful Lens of a Shifting World, honouring the resilience of African youth and the forbearers that paved the way.”

READ ALSO: Amotekun arrests suspected drug dealer in Ogun

She continued, “Since 1993, NYAFF and its collaborators have presented this festival, using cinema as a tool to bring African culture, history, and politics to thousands of viewers in the United States.”

Bonetti added: “For this 32nd edition of NYAFF, we have curated a grand selection of screenings, talks, exhibitions and panels, as well as African music, celebrating veteran and emerging filmmakers/artists from Africa and the diaspora.

“Hence, it will be a great honour if you can join us at this year’s festival and partake in the festival screenings and special events taking place during the festival’s run at Film at Lincoln Center.”

The invitation is also extended director of the festival., Awam Amkpa, to give a masterclass on “the art of adaptation, exploring how iconic literary works are reimagined for the screen.”

Professor Amkpa’s session, will see him using The Man Died – one of the very few of its kind from Nigeria, to “examine the creative choices, challenges, and cultural resonances involved in translating text to film.”

Also to feature Angèle Diabang, and her film So Long a Letter, adaptation of Mariama Bâ’s feminist classic explores a woman’s defiance in the face of betrayal, the synopsis of the masterclass, states: “From personal insight to process, this dialogue celebrates the enduring relationship between literature and cinema, and the new worlds that emerge when they meet.)—the session will examine the creative choices, challenges, and cultural resonances of translating text to film.”

Written by a notable Nigerian script/screenwriter, Bode Asiyanbi, based in the United Kingdom, The Man Died, which aside the 105-minute version is also available as a 124-minutes (for academic exposition), stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmond Enaibe as Commissioner; as well as international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.

The post ‘The Man Died’ to be screened at Lincoln Centre, New York appeared first on Frontpageng.

This is as it is also slated to be at Luxor International Film Festival, Egypt in January.

According to a schedule released by the organisers of Carthage, the film will be screened at L’Opera Cinema on Sunday, December 15; at ABC on Monday, 16th and at Amilcar on the 17th — to a diverse audi-ence of international festival attendees and the local audiences.

Founded in 1966, Carthage Film Festival (Journées ciné-matographiques de Carthage, or JCC), one of the oldest film festivals in the world, is renowned for attracting large casts of the best of global cinema family.

It is reputed to champion the cause of African and Arab countries and enhancing Global South cinema in general.

Organised by a committee peopled by professionals of the cinema industry, chaired by the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, the festival which began as a biennial, alternating with the Carthage Theatre Festival, became an annual event in 2014.

Its main prize is the Golden Tanit named after the Carthaginian goddess Tanit.

The 2024 festival is directed by Sonia Chamkhi, who has been on the seat since 2022.

Though yet to be officially released to the market, The Man Died, which since its “special-premiere” in July in Lagos to mark the Nobel laureate dramatist, poet, essayist and human/civil rights activist, Soyinka’s 90th birthday, has already won two awards – Best Screenplay Award at the 2024 African International Film Festival, AFRIFF, (No-vember) and; Best Audience Choice Award at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival, ENIFF.

Written by London-United Kingdom-based Bode Asiyanbi, directed by New York-US and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based Awam Amkpa and produced by Lagos, Nigeria-based Femi Odugbemi for Zuri24 Media, The Man Died stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller and Edmund Enaibe as Commissioner; and international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.

The film, continues to garner global critical acclaims, and is already programmed for Luxor International film Festival, Egypt in January; Jo’Burg Film Festival, SA (February); African Film Festival, New York, US (March), and FESPACO in Burkina Faso (March), among others.

This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms, and international distribution channels.

It is being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; Jo’Burg, South Africa as well at Harvard University, Oxford University, and at Ithaca College, all in the USA, among others.

The film began its global tour in London in July as part of the Wole Soyinka at 90 celebration jointly organized and hosted by the Africa Centre and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange, WSICE.

READ ALSO: Lagos signs MoU with Commonwealth on trade, investment

It returned to same London in October as part of the African Film Festival, and also had an educational screening at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.

It was screened on October 11 on the ‘Accra Streamfest’ bill of the “Labone Dialogues”, hosted by New York Uni-versity, NYU Accra.

The film has also had a series of home runs including on October 5 at the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest 2024, Lagos; and the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF on November 14.

Produced by Zuri 24 Media, The Man Died, according to the synopsis on its website — www.themandiedmovie.com — is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war.

He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

It is fundamentally a personal account.

Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind.

At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to himself by a thread.

At other times, he pondered, listened, and watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can.

Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of “motionlessness.”

The director of the film, an actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi.

Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003), Awam is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals.

He has also written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.

The producer, an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar, Femi Odugbemi is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos, producers of the film.

His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries.

He was one of the founding producers of the daily soap opera, Tinsel, as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including Battleground; Brethren; Movement JAPA, and Covenant, among others.

Also, producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films, Odugbemi is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

The post ‘The Man Died’… in Carthage film Festival, Tunisia Dec 14-21 appeared first on Frontpageng.

Ogungbemi who made this known on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti said that the suspects were arrested by Ajoni community vigilance group, code named ‘Operation Eradicate Bandits’.

The chairman said members of the vigilance group arrested the suspects while on patrol along the border between Ekiti and Kwara states.

According to him, the suspects had allegedly confessed to killing the NSCDC officer and kidnapping his family members.

Ogungbemi said that two AK47 rifles were recovered from the suspects, who were being detained at Ikole Ekiti police station.

Ayebulu was shot dead by gunmen on September 3, along Oke-Ako-Irele-Ekiti Road while driving home to Kogi together with some members of his family.

Source: NAN

The post Four suspects arrested over murder of NSCDC officer in Ekiti appeared first on Frontpageng.

Time is 10.30 a.m.

Aside from the screening of the film produced and directed by the ace filmmaker, Femi Odugbemi, and co-produced and presented by the journalist and media entrepreneur, Kadara Ahmed, the event will also feature a Conversation on issues around the state of the health system in the country as thrown up in the 95-minute documentary.

With the theme as “stopping brain drain in the health sector,” the conversation will have as special guest of honour Oyo State Governor, Oluseyi Makinde.

The Keynote Speaker is Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who had also performed same role at the maiden premiere and conversation on May 7 in Lagos.

In giving the background to the production of the documentary, Odugbemi said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head and hit the world’s most populous black nation Nigeria with predictable ferocity. With its soft underbelly of corruption, poor healthcare infrastructure, weak systems and an ever-increasing number of its population below the poverty line, the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic has been substantial, but could this also be an opportunity for reset?”

This is the context in which the conversation will hold on Friday after the documentary has been screened.

Ms. Ahmed, states: “It is the hope of the producers of the documentary that beyond documenting the Nigerian story of covid, Unmasked acts as a catalyst for a conversation on shortcomings in our public health sector that were unmasked by Covid.

The film’s production and the conversation are facilitated by the support of MacArthur Foundation and PLAC (Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre).

The post Covid-19-inspired film, UNMASKED, premieres in Ibadan appeared first on Frontpageng.