General News | 16 June 2008 11:55 CET

IRAPADA MOVIE GOES ON SALE IN JULY

By Written by Abraham Adegoke

For quite a while, the Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) has been regarded by many as the third largest in the world behind The States' Hollywood and India 's Bollywood. However, not as many know that this status is attributable not to the quality of films produced in the industry but to the quantity.

Every other week, dozens and dozens of home videos are released into the market. From the good to the extremely bad. Quite frankly, not too many of these Nigerian movies can be said to be standard ones.

This notwithstanding, some movies that Nigerians can be proud of both locally and internationally are made once in a while. Most times, these movies are from established movie producers in the country like the Mainframe Productions.

More recently, precisely in 2006, one of the very good Nigerian movies was produced. Although it is just set to be released for sale in the third week of next month, it could be said to be the most anticipated Nigerian movie in recent times. The movie is titled 'Irapada' meaning …err…'Redemption'.

More than its exploits at home, IRAPADA has also gained recognition abroad. It was premiered in New York in July last year, in the United Kingdom in October of the same year, at the Pan-African Film Festival, Los Angeles, also at the Women of Colour Film Festival and at the 51st London Film Festival held in November of 2007. Now, tell me how many of the numerous nigerian home videos can their producers be bold enough to premier outside the shores of the country...well...that's a take home for you.

The movie co-directed by Biodun Aleja was premiered back home in Lagos early this year and at the Zuma Film Festival 2008, and has been in high demand since then.

Irapada tells the story of a young contractor who resides in the northern part of Nigeria. Being a civilized and educated person, he could only trash his foster-mother's continuous pestering that he “perform a traditional redemption rite against foreseen mysterious tragedy; premised on her re-occurring nightmares”. When he, however, became a victim of strange circumstances, He went in search of the root of his problem but unfortunately for him, his foster-mother was dead.

A striking aspect of the movie is that it was shot in the western and northern parts of the country using languages of those parts of the country. It is "a truly Nigerian movie with appeal that cuts across cultures within Nigeria and extends to those in Diaspora".

The fact that this movie has attracted a whole lot of attention even as it is yet to be released might make you want to know how the heck Afolayan came across the idea for the movie. "The idea was just borne out of the need to creatively impact positively in the growing Nigerian movie industry as well as create a lasting positive impression on the viewers by giving a worth for their money", he says.

More surprisingly, the movie has already helped Afolayan achieve something, "The achievements has been enormous,but most especially,it has made people see me as a proffesional in choice of career as well as a brand synonymous with quality".

With the large size of audience the movie already has, the producer is currently working on a full proof plan to hit the markets at once...sort of...like a storm. Why? They have to keep our brothers in Alaba in mind.

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