Wednesday, May 25, 2011

‘THE MIRROR BOY’ SECURES UK RELEASE

LONDON, ENGLAND - TUESDAY 24th MAY 2011 – Award-winning Nollywood movie THE MIRROR BOY today announced details of a historic deal secured with ODEON cinemas to release the film across selected UK cinemas.
The exclusive deal will see The Mirror Boy shown in 10 specially selected cinemas in cities including London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester from Friday, June 10.

The Mirror Boy (cert 12A tbc) is a family adventure written and directed by The Nollywood Factory’s OBI EMELONYE and produced by OH FILMS’ PATRICK CAMPBELL. The movie has already made history earlier this year when it hosted the biggest UK premiere of an African film at the world famous Empire Leicester Square and attracting massive support from the public, celebrities and media titles across the globe.


The Mirror Boy features two of Nollywood’s megastars GENEVIEVE NNAJI (The Last Party, Ije) and OSITA IHEME (‘Pawpaw’ of Aki & Pawpaw, Mr Ibu) and is supported with thrilling performances by Gambian star FATIMA JABBE and young British actor EDWARD KAGUTUZI who makes his film debut in the movie. The Mirror Boy tells a compelling and uplifting story of a young British born African teenage boy named Tijan [Kagutuzi] who is taken back to The Gambia - the birth land of his mother Teema [Nnaji]. Once in The Gambia Tijan gets mysteriously lost in a crowded street market after witnessing a strange apparition. He then embarks on a magical journey that teaches him about himself and the mystery of the father he has never met.

Shot in the truly beautiful terrain of the Republic of The Gambia by the multi-award winning DOP Clive Norman and boasting high quality production values, The Mirror Boy is said by many in the international film business to be the Nollywood movie that can finally match its industry’s new found global status. This was illustrated at the recent Monaco Charity Film Festival where actress Genevieve Nnaji was awarded the Best Breakthrough Performance (female) for her role in The Mirror Boy earlier this month.

Nigerian cinema – popularly known as ‘Nollywood’ is Africa’s largest movie industry both in value and the number of movies produced per year. Nollywood is the worlds second largest producer of movies after Bollywood and is the No.1 cinema art form across Africa and the global African Diaspora with millions of fans worldwide. It was in 2010 that the world finally became aware of the enormous growth in the flourishing Nigerian film industry which now is a $250m movie industry, churning out some 1500 films for the home movie market each year.

RUPERT STEVENS, Senior Film Booker Odeon Cinemas commented; “Odeon are proud to be the exclusive exhibitors of the first Nollywood film to have a UK cinema release. Having hosted a number of glamorous premieres and screenings in some of our London cinemas, this release marks a significant step forward for the Nollywood and African film Industry and one that we are happy to be associated with. We do hope this release is the first of many as we are confident a market exists for this kind of product. This is in line with delivering on our mission statement ‘Redefining Cinema’ by providing choice for our guests”.

OBI EMELONYE, writer and director said; “The cinema release of The Mirror Boy by Odeon cinemas represents a unique opportunity for African cinema. Today we call on the community to rise up and support the film by spreading the word and buying tickets for friends and family. Without this much needed support, the door that finally opens Nollywood to the world, may be firmly shut and that would be a massive shame,”

The Mirror Boy is a production of THE NOLLYWOOD FACTORY and OH FILMS. OH FILMS the film arm of OH TV (Sky 199), the UK’s fastest growing TV channel for African Caribbean audience. OH Films was founded with a mission to make smart inspirational and commercial films and documentaries for a global audience. Its films have attracted world-class talent including Oscar winning composer AR Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) and Grammy Award winning singer Kirk Franklin.

Producer PATRICK CAMPBELL of OH FILMS added; “Today we invite everyone to join us on this journey to not only make The Mirror Boy the number one Nollywood movie in the UK but also to support a movement that is bigger than this film. The power is in the hands of the people.”

The Mirror Boy will be shown in the following Odeon cinemas across the UK from Friday 10th June 2011;

· BIRMINGHAM

· DUDLEY

· GREENWICH

· LEE VALLEY

· LIVERPOOL

· MANCHESTER

· MILTON KEYNES

· STREATHAM

· SURREY QUAYS

· WEST THURROCK

Advance tickets for The Mirror Boy are available to pre-book from the listed Odeon cinemas online www.odeon.co.uk or by calling the booking hotline on 0871 22 44 007
ARE YOU READY FOR THE JOURNEY?

No comments:

Post a Comment