By FFEMI SALAWU
The Lagos State Government and its Ministry of Culture and Tourism have announced their partnership with EbonyLife Films in the build-up to the film’s worldwide premiere on the 13th of December 2015.
The Lagos State Government confirmed its support for the film in an official letter to EbonyLife Films signed by the Honourable Minister for Culture and Tourism, Foli Coker. In the letter, the commissioner stated “we appreciate the rich showcase of our great city through FIFTY’s celebration of the pulse and energy of this fast developing metropolis and its people through the lenses of its four leading women. We can proudly say Lagos State is the movie’s fifth character.”
Speaking on the partnership, Executive Producer, Mo Abudu said “we are thrilled to have Lagos State endorse our movie. FIFTY is a celebration of all that is good in and about Lagos and Africa as a continent. Our hope is that our great city continues to be an iconic backdrop for many more stories in the near future.”
This endorsement is another great feat for the EbonyLife Films production which continues to rally local and international support. Earlier in the year, the film was selected to screen at the 59th BFI London Film Festival – the only Nigerian film and one of five African films – alongside some of the year’s biggest titles. As a result, the film has garnered rave reviews from the BBC, CNN and leading local online and print publications.
Directed by Biyi Bandele and executively produced by Mo Abudu, FIFTY, captures a few pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are forced at midlife to take inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Lagos.
The movie stars Ireti Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli and Nse Ikpe-Etim. The production is Mo Abudu’s quest to showcase African women coming of age, loaded with increasingly similar aspirations and dilemmas faced by their contemporaries everywhere, while yet navigating unresolved traditions and obligations.
‘FIFTY’ will premiere in Nigeria with a special grand Lagos premiere on the 13th of December 2015 at The Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and will be released in cinemas nationwide on the 18th of December 2015.
