Ako Ife berths in Ibadan for Easter

By Tade Makinde
Laide Bakare and Femi Branch
in a scene from the movie

Movie lovers in the south-western region, especially in Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo states ,will have the opportunity of seeing Ako Ife during the Easter period.

While the film will be shown today and tomorrow at the KS Motel, Ibadan, it will be shown in Ade Super Hotel, Ondo, and Alpha Motel in Akure, both in Ondo State, for the same period.

For Ado Ekiti movie lovers, the film will be shown at the Mary Immaculate Hall. The movie is about love, betrayal and sickle cell anemia. It brings the issue of sickle cell to the fore with a view to making people, especially youth, to be aware of it, and the importance of knowing their genotypes before getting married.

It treats the pain and agony associated with such homes, the psychological problems, and emotional turmoil couples with sickle cell children pass through. It is a story of love, desperation and betrayal.

Describing the film as one of the best produced in the recent time, Femi Branch, urged movie lovers to see the movie.

Wale Lawal, the producer of the movie, informed that the movie will be taken abroad immediately after its exhibition in Nigeria, adding that they are not thinking of selling it as home video yet.

The movie is directed by Bakare Adeoye. Other casts include Femi Branch, Laide Bakare, Moji Olaiya, Big Abass, among others.

Commenting on the success of the movie so far, the Chief Executive of Okiki Films and Music Production, Mrs. Altine Esan, said arrangements have been concluded to premier the movie in South Africa, Ireland and London later in the year.

“Our plan is to take Ako Ife all over the country, but our first point of call will be the south-western states.

"It will also be exhibited in South Africa, Ireland and London before the end of this year."

NMA shortlists for awards

By Tade Makinde

Tony OkorojiFollowing the unveiling ceremony of the 2008 Nigerian Music Awards in Lagos last week, selecting nominees for the Award has begun when members of the NMA Media & Research Committee met in Lagos to set rules for deciding those who will receive the honour for outstanding performance in Nigerian music.

The nomination process began with the M & R C'ttee determining which award should be given during a season. The award is then defined and the criteria set out, following which each criterion is weighted.

An initial list of 15 names qualified for each award has been submitted by each member of the committee. Each of the works will be thoroughly examined following which a first -line voting will take place to decide the works that will make the list of 15 qualified to go into the nomination process.

From the list, each member of the committee will nominate five works which best qualifies to win the award. Each work submitted will be accompanied by the nominator’s scores in the different criteria. The official nominees are the five works or names with the highest average score across the M & R C'ttee members.

Depending on the nature of the award, winner of each award may be determined from among the nominees using four different methods. The first method is through a public opinion poll using sms.

Also, winner could be determined by submitting the nominees to a group of experts ,or peers of the nominee in the case of a category that is highly technical,by submitting the nominees to an Award Committee made of respected members of the society, and lastly, by the use of a combination of two, or all three, of the methods stated above.

Meanwhile, there has been significant jubilation across Imo State following the revelation of the state as host of the Nigerian Music Awards. The celebration has been more pronounced within the artistic community where it is believed that with the hosting, the government will pay attention to the development of the entertainment industry in the state.

As the contest for the nomination goes on,on April 19, the selection of the 37 queens will begin in Lagos for the south West Region. The NMA hostess search will also move to Abuja on April 26 for the Northern region,while on May 3, the search hits Owerri for the south East region.