100 most influential creative artists unveiled

By Editor |   24 April 2019   |   4:17 am  

CEO Of MIPAD 100, Kamil Olufowobi; and panelists at the event; Editor, Genevieve magazine, Sonia Irabor; special guests and award winning cinematographer, Abi Matesun; filmmaker Kemi Adetiba; CNN’s Stephanie Busari; movie producer, Kunle Afolayan; and screenplay writer, Ferdy Adimefe

It was a time to share ideas as notable creatives from the two biggest film industries in the world, Hollywood and Nigeria’s Nollywood, came together Thursday, April 11, 2019, at Terra Kulture, Victoria-Island, Lagos for an interactive session tagged, Hollywood Meets Nollywood.

The conversation centred around the core mission of Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD), which is to facilitate interactions between icons of excellence based across the global African Diaspora by pairing them with their counterparts inside Africa in support of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).

In the context of this session, the discussion was about how to collaborate in telling authentic African stories of success, resilience and triumph leveraging cinematography as a tool to take African storytelling global.

According to the organiser, Mr. Kamil Olufowobi, CEO, MIPAD, the event and the global 100 Creatives Edition were conceived from his interactions with creative minds in the production of the Most Influential 100 African Royalty Edition and Documentary series to re-ignite the world’s imagination about Africans monarchs, kings and queens.

In the words of Olufowobi, “the role that cultural and creative industries play in connection with storytelling that leads to social change became crystal clear.”

He went on to explain, “at the core of MIPAD’s activities in support of the International Decade, a global 100 edition dedicated to recognizing and connecting our greatest creative minds worldwide will undeniably speed up progress with achieving our goals to create collective impact for the glory of Africa and it’s Diaspora before the end of decade in 2024.”

Special guest at the event was the globally recognised award-winning Nigerian-born cinematographer, Abi Matesun, who is the Creative Director of Malekfoto Films.

Matesun is the recipient of several awards; the Tony Awards for theatre, the Grammy Awards for music, courtesy of his recent short documentary titled, Inner Conflicts.

He has also been featured on ABC news and has received two Emmy Award nominations, the highest American award to recognise TV excellence. This is in addition to his company, Malekfoto Films, winning two Telly Awards for Fire and Ice, a captivating love story filmed in Iceland.

Renowned journalist, Stephanie Busari, moderated the session.

Aside from Abi Matesun, others on the panel included award-winning filmmakers, Kunle Afolayan and Kemi Adetiba, along with media personalities, Sonia Irabor, Editor, Genevieve Magazine, Nigeria and Ferdy Ladi Adimefe, CEO Magic Carpet, who all shared their thoughts, experiences and insights on the business of storytelling in general, aimed towards charting a new and positive direction for people of African descent telling authentic stories about our unique experiences.

The event also featured an impressive audience made up of major names in the industry drawn from both worlds, like TY Bello, Obiwon, Glowreeyah Braimah and Sinach, amongst others, who came out to show support and lend their voices to the discourse.

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