Last week
Tuesday, was a moment of tears, clap, back slapping and photography as select
group of people made up of mainly movie industry stakeholders, film critics and
the media gathered for the screening of the 10 Million Dollar movie ‘HALF OF A
YELLOW SUN.’
There was
about ten minutes of heart-touching moment of tears, as Yewande Sadiku, the
executive producer who raised over 10 million Dollars for the movie recollected
how painfully excruciating it was for her to raise that kind of money
especially more so when she has raised over a billion Dollar for other
non-movie business ventures. ‘I never believed it could take me about 6 years
to raise that kind of money, I am an investment banker by profession, part of
my specialty is raising money for people, I have headed a team that raised 1
billion dollars for a corporate organization, I could not believe that raising
money for a project that I want to do personally would take this long. Somehow
people do not believe it could be done and a lot of people do not believe in the
movie industry, there were many times I broke down with tears in my car
especially when someone had promised to make a commitment and all of a sudden
you can’t reach the person anymore or the person stops picking your calls or
replying SMS’.
Continuing,
Yewande said ‘Somehow my husband and I sold everything we had and we got one or
two people to also put down part of the money and borrowed the remaining money
from banks’.
The tears
got a few people on Yewande’s side but what finally sealed the conviction was
the movie after it was screened. It is a movie that would make any Nigerian in
any part of the world proud. Yewande was greatly applauded by the select few,
among whom were, Kunle Afolayan, movie critics like Toni Kan, Steve Ayorinde,
Samuel Olatunji, Niran Adedokun and respected script writer Tunde Babalola
(writer of ‘The Meeting’, ‘The Assignment’ and ‘Last Flight to Abuja’).
For Toni
Kan, ‘HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’ should be a must watch for every Nigerian. “You
must go and watch it (‘HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’) because it is a valuable piece of
Nigeria’s cinema history. It will teach you and touch you in many ways and
with2015 approaching and rabble-rousers banging on the drums of war, this love
story set in the time of war will give you perspective. War is evil but love
conquers all. When I read the novel, I was upset that it had been marketed,
mostly, as a book about the Biafran war, it was not. It was a love story set in
a time of war. At the core of ‘HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’ is love, lust, loss and
the healing power of forgiveness.”
The movie
which would be screened in Nigeria, Australia, US, UK, Middle East and Portugal
stars Oscar nominee, Chiwetel Ejiofor,
British actress, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Nollywood acts, Genevieve
Nnaji, Zack Orji, Wale Ojo, OC Ukeje, and veteran singer Onyeka Onwenu. The
movie is directed by Nigerian playwright, Biyi Bandele.
The premiere
in Nigeria is on April 12, 2014 while it will be released across cinemas in Nigeria
from April 25, 2014.
Just Incase you didn’t know, Arinze Ejiofor, a doctor and a Nigerian
highlife musician is Chiwetel’s father. In 1988 he passed on after a motor
accident that involved him and Chiwetel who was only 11years old and has scars
on his forehead to show for it. One of the titles of late Arinze’s album is Nna
Anyi Bi Na Enu Igwe
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