MAAMI premieres in Ekiti today

Cinematographer Tunde Kelani presents his latest film in Ado-Ekiti today in collaboration with the state government in commemoration of June 12. Details below.

MAAMI Premiere
Monday 13, June, 2011
Venue: Bishop Adetiloye Hall, Fountain Hotel, Ado-Ekiti.
Time: 4pm

At the Lagos premiere held at the MUSON Centre in Lagos on June 4, the filmmaker had introduced his film with words including the following:


Kelani on MAAMI

It is with great joy that we premier MAAMI here today. MAAMi, an adaptation of Professor Femi Osofisan's novel of the same title, parades notable stars led by the celebrated Funke Akindele, Wole Ojo, Tamilore Kuboye, Peter Badejo, Olumide Bakare and introducing the young Ayomide Abatti. Set over a two-day period, leading to the 2010 World Cup, MAAMi is an inspiring story of a poor, conscientious single mother's struggles to raise her only child, Kashimawo who eventually, rises to international stardom in an English football club.

It is unfortunate that our experience with pirates in our last work, ‘Arugba' and indeed in all our other works, forbids us from considering a DVD/VCD release of MAAMi at this time. We therefore plan premieres throughout the South West to be followed by theatrical release in identified cinemas throughout the country. We shall also deploy our mobile cinema facilities to take the film to tertiary institutions in an exhibition and lecture series with students of Mass Communication, creative arts and other related disciplines.

Lagos has always been the commercial as well as the entertainment capital of Nigeria. The close links between entertainment and commerce therefore need to be further explored and exploited by shaping the entertainment activities in the state into a properly structured and well organised industry towards revenue generation, mass mobilisation, employment generation and gainful engagement for the youth.

Filmmaking is a collaborative art, drawing artistic resources from many other art forms. I would therefore like to acknowledge and thank the cast and the crew of the production as well as all Mainframe partners and associates for the robust support they have always freely given.

Finally, I must use this opportunity again to thank the Lagos State Government for their great support in the realisation of this project; and the opportunity to contribute our own little quota to the development of the state and the general welfare of Lagosians.

I present MAAMI to you all.

Photos from the Lagos premiere, below:


The Two Kashys: Wole Ojo (left) played the male lead as a grown up Arsenal football star, Kashy, while Ayomide Abatti (right) filled the role of Kashimawo, the poverty stricken sun of a tenacious woman, played by Funke Akindele.


Kelani with the actress Khabirat Kafidipe, who has appeared in at least two of his films.


Tireless art patriarch Ambassador Segun Olusola (honestly, this man is at every noteworthy art event - exhibition openings, film premieres, concerts, book launches, you name it) and TK himself, the director of 'Maami', Tunde Kelani.

Here I am at the premiere with journalist Bunmi Ajiboye who writes lovely film reviews (read her take on The King's Speech and Aramotu).

Photos by Aderemi Adegbite

Tunde Kelani sends out an SOS

I was at a press conference on June 2, when filmmaker Tunde Kelani spoke in no uncertain terms about the danger posed to himself and the Nollywood film indusry in general by pirates. One of Nigeria's most respected cinematographers with works that set the bar with every new movie, Kelani was speaking in the run up to the release of his new film, 'Arugba'. 'We are going to be pirated,' said Kelani, who admitted that he'd been cornered by the pirates and the system. He said he had no choice but to release Arugba (launched on June 13) after a two-year delay and with his production company lacking the funds for his next film. Arugba went on the market on June 14 and in less than 10 days afterwards, the pirates flooded the market with not just one pirated version of the new film, but two (see image).

Tunde Kelani has released a statement yesterday on his "despair" - below.

"It is with the greatest and darkest feeling of despair that I have to announce the massive piracy attack of our new film ARUGBA released on homevideo barely a week ago. On our part, we complied with all the guidelines stipulated by all the government agencies and paid all dues but got no protection from the criminal activities of the pirates who are bent on pulling down our industry. As things stand, it is becoming impossible for me to continue my career as a filmmaker in my country Nigeria as it is no longer possible to recoup our investment or get the opportunity to exploit economically our copyright and repay our creditors. Unless the Federal Government of Nigeria rescues us from this economic menace, the growth and development of the nascent film industry in Nigeria will be stifled completely by this miasma of piracy, illegality and outright theft. The popular Nollywood industry is under great threat and may already be experiencing its death throes. While we have decided to write a letter of protest to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Attorney General of the Federation, The Federal Minister of Information and Communication, the Inspector General of Police and all the relevant government agencies, we can only appeal to the general public to ignore the pirated ones and buy our genuine movies."

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Tunde KELANI

Filmmaker