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Young Lions Competition Winners Emerge
Cannes Lions’ official festival representative, Chini Africa, has announced winners of the 2021 Young Lions competition in film, print, media, design and digital categories (WECA region). Participating teams this year came from agencies in Nigeria and Ghana. The team of Ezinne Eze and Motolani Olusile of MediaReach OMD Nigeria won the media category. Talha Tajudeen and Oluranti Akerele of Ogilvy also of Nigeria won — print category. In the digital category, Johnpaul Idama and Stephen Mbadugha, from Hook Creative Agency won, while the design category victory went to the Ogilvy Nigeria team of Muslimah Yusuff and Ifeoluwa Adeyemo. The film category also went to Ogilvy Nigeria team of Olanrewaju Obembe and Olufunmilayo Ifekoya. The ‘Winner Reveal’ event held online on Monday, May 10, 2021, with the jurors and participants in attendance. Prior to the results announcement, feedback was given to the competitors by the jurors to enable them to do better at work and in subsequent competitions. CEO, CHINI Africa, Nnamdi Ndu, commended the jurors for professional feedback given. He revealed that the full participation cost for the winning team in the media category to participate in the Global Young Lions Competition with full access to the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival would be borne by his firm. Ndu also stated the other winning team members will be given access to order any book of their choice up to a limit of $50 on the KreativeKlub Bookshelf for free. In addition, all the competitors will receive complimentary membership of the KreativeKlub, which gives them access to vital industry-relevant resources and discounted rates on purchases made on the KreativeKlub Bookshelf platform. The competition is part of the Young Professionals Academy track of the Pitcher Festival. It holds as part of the Cannes Lions Festival and is scheduled to begin on May 24.

2021 Nollywoodweek Film Festival Ends
THE 2021 Nollywoodweek Film Festival in Paris ended on May 10 in France and recorded two major ‘first’. For the first time in its eight years history, Nollywoodweek streamed all the films exclusively online. Also, for the first time, a movie by first-time director, Diji Aderogba, titled, About A Boy, received the highest honour at the 2021 Nollywoodweek (Nollywoodweek.com) film festival, the audience appreciation award known as the Prix du Public. The announcement of the winning film — About a Boy, a story about the psychological games played between a writer and his muse — marked the 2021 edition’s end. Fifteen feature-length and 18 short films — from Africa and the African Diaspora — were showcased to a global audience. Festival Director, Nadira Shakur, said the organisers were delighted to see that the global audience showed up to support and celebrate Nigerian talent and ingenuity in filmmaking. “This year we showcased films from the rest of the continent and the Diaspora and saw a genuine interest in and appreciation for incredible stories such as About a Boy, as evidenced by the Prix du Public,” said Nadira, adding that director of the winning film, Aderogba, will get a range of top-of-the-line lenses from the Angénieux brand with which to shoot his next film. An elated Aderogba had this to say after the movie was announced the winner: “I am grateful to God. I’m so happy for Adio and Funmi, my producers. They put in a lot of hard work. Being a part of this film festival and winning the Audience Award is just amazing.” Previous winners of the audience choice award include international Nollywood favourites such as, Isoken and King of Boys. The four-day festival featured film screenings, panel discussions on screenwriting, funding within the African animation sector and distributing African content.

Global Distribution Deal For WAP’s KnockOut
KNOCKOUT, the hilarious movie from the stable of Wale Adenuga Productions (WAP), will be distributed globally by Nairobi, Kenya-based international film agency, Media Pros Africa. According to Nollywoodetal.com, the deal is for global distribution. The website also hinted that the deal was brokered by Osezua Stephen-Imobhio’s Oduma Creative Worx Limited. Managing director of the company, Wangeci Murage, disclosed at the deal signing ceremony that the right granted Media Pros include, theatrical release, Video on Demand, SVOD, and Pay TV across the globe. Directed by Pat Oghre, the movie revolves around a group of people who were sent into a hilarious frenzy as soon as news of a boxing competition with a cash prize of One billion Naira ($3 million) hit town. They devise mischievous means to participate, while the clumsy boxer they choose and the crazy characters they meet along the way result in mayhem. The movie parades an array of notable actors including, Hafiz Oyetoro, Sola Sobowale, Chiwetalu Agu, Toyin Abraham, Odunlade Adekola, Patience Ozokwor, Segun Arinze, Ngozi Nwosu, Desmond Elliot and Ali Nuhu.