Temi Otedola, daughter of billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, including ace actress Joke Silva, and frontline broadcaster and actor, Sadiq Daba are some of the cast for Kunle Afolayan’s new movie, Citation.
Others include Haitian-French actor and model, Jimmy Jean-Louis; Ini Edo; Yomi Fash-Lanso; Ghanaian actor, Adjetey Anang; Gabriel Afolayan; man of Ivorian theater, Bienvenu Neba; up and coming Nollywood actress, Bukunmi Oluwashina; French-Ivorian actor and screen writer, Raymond Reboul; theatre educator, Toyin Bifarin; and experienced film director and actor, Wole Olowomojuore, aka ‘Baba Gebu’.
Kunle revealed the cast on Thursday at a press briefing to unveil the journey of yet another creative endeavour in his near two-decade career.
The movie maker said his company, Golden Effects Pictures, is set — after pre-production which started in October 2018 — for five weeks of shoot, beginning January 10, 2020 through February 15, 2020 in three countries.
Exploring a subject of social decadence in the educational sector, the new movie is a college drama about a female postgraduate student who has to find a way of dealing with the awkward situation of sexual harassment from a lecturer.
According to the award-winning filmmaker, his company is partnering Ford Foundation on the project which has been designed to propel women to aspire to become successful leaders by providing counter examples to negative gender stereotypes.
Canon Central and North Africa, he noted, is also coming on board his movie project for the second time in a row, adding that Citation would be shot with the new Canon EOS C500 MarK II camera – the first time the camera will be used in Africa.
Other partners, according to him, include Access Bank, through its W Initiative – Africa’s premier women’s financial programme focusing on inspiring, connecting and empowering women and girls; online travel portal, Flyboku, for flights and related logistics; Ajike Peoples’ Support Centre, a Non-Governmental Organisation and pet project of Olufolake Abdulrazaq, First Lady of Kwara State; and Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries in Cape Verde, as main sponsors of the country’s locations of the shoot, following a meeting with Minister Abrãao Vicente and other officials during the recce in October last year.
Speaking further on the theme of the movie, the filmmaker said: “Citation will create awareness on the different forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private sphere. It will educate the society on women’s rights and the ways to enforce these rights for the achievement of equality and tranquility. The movie will encourage and embolden women to stand up against mistreatment and abuse by a patriarchal society. It has also been designed to propel women to aspire to become successful leaders and thereby provide counter examples to negative gender stereotypes.”
Kunle said he would be surprising fans, as a top personality will soon be unveiled as part of the cast.
Written by the company’s long-standing screen writer, Tunde Babalola, Citation tells the story of Moremi Oluwa, a fun-loving 21-year-old student on campus in Nigeria. Incensed at being ill-treated by a trendy university don, Lucien N’Dyare, she drags him before the University Senate. The ensuing intrigues define Moremi’s world against that of the respected academic, in a male-dominated bastion.
