History was made with the family epic musical film, Inale, as it received its official invite as the first Nigerian movie to be invited to the Monaco Charity Film Festival, which took place between the 4th and 11th of May, 2011 in Monaco. Even better, it qualified and was entered into competition, with 7 nominations. The BIK Entertainment and Inale family were not the only ones excited by the news; the NFCVB Director, Emeka Mba was very pleased with the news, and ensured his office showed their support in ensuring the Inale party made it to Monaco for this monumental event.
Inale is a family epic musical film, that tells a story of loyalty, bravery and valour, directed by Jeta Amata, produced by Keke Bongos, and has the legendary Bongos Ikwue as its executive producer. It takes us into the world of a beautiful princess, Inale (Caroline Chikezie), who wishes to marry her true love, Ode (Hakeem Kae Kazeem), through a wrestling contest she is expecting him to win, however, there is a very unexpected turn of events at the wrestling match, and just about everyone, including the royal family is forced to face one challenge after the other. This film is star studded with some our Nigeria’s finest actors such as Ini Edo, Dede Mabiaku, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, and Lola Shokeye, just to mention a few. This beautiful musical film comprises of music by Bongos Ikwue, with his popular songs like Cock Crow At Dawn, Still Searching and You Can’t Hurry the Sunrise, featured in the movie.
The invitation to the Monaco Charity Film Festival is yet another indication of how Nollywood has become internationally recognized as a credible film industry, and the Inale family is happy to be a part of it.
The Monaco Charity Film Festival MCFF) is held annually in Monaco, Monte Carlo and days before the prestigious CANNES film festival in Cannes, France; MCFF is mainly centered on benefiting underprivileged children around the world. The festival also helps new and developing filmmakers to find financing for their films and screens over 96 films in Monaco during the festival. Some of the films qualify and are entered into competition, where a carefully selected jury will pick out the best film, most entertaining film, best director, actor, and a whole host of other categories. MCFF is attended by key people in the film industry, government etc. Inalé made its European debut, May 9th at 9pm, with the festival’s official media partners, Cool FM in Nigeria present to broadcast live in Nigeria. Present in Monaco to represent Inale were the producer, Keke Bongos, lead actor, Hakeem Kae Kazeem, and director of photography, James Costello. The viewers consisted of seasoned producers and directors, who could be considered to be the best of the best in the film industry from all around the world.
After the screening of the film, the response from the viewers was overwhelming. They had nothing but praises for the film, with a few even picking up some of the lyrics of the songs and singing them for days. One of the things they appreciated about this family film was the simplicity of the story telling, and how well it depicted Nigeria positively. One of the Hollywood producers, Brad Littlefield, described it as “a beautiful feel good movie”.
On the last day of the festival, May 11, 2011, an award ceremony was held, and Inale won the award for the Most Entertaining Movie, which is one of the two biggest awards of the festival. The producer, Keke Bongos, received the award for the film, feeling that all the hard work is finally paying off, and the exposure of here father’s (Bongos Ikwue) music to the world, which was the objective behind the creation of the film.
Due to popular demand, and the increased recognition, the film will be rereleased in all Silverbird cinemas in Nigeria on the 24th of June, 2011.
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