Actress Ireti Doyle has paid tribute to filmmaker Biyi Bandele who handed her one of her biggest moments.
Ireti recollected her encounter with the deceased in her tribute on Twitter on Tuesday.
According to the actress, Biyi helped her at a pivotal point in her career.
She said: “One day, we’ll tell the stories behind the story. At a pivotal point in my career, this man went to bat for me. Had never met him before that fateful day in the audition room. Ended up handing me one of my biggest moments. Rest in power Sir!”
Biyi died in Lagos on Sunday, August 7 according to a statement by daughter Temi Bandele made available to Qed.ng on Monday night.
Born on October 13, 1967 in Kafanchan, Southern Kaduna to parents from Abeokuta, Ogun State, Bandele was studying dramatic arts at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, when he won the BBC Playwriting Competition, and thereafter relocated to England where he had a flourishing career as a writer.
He co-directed Blood Sisters, a four-part Netflix Original series by EbonyLife Films.
His earlier works include Half of a Yellow Sun adapted from Chimamanda Adichie’s novel of the same title and Fifty another EbonyLife production.
He was also a director of the TV series SHUGA: What’s Your Reality; FELA – Father of Afrobeat, a TV special documentary for the BBC, and his self-produced TV documentary Africa States of Independence.
His latest work Elesin Oba, the King’s Horseman, a Netflix Original movie by EbonyLife Films, adapted from Wole Soyinka’s classic drama Death & The King’s Horseman, is scheduled for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.
