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Why Amazon Prime Video signed licensing deal with Niyi Akinmolayan’s Anthill Studios

By
Chris Nwankwo
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Why Amazon Prime Video signed licensing deal with Niyi Akinmolayan’s Anthill Studios

Amazon Prime Video has entered into a licensing deal with Anthill studios – a film content production company based in Lagos, Nigeria, according to the company.

The deal was announced over the weekend as another major breakthrough, cementing the company’s entry into Nigeria film industry for good.

The deal with Anthills is the company’s second such agreement in many months, following its agreement with Inkblot Studios, the production firm behind The Wedding Party.

The reason for the deal could be linked to the official Instagram handle of Anhill Studios, which reads: “We are super excited to announce to the world that AnthillStudios has officially signed a multi-year licensing deal with Amazon Prime Video. Prime Video will have exclusive worldwide distribution rights to Anthill’s slate of theatrical releases, starting in 2022, which will be made available to an audience of more than 200 million Prime Video members worldwide following their cinema run in Nigeria!.”

The multi-year agreement gives Amazon an exclusive right to the worldwide distribution of Anthill Studio’s forthcoming releases.

‘We want to showcase the very best of Nollywood and authentic African stories to our customers, and this groundbreaking deal helps us to achieve that goal.

‘We are very excited to bring Anthill’s upcoming slates of popular Nollywood movies to Prime Video customers around the world,’ said Ayanna Lonian, director of content acquisition and head of worldwide major studio licensing strategy.

The licensing deal comes on the heels of Amazons recent deal with Inkblot Studios, the production company that birthed The WeddingParty. It goes without saying that the world is beginning to recognize Nigeria as a market rife with rich art, talented producers, and voracious consumers of all forms of art, especially the visual and audiovisual arts.

Niyi Akinmolayan, whose film The Progressive Tailors Club was awarded as Film of The Year at the just concluded Enjoy Nigeria Expo 2021, expressed his excitement and future creative plans regarding the deal.

The talented producer is very optimistic that the new platform will afford its creative products a wider global audience and followership, and also a sustained appreciation from film enthusiasts all over the world.

 ‘This is why Amazon Prime Video is the right kind of home for our stories… I am really excited because with this licensing deal, we can explore more story ideas, including genres new to Nollywood, like sci-fi and animation, for a global audience,’ he said.

Niyi is the founder and creative director of Anthill studios, a Lagos-based film production and post-production studio with one of the biggest animation studio in Africa. Some of their notable works include Prophetess, Day of Destiny, and Elevator Baby.

South African rand weakens as dollar firms ahead of U.S. inflation data

By
tvafrinet
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0

JOHANNESBURG – The South African rand slightly weakened on Monday, as the greenback strengthened on the prospect that U.S. inflation data would bolster the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected.

At 0650 GMT, the rand traded at 15.5925 against the dollar, down around 0.2% on its previous close.

U.S. inflation figures are due on Wednesday, with headline consumer inflation seen climbing to a red-hot 7% year-on-year.

The dollar was last up 0.2% against a basket of currencies.

South Africa’s economic data calendar is fairly light this week, so the rand will probably mainly track global markets. Domestic manufacturing data for November, due on Tuesday, could give the best insight into the state of Africa’s most industrialised economy.

The government’s benchmark 2030 bond was also slightly weaker in early deals, with the yield rising 3 basis points to 9.435%.

West African nations sever links with Mali over election delay

By
tvafrinet
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0

ACCRA – West African nations will close their borders with Mali, sever diplomatic ties and impose tough economic sanctions in response to its “unacceptable” delay in holding elections following a 2020 military coup, the 15-state regional bloc said on Sunday.

The fresh measures from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) represent a significant hardening of its stance towards Mali, whose interim authorities have proposed holding elections in December 2025 instead of this February as originally agreed with the bloc.

In a communique issued after an emergency summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra, ECOWAS said it found the proposed timetable for a transition back to constitutional rule totally unacceptable.

This schedule “simply means that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people hostage”, ECOWAS added.

The organisation said it had agreed to impose additional sanctions with immediate effect. These included the closure of members’ land and air borders with Mali, the suspension of non-essential financial transactions, the freezing of Malian state assets in ECOWAS commercial banks and recalling their ambassadors from Bamako.

Meanwhile, regional monetary union UEMOA instructed all financial institutions under its umbrella to suspend Mali with immediate effect, severing the country’s access to regional financial markets.

The Malian interim government said it was astonished by the decisions. In response, it vowed to close its side of the border with ECOWAS member states, recall its ambassadors, and reserve the right to reconsider its membership in ECOWAS and UEMOA.

“The government strongly condemns these illegal and illegitimate sanctions,” it said in a statement read on state television by spokesperson Abdoulaye Maiga in the early hours of Monday, calling on Malians to remain calm.

They have previously blamed the election delay partly on the challenge of organising a democratically robust vote amid a violent Islamist insurgency.

TOUGHER RESPONSE

Special forces commander Assimi Goita was one of several colonels who overthrew Malian President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita in August 2020, after which the interim authorities promised an 18-month transition to civilian rule.

Goita staged a second coup in May 2021 when he pushed aside the interim president and took the job himself.

The tougher response from ECOWAS reflects the pressure the organisation is under to show it can protect democracy from a backslide to military rule after West and Central Africa saw four coups within 18 months.

The new measures will be gradually lifted only after an acceptable election timeframe is finalised and progress is made towards implementing it, ECOWAS said.

Under previous sanctions, Mali’s ECOWAS membership is suspended and members of the transitional authority and their relatives are subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

Immediately after Keita was ousted, ECOWAS temporarily closed its borders with Mali and halted financial flows – short-term sanctions that caused a sharp fall in imports to the landlocked country.

Mali’s political upheaval has also deepened tensions with former colonial power France, which has thousands of soldiers deployed across West Africa’s Sahel region to battle Islamist insurgents.

Russia reacts furiously to Blinken jibe over troops in Kazakhstan

By
tvafrinet
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0
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends day one of the G7 summit of foreign and development ministers at the Museum of Liverpool, in Liverpool, Britain, December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Russia responded angrily on Saturday to a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops, saying he should reflect instead on U.S. military meddling around the world.

Blinken on Friday challenged Russia’s justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country.

“One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken said. 

Russia’s foreign ministry called Blinken’s remark “typically offensive” and accused him of joking about tragic events in Kazakhstan. It said Washington should analyse its own track record of interventions in countries such as Vietnam and Iraq.

“If Antony Blinken loves history lessons so much, then he should take the following into account: when Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive and not be robbed or raped,” the ministry said on its Telegram social media channel.

“We are taught this not only by the recent past but by all 300 years of American statehood.”

The ministry said the deployment in Kazakhstan was a legitimate response to Kazakhstan’s request for support from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, an alliance of ex-Soviet states that includes Russia.

The Kazakh intervention comes at a time of high tension in Moscow’s relations with Washington as the two countries prepare for talks on the Ukraine crisis starting on Monday. 

Moscow has deployed large numbers of troops near its border with Ukraine but denies Western suggestions it plans to invade.

Ethiopian opposition leaders freed under amnesty

By
tvafrinet
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0

Several high-profile Ethiopian opposition figures were tasting freedom on Saturday after the government granted a surprise amnesty for prominent political detainees, including Tigrayan party leaders.

The government said the move was designed to promote “national dialogue” and follows a dramatic shift in fortunes in the brutal 14-month war between forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

TPLF fighters withdrew to their stronghold in the northernmost region of Tigray at the end of December in the face of a military offensive by government forces that saw them retake a string of strategic towns.

Several TPLF figures were among those pardoned, as well as opposition leaders from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, and the Amhara.

“The key to lasting unity is dialogue. Ethiopia will make any sacrifices to this end,” the government communications service said in a statement late Friday announcing the amnesty.

“Its purpose is to pave the way for a lasting solution to Ethiopia’s problems in a peaceful, non-violent way… especially with the aim of making the all-inclusive national dialogue a success.”

It was not clear if the government was proposing any negotiations with the TPLF, the party that dominated politics for three decades until Abiy took power in 2018 but is now considered a terrorist group by Addis Ababa.

There has been something of a pause in fighting since the TPLF retreat, although the rebels accuse the government of still carrying out deadly drone strikes on Tigray. The UN reported this week that three people including two children had been killed in an air raid on a refugee camp in the region.

– ‘National reconciliation’ -Tigray also remains under what the United Nations has called a de facto blockade that is preventing live-saving food and medicine from reaching Tigray’s six million people, where many are living in famine-like conditions.

The war in Africa’s second most populous country has claimed the lives of thousands of people, displaced around two million, and inflicted atrocities on civilians in Tigray, as well as the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions.

Abiy — a Nobel peace laureate who reportedly went to the battlefront in November to direct his troops — called for “national reconciliation” and “unity” in a statement issued Friday as Ethiopia celebrated Orthodox Christmas.

However, in another statement on Saturday he again lashed out at “foreign and internal enemies” and described the TPLF as “snakes”.     

The pardons coincided with a mission to Ethiopia by US envoy Jeffrey Feltman, who is pushing for talks to end a conflict that exposed the deep divisions in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.

‘Actively engaged’ -Among those freed were several high-profile politicians rounded up after deadly protests erupted in mid-2020 over the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer and activist.

They included Eskinder Nega, a veteran Amhara journalist and fierce government critic who has spent many terms in prison under various administrations since 2005.

Others released were Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo media mogul and one-time Abiy ally turned opposition politician, and his colleague in the Oromo Federalist Congress, Bekele

In all, 239 people were killed in just a few days of unrest in June and July 2020 that saw Abiy — who had himself swept to power on the back of anti-government protests — wrestling to keep a lid on the simmering ethnic tensions and resentments.

Tuli Bayissa, a lawyer for Jawa, Bekele and others, confirmed their release but told AFP he was working to secure freedom for many more detainees, including senior Oromo figures who had been exonorated of any charges by a court many months ago.

It was not immediately known if the TPLF stalwarts granted amnesty — including one of its founders Sibhat Nega and former Tigray president Abay Woldu — had been released by Saturday.

The fate is also unclear of thousands of people reportedly detained in sweeps that appeared to target Tigrayans under a wartime state of emergency declared in November.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the amnesty announcement.

“I will remain actively engaged in assisting Ethiopia to bring an end to the fighting and to restore peace and stability,” he said Friday, also calling for a “meaningful improvement” in humanitarian access to all conflict-hit areas. 

LeBron James wishes son to play in the NBA

By
tvafrinet
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0
LeBron James wants son to play in the NBA

LeBron James is one of the biggest names in NBA and has given so much to the game throughout his long sojourn in the sport. With his outstanding basketball career, his wishes is to have his son join him in the game in the nearest future.

His desire is dependent upon whether he would be around in the league when his son would be ripe enough.

His son, Bronny James is making serious impact in the youth basketball world, whereas the NBA is a whole different ball game. During a clip from season 2 of Uninterrupted’s IMDB TV docuseries Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazer, both James and wife Savannah James were asked about Bronny’s future and their hopes for it.

“To be happy and find happiness in whatever it is that he does — whatever it is, I just want him to be happy,” Savannah James responded about her 17-year-old son.

LeBron’s response was a little more specific: “I want him to get to the NBA.”

“I am not even gonna lie, I want to be on the court with him,” he added. “I think that will be an unbelievable moment.”

James noted that the timing of Bronny potentially hitting the NBA hardwood would cut “close” with his father’s pending retirement. The younger James is currently a junior at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California.

“It could get close but we shall see,” LeBron James said.

Watch the full video clip below.

Africa Film Academy request for entries for AMAA 2022

By
Banke Olarenwaju
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0
AMAA 2022 calls for entry

LAGOS, Nigeria (TVAFRINET) – Africa Film Academy, has officially made public request for entry of films ahead of the 18th Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs). AMA Awards is a flagship award event meant to recognise and honour players in the movie industry across Africa for their creative works in the industry.

The Academy has called on filmmakers to put in their feature, short, animation and documentary works for consideration in nearly 30 film categories of the awards. This submission is opened to only films produced and released between 1st May 2021 and April 31st, 2022.

The 17th edition of the AMAAs was held at the Lagos Marriot Hotels, Ikeja and was joined by filmmakers, executives and government officials from different parts of the world. During the event, Nigeria’s “Eyimofe” which was directed by Chuko and Arie Esiri scooped five awards, winning NFVCB Award for Nigerian Best Film in the process. Somalia’s “The Gravedigger’s wife” also shined at the 18th AMAAs scooping five awards and winning the best film.

Somalian Actor, Omar Abdi won the “Best Actor in a Leading Role” for the role he played in the multiple award-winning films, The Gravedigger’s wife. Ugandan Actress, Joan Agaba beats top Nollywood actresses like Funke Akindele and Rita Dominic to win the AMAA 2021 Awards for best actress in a leading role.

Kelechi Udegbe also won the award for best actor in a supporting role for his role in “Collision Course”, while Wilmah Munemera won the AMAA 2021 Award for Best Young/Promising Actor.

According to the organisers, all entries for the 18th AMAAs will be made via Filmfreeway. The Africa Film Academy revealed that it will not accept any film that exceeds the 120-minute run as a feature or a short film that is longer than 40 minutes. AMAA awards two major categories of short films and animation.

The Academy also awards the category for Best Africa Film in the Diaspora and Best Diaspora Short Film Awards inclusive of Caribbean Shorts and Caribbean features.

The Africa Movie Academy Awards was founded in 2005, evolving from a one-day televised event to an annually chronicled African event, an established engagement for filmmakers, industry professionals and all creative industry stakeholders.

According to its organisers, the primary aim of the AMA Awards is to facilitate the development and showcase the social relevance of African film and cinema.

Over the years, the award presentation has been attended by numerous international media representatives, Hollywood celebrities, Nigerian politicians, other African politicians, journalists, film industry professionals, and actors and actresses from across Africa.

The proposed date of the nomination’s gala night for the 18th AMAAs is Friday, August, 26th, 2022 while the Award ceremony will run from Wednesday, October 26th, 2022 through Sunday, October, 30th, 2022.



Saudi princess freed after three years in jail

By
tvafrinet
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0

Saudi authorities have released a princess and her daughter who had been held without charge for nearly three years in the capital, a human rights group said on Saturday. 

Basma bint Saud, 57, a royal family member long seen as a proponent of women’s rights and a constitutional monarchy, has been detained since March 2019, and in April 2020 implored King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to release her on health grounds.   

“Basma bint Saud Al Saud and her daughter Suhoud… have been released,” the ALQST for Human Rights said on Twitter. 

“She was denied the medical care she needed for a potentially life threatening condition,” the rights group added.  “At no point during her detention has any charge been levelled against her.” 

Saudi officials were not immediately available to comment on the case.

Princess Basmah was arrested shortly before a planned trip to Switzerland for medical treatment, according to a source close to the family. 

The nature of her illness has never been disclosed. 

Prince Mohammed has overseen a reform drive since he was appointed by his father King Salman in June 2017 at the expense of the previous designated heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Nayef.

Reforms have included lifting a decades-long ban on women driving and the easing of so-called “guardianship” rules that give men arbitrary authority over female relatives.

But Saudi authorities have also cracked down on dissidents and even potential opponents, ranging from preachers to women’s rights activists, even royals. 

Princess Basmah was kept in Al-Ha’ir prison, where numerous other political detainees have been held. 

In written testimony to the United Nations in 2020, seen by AFP, her family said her detention was likely due in large part to her “record as an outspoken critic of abuses”.

She was also deemed an ally of Mohammed bin Nayef, the written testimony added.

In November 2017, a vast anti-corruption campaign saw Riyadh’s luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel serve for three months as a de facto detention centre for dozens of princes and senior officials suspected of graft or disloyalty.

In March 2020, the royal guard arrested King Salman’s brother and nephew, accusing them of fomenting a coup against Prince Mohammed, according to several sources. 

‘CAN effect’: Africa Cup of Nations throws up jab dilemma

By
Admin
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“If I get the jab, it’s just for the Indomitable Lions. I’m ready to die for them,” says Vincent Nemgne as he receives a coronavirus vaccine to see Cameroon open Africa’s top football tournament.

In the week before Sunday’s first match in the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) in Cameroon, many fans have overcome reluctance and asked to be vaccinated.

The African Football Confederation (CAF) has made vaccination mandatory to enter the stadium, along with a negative PCR test taken less than 72 hours before kick-off or an antigen test up to 24 hours before.

“There is clearly a CAN effect. We have gone from 10 people a day to more than 100 since Monday. This is increasing exponentially,” Lucien Mama, coordinator of the Sports Palace of Yaounde vaccine centre, told AFP.

“Until now, Cameroonians have refused to be vaccinated. The CAN has broken the psychological barriers and the hesitation,” Mama added hopefully.

In the central African country of 27 million people, just six percent of the population over the age of 18 has been jabbed, according to official statistics, and many people openly refuse to wear masks.

But stringent stadium entry requirements imposed by CAF could still deter supporters from attending matches.

On Tuesday, it was announced stadium attendances would be limited to 60 percent of capacity — increasing to 80 percent when the Indomitable Lions play.

– ‘I will not go’ -Next to the Sports Palace in the capital Yaounde, several dozen fans waited to get jabbed in tents.

“I came to see how it goes,” said Yaya Bachirou, 33. “I agree to be vaccinated only if I have my ticket for the match, and for the moment I do not have it yet.”

“For 15 minutes you sit and you don’t talk,” a nurse instructs a patient after the injection. “And you won’t have sex today either,” jokes her colleague.

Rumours that the vaccine causes sterility are widely believed, alongside several other myths.

“The reluctance to be vaccinated is linked to a combination of factors,” explains Larissa Kojoue, a researcher at Buea University in western Cameroon.

“It is firstly linked to ignorance about this still-recent disease, to the sometimes chaotic handling of the epidemic in the country, and to disinformation,” Kojoue said. 

“That has come mainly from Europe and the United States, and… reached a large part of the population, starting with the elites.”

In Yaounde, vaccination requirements for would-be spectators have stirred resentment.

“I wanted to go to support the Indomitable Lions. We have been waiting for this moment for 50 years. But I will not go because I do not want to be vaccinated,” protested Amougou who gave only his first name as he shopped in the central market.

“They give a product so that African women no longer give birth!” 

Dylan, a 20 year old electronics retailer, said “if the vaccination is compulsory, I will not go to the stadium unfortunately”. 

“I will not be vaccinated for each variant and I do not want to be injected with a liquid that I do not know,” he said.

– ‘I was disgusted’ -In a small bar popular with football fans, the disappointment is palpable among the regulars, almost all of whom are unvaccinated.

“I was disgusted with this decision. I was very excited about going to the stadium with my family, and now I am preparing to watch on television,” lamented Joel Nkamdem, the finance director of APEJES Academy of Mfou, a Yaounde club in the the top-flight Elite One national league.

“It’s very unfair because vaccination is voluntary. Covid kills fewer people than malaria or typhoid fever and we have our own remedies. Furthermore, some vaccinated people still have the disease,” he adds.

Everyone interviewed by AFP said they expected stadiums to be filled regardless.

“We always find solutions,” a young man in his twenties said mischievously, a green Cameroon jersey on his back.

Patrice Motsepe, the president of CAF, said he was aware of “false tests” spreading, but insisted the pan-African organisation was “dealing with these problems”.

“Some spectators think they can use false vaccination certificates to access the stadium,” says Yap Boum, an epidemiologist and head of Yaounde’s Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) research centre.

“But devices with the health pass and the QR code are sufficiently robust to avoid it.”

2023 Election: “PDP agreed to zone presidential candidate to the north” – Dr Babangida Aliyu

By
Isa Sago
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0

ABUJA, Nigeria (TVAFRINET) – Former Governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu – Talban Minna, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has settled the issue of its presidential flag bearer, for the 2023 election. He said the choice of the candidate was informed by the insistent demands of members of the party across the country.

The former governor told members of the Atiku Support Organisation (ASO) on Friday, January 7, 2022, led by its convener Dr. Victor Moses, that the PDP has zoned its presidential candidate to the north. He told members of the organisation when the latter paid on him a courtesy visit, at his residence in Minna, the capital of Niger State.

The former governors position is contrary to the recent reports and decisions coming from some of the state governors from the southern part of the country, who are critical of where the party’s presidential ticket was zoned to.

Some of them have laid bare their minds that the Presidential candidate of the party be zoned to the south. It is in view of this instance, that, the Southern Governors Forum , in a meeting in 2021, collectively resolved that it would campaign against any political party that puts forward a northern presidential candidate in the 2023 election.  

While praising the convener of the group and its members for visiting him and holding strong to their political conviction, trust and campaign for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s emergence as the presidential flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, in 2023 election, Dr Aliyu said : “In our zoning agreement, we have agreed to re-zone (presidential candidate) to the North as requested by others but we have agreed written openly as a result of what has happened that any candidate from any part of the country can now contest this election.”

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