Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) founder Chioma Ude has credited filmmaker Funke Akindele for knowing what the Nigerian audience wants.
Ude spoke at a National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) event held to honour Funke on Friday last week. Reflecting on her journey with the actress and producer, she told the audience “I would say this is the first time in my life. I’m speaking about anyone. I have never done this before. I’m going to start with The Return of Jenifa, when I didn’t know who Funke was.
“That movie was a movie I went to the theatre four times because then I had four kids and now I have five. And each one came back at a different time, and we needed to watch it. One goes and says, ‘oh it was so funny,’ so when the next one comes, we have to go. And I enjoyed every bit of the four times I went to watch it. I got to know her much later.
“I will give you some story. I’m not sure how much of it she knows. But when Amazon was coming to Nigeria, they needed me to put a list of the biggest producers, directors and influencers. And I remember I gave her name as number two. Now I wrote it as number two, not because I thought she was the second highest. That’s just how I wrote it. And they called me back and they said, ‘isn’t she supposed to be number one?’ And I explained that I just wrote it and it doesn’t mean that you are number two. But you are considered to be number one.
“Now, you have a story, and something that is very profound. Thank you very much. She understood what the Nigerian audience wants and so when you focus on what the story people really need and aspire for the moment, you would have report. You can’t take it from her; she is an acting guru. And so I wish you success. I admire everything you’ve done, and I work very closely with her to sell her movie and TV series to Amazon. Congratulations.”
Among guests at the ceremony were NFVCB executive director Shaibu Husseini, national vice president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria Dayo Amusa, chairman of the Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria Mahmood Ali-Balogun, national president of the Association of Movie Producers Nigeria Blessing Ebigieson and vice president of the Directors Guild of Nigeria Grace Edwin Okon.
At the event, Funke received awards for excellence in promoting indigenous films, the box office champion award for her film Omo Ghetto: The Saga for outstanding box office performance and for emerging highest grossing Nollywood film in 2020, the audience choice award for Everybody Loves Jenifa and the box office champion award for outstanding box office performance for emerging as the filmmaker with the highest grossing Nollywood film in 2025 and 2026 with Behind The Scenes, among other recognitions.
