EXPORTING OUR NIGERIAN AGBERO STYLE EXTORTION TO HOLLYWOOD. I just finished watching Jeta Amatas riveting movie BLACK NOVEMBER which premiered last week. I bought it for about $13 dollars On demand on my Comcast Xfinity system today and I hear its on all other major US cable providers as well as on iTunes, Amazon, Redbox and Netflix, it was money well spent. Its also open and showing in major movie theaters in Los Angeles and New York and its a story every Nigerian must see. Now I wouldnt bore you with the details of the movie (go and watch it yourselves) but its a moving thriller wrapped around the injustice of the Niger Delta people showing in full glare how how major oil companies and corrupt Nigerian government officials connived to wreak pain and untold hardship on the people of the Niger Delta during the military era. The film is also star,studded with Jetas wife Mbong playing the lead role of Ebiere with other versatile Nigerian actors like Fred Amata, Dede Mabiakhu, Barbara Soky, my homeboy Ernest Bhabor and an international caste which includes Mickey Rourke, Kim Bassinger, Vivica Fox, Hakeem Kae Kazeem and music icons Akon and Wyclef. After watching the movie my emotions are high and I am deeply angry, but funny my anger is not from the dreadful injustice the film highlights but the wickedness we Nigerian show to ourselves. As soon as I finished, I called Jeta to congratulate him for a job well done as I knew when this whole idea started around 2011 so it was a pleasure to see the end product. He then went ahead to share a story with me which I have taken the liberty to share with all of you so we can understand why we never really seem to develop in this nation. Making a Hollywood movie is not small potatoes, and I have watched as Jeta struggled to find finance for this project. I can say in the early days, I was able to help him by pointing him to some investors, but mine were small time investors and as the movie grew in scope other heavy moneyed men had to come in to support him till the film was finished around the summer of 2012. In that summer the movie was premiered at the UN General Assembly in New York to glowing reviews only for the Nigerian government to hint that they didnt find it complementary. Jeta had TWO objectives, bring the Niger Delta story to the attention of the world and open up a synergy between Nollywood and Hollywood effectively opening up the massively rewarding US movie market to our local practitioners. With what I saw in the movie, he has succeeded immensely. After the UN premier, which was attended by the likes of Al Shrapton, Don King, Congressman Bobby Rush, some of his financiers took a back stage probably because of the Nigerian governments stand that they found the movie uncomplementary of them and he has spent the last few years struggling to get the film distributed in the US market. He is a pioneer, Americans dont really watch Nigerian movies so it wasnt easy and I know many good natured NIgerians supported him in many ways. Now that the movie is being distributed, it is receiving rave reviews from all the significant movie industry critics. Now not all reviews will be positive, but he receive a lot of positives but positives or not your movie has to meet a certain level of respectability for critics to even talk about it. Well, a few days ago a friend told him about a Nigerian born on line journalist or something Uduak Odouk who said she wanted to talk with him. At the instance of the friend he called her and asked her to help promote his movie, she went on an aggressive tirade with him that he had been in America all these years and never called her or sought her advise. Simply speaking Jeta did not know her beyond that first phone call, she asked him for a FREE COPY of the movie before she could write anything about it (Cheap skate) and went on to criticize everything he did including his contracts (she is also a lawyer) during their phone conversation and he shared the story of how the movie was made and his struggles with her. She demanded that he must attend an interview on her program before she helps and he politely declined telling her that he was uncomfortable because she was unduly negative and aggressive towards him. As soon as he refused to grant her the interview, she went on line and penned a deeply scathing review of the movie (which she probably didnt watch) and practically told people that it was useless to go watch it sharing some of the information of his challenges he had shared with her as if she of knew them before. I produce a link of her review article below for you guys to read. Then immediately an anonymous person sends an email to one Jetas major financiers that the movie is getting bad reviews and they should make an effort to SPREAD SOME MONEY around to remedy the situation. If this is not BLACKMAIL, deliberate sabotage and wickedness then I dont know what it is. I would share screenshots of the email exchanges between Uduak and Jeta and the email to his financiers to show how wicked people can be. This same movie received rave reviews from the Los Angeles times, Stacy Ivers former VP Universal and Warner pictures. I will share some of the reviews of the movie of some of the leading lights in the industry in the comment section so you can compare it to Uduaks. So for the sake of some over sized ego and perhaps some gratification from some of the financiers Uduak is willing to kill the brave first effort of a fellow compatriot in a very competitive market? Haba, what Jeta has achieved with this movie is to open the door for others. I believe as Nigerians we must rally round and give him support. Go to a theater near you and watch it or buy it in Amazon, iTunes or your cable system and come back and tell these mean exporters of gangster like corruption that we aint going to let them win. I would love to hear your opinions about the movie and how you think the collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood can be expanded for the growth of our local movie industry. Meanwhile to my homeboy Jeta, this is for you: GBOSA!!!!!! GBOSA!!!!!! GBOSA!!!!!! africamusiclaw/black-november-jeta-amatas-highly-disappointing-unnecessary-identity-struggle-in-hollywood/
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:28:50 +0000
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