Obi Emelonye’s ‘Onye Ozi’ set for global premiere

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  After making a huge success of his last multiple –award-winning film, Last Flight to Abuja, Nigerian filmmaker, Obi Emelonye is set with another work,  Onye Ozi (The Mesenger), which he describes as ‘a psychological comedy thriller’.

The film shot in Igbo language but subtitled in English will be premiered on the 18th of October in a gala ceremony in Camberwell, London and marks the first time a Nollywood film will witness a global premiere that would be happening simultaneously at the cinemas and online. From the arrangement, Nollywood fans around the world can watch the film through online partners like IROKO, IBAKA, and DISTRIFY.

“This is the first time a global premiere, live somewhere and online worldwide is being done,” says Emelonye. “The potential for online monetisation is becoming clearer for Nollywood. Since debuting on Iroko TV, the Mirror Boy and Last Flight to Abuja have experienced unprecedented success. And on Youtube, Last flight to Abuja has been watched nearly a million times in just two weeks. I am really excited about the online premiere.”

According to him, the Nigeria premiere is coming in November 2013, followed by a cinema release of the film, a process that would make Onye Ozi, the first Igbo language film to have a cinema theatrical release.

The film which features a stellar cast led by Okey Bakasi was shot mostly in London and also has artistes like Ngozi Igwebike, Stephen Moriaty, Anthony Aclet, D'Kachy Obi-Emelonye and Adesua Atuanya and marks the director’s forage into the use of Igbo language in telling his story.

Technically detailed, the film deployed shooting bullet time with 60 cameras and introduced heli-cam aerial photography to achieve its cinematic shots.

Describing the challenges in getting this film to reality, award-winning Emelonye said: “I would therefore attribute a fair part of the success of my earlier films to excellent casting. First, I needed a lead who was a proper leading man: funny, intelligent and with an army of followers. Okey Bakasi ticked all the boxes. But teaching white people Igbo language and getting them to speak it in the film with the right accent was also tough.”

Although it is a comedy, the film deals with the serious issue of economic tourism from Africa to Europe and the huge divide between expectations and reality.