Amaka's Kin - The Women Of Nollywood, a documentary by Tope Oshin

Amaka's Kin - The Women Of Nollywood, a documentary by Tope Oshin

Source: Amaka's Kin - The Women Of Nollywood Facebook Page

Dedicated to the memory of Nollywood Amazon Filmmaker Amaka Igwe (1963-2014), Amaka's Kin chronicles the journey and challenges of the very few female Directors working in the Nigerian motion picture industry popularly known as Nollywood.

In a terrain otherwise tagged as "for men", Amaka's Kin seeks to examines the careers of the very few female directors practicing in the very male dominated Nigerian film industry, widely known as Nollywood; their journey and pain, their joys and the challenges and hurdles they had to jump to become directors of film, and by extension celebrates the success of the career of the most prominent female director of film, the late Amaka Igwe, who was pivotal to the growth and development of Nollywood and indeed an inspiration to The Women of Nollywood.

Amaka’s Kin – The Women of Nollywood features Nollywood's leading women directors: Mildred Okwo, Omoni Oboli, Lowla Dee, Blessing Effiom Egbe, Ema Edosio, Adeola Osunkojo, Stephanie Okereke, Michelle Bello, Jadesola Osiberu, Patience Oghre Imobhio, Belinda Yanga-Agedah, Tope Oshin

Profile of Tope Oshin (Source: topeoshin.com)

Tope Oshin who has been named one of Africa's Leading Women, Nigeria's Most Inspiring Women, and on the Top 7 Power Women in Nigerian Film, is a multiple award-winning motion picture professional who studied Theatre Arts, T.V & Film Production from the Lagos State University, Nigeria, and then Filmmaking at Colorado Film School, USA, and also an alumni of Berlinale Talents and Talents Durban.

She directed 350 episodes of Africa's biggest daily soap opera Tinsel and 96 episodes of popular African tele-novella Hotel Majestic. Other credits are multiple award winning films, and soon-to-be-released documentary Amaka’s Kin.

Among her producing credits are 26 made-for-TV movies, talk shows, the soap opera - Tinsel (as Box/Content Producer) and 2015 BFI premiered theatrical feature Fifty directed by Biyi Bandele, amongst others. She has also cast several projects and notable among them are MTV Europe’s drama series Shuga 3 & 4.

Within her experience as Supervising Producer and Production Consultant, she has accepted and reviewed over 40 screenplays from writers and filmmakers in readiness for production. Also consulted on and supervised the production of over 25 TV film productions, working with over 26 young filmmakers to develop their projects from concept to final cut; and also lent her voice and skill as a facilitator at several film and storytelling workshops in Nigeria.

Tope, who has served as Juror for the International Emmy Awards 2015, Eko International Film Festival 2015, and the AMVCA (Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards) 2016,  has been featured on CNN twice; on CNN'S INSIDE AFRICA and CNN.COM, and also on German TV, DW Deutshe Welle TV while attending Berlinale 2015.

Currently working underground developing her next film and tv projects, Tope is open to international collaborations and partnerships.

Related links on the African Women in Cinema Blog

Female Narratives in Nollywood Melodramas by Elizabeth Johnson, Donald Culverson

Amaka's Kin - The Women Of Nollywood, a documentary by Tope Oshin

Agatha Ukata: Researching Women in Nollywood

Amaka Igwe, renowned Nollywood producer (1963-2014)

Amaka Igwe, renowned Nollywood producer (1963-2014) Celebration of her life

Amaka Igwe, Nigerian Writer, Director and Producer, and CEO of Amaka Igwe Studios. A visionary and pioneer of modern Nigerian TV drama and movie production, she stamped her authority on numerous roles she played in the Nigerian television sector, as well as the home video industry, known as Nollywood.

SEE CELEBRATION OF AN AMAZING LIFE: http://www.amakaigwe.ng/

Remembering Amaka Igwe (The Nation)

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/remembering-amaka-igwe/

Amaka Igwe Burial (The Street Journal)

http://thestreetjournal.org/2014/05/amaka-igwe-to-be-buried-june-13/

Also see:

Women of Nollywood - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/06/women-of-nollywood-amaka-igwe-and-peace.html

Women of Nollywood: Amaka Igwe and Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

Behind the fascination with the Nollywood phenomenon are women who have played a critical role in its evolution into an international “must see”.

Amaka Igwe (1963-2014), who was trained in theater arts, has produced movies, series and soap operas for television, film and video. In the 1990’s the immensely popular soap opera, Checkmate catapulted her to national renown and is among the standard-setting works for Nollywood productions. Her short film, The Barber’s Wisdom is one of the few shot on celluloid among contemporary Nigerian filmmakers, which attests to the popularity of the home video movement from which Nollywood evolves. In addition to the central role she plays as filmmaker, Igwe is an important stakeholder in the Nigerian film industry. She is founder and organizer of BOBTV the acronym for Best of the Best TV, a film and television program market held annually in Abuja, Nigeria. In addition, it is a venue for meetings, conferences and workshops related to film/video.

Nollywood Lady (2008) featuring Peace Anyiam-Osigwe by Dorothee Wenner
Women Make Movies

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe (1969-2023), a lawyer by training and CEO of the African Film Academy and founder of the African Movie Academy Awards, has a grassroots view of the purpose of Nollywood: to make films for the masses, not the elite. As she points out in the film, This is Nollywood, “what you have to remember about this society is that there are people in Africa who live on one dollar a day and these are the people that really watch these films.”(1) The goal of the African Film Academy is to ensure that there is training and funding for filmmakers in order to produce films so that the world may have a positive view of Africa.(2) Dorothee Wenner’s Nollywood Lady, features Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, as they navigate through Lagos, the capital of this vibrant, dynamic and dramatic moving-image phenomenon.

But before Amaka Igwe and Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, there was Lola Fani-Kayode, pioneer producer of Mirror in the Sun, one of Nigeria’s most successful television soap operas. In the mid-1980s Amaka Igwe recalls being immersed in the weekly episodes at 8 o’clock each Sunday night.(3) This seminal program was the impetus for her classic series, Checkmate.

Notes

(1) Klappe auf in Afrika (Interview clip, Berlinale 2010)

(2) Klappe auf in Afrika (Interview clip, Berlinale 2010)

(3) Who Defines Quality - Amaka Igwe (Africans Make Movies) NO LONGER ACTIVE

Related links on the African Women in Cinema Blog

Amaka Igwe, renowned Nollywood producer (1963-2014)

Female Narratives in Nollywood Melodramas by Elizabeth Johnson, Donald Culverson

Amaka's Kin - The Women Of Nollywood, a documentary by Tope Oshin

Agatha Ukata: Researching Women in Nollywood

*Reflects name change of Peace Anyiam-Osigwe
UPDATED JANUARY 2023