The involvement of Nollywood practitioners such as Mo Abudu, Chioma Ude and Bolane Austen- Peters have helped foster women’s participation in filmmaking in the Nigerian movie industry.
These women alongside the likes of Emem Isong, Mildred Okwo and Peace Anyiam-Osigwe are the perfect example of women defying all odds and thriving in a male-dominated African media landscape.
Qed.ng compiled a list of three women going head to head in Nollywood.
1 Mo Abudu
Mo Abudu born Mosunmola Abudu is one of the leading women in the entertainment industry.
The 57-year-old CEO of EbonyLife hails from Ondo town in Ondo state. She was born in Hammersmith Hospital in London, United Kingdom in September 1964 to Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Akintunde. She is the eldest of three sisters who lost her father at the age of 11.
In 2017, she was described by the Hollywood Reporter’s annual list as the ‘25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television’ alongside Angelica Guerra, a Latin American, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner from the United Kingdom.
She is the executive producer of top Nollywood blockbusters like The Wedding Party franchise, Fifty, The Royal Hotel Hibiscus and Chief Daddy. Abudu was also responsible for some TV productions including, Desperate Housewives Africa, Sons of the Caliphate and Fifty the Series and Blood Sisters.
In June 2020, Netflix signed a new deal with Abudu’s production company EbonyLife; to produce a film adaptation of Death and the King’s Horseman, a play by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, and a series based on Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives.
2 Chioma Ude
Chioma Ude is a businesswoman and media mogul.
She is the founder of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) and managing partner at LaVida Studios, which recently secured a $50 million production investment and signed a 10-project slate with Dentsu’s The Story Lab, USA.
LaVida and Dentsu are also planning to team up with the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) to create a joint initiative, which would recruit and support top African writing talent in creating original stories that appeal to a global audience.
Born on May 24, she is a graduate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka with a degree in marketing.
Ude founded AFRIFF in 2010 as a platform to train individuals in film and then develop and monetise content for the public. At the Nigerian entertainment conference, she stated that the inability of indigenous filmmakers to adequately convey the language, story and cultural elements of Nigerians into film was responsible for non-selection for the Academy Awards (Oscars).
AFRIFF has accomplished the historic point of fitting itself into the global film logbook as occurring in Nigeria every year and exhibiting the best in African movies.
3 Bolanle Austen-Peters
Bolanle Austen-Peters is a media and theatre mogul whose plays have travelled to London’s West-end, South Africa and Egypt.
Her critically acclaimed movie 93 Days and comedy-drama Bling Lagosians were selected for Toronto International Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival. She is the founder and Managing Director of the renowned Arts and Cultural organization, Terra Kulture; the foremost Nigerian Art and Culture center located in Lagos, Nigeria.
Her movie and Theatre company, BAP Productions has produced musicals, including, Moremi The Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, The Oluronbi Musical, and most recently Death and The King’s Horseman. Her first Netflix original movie, The Man of God peaked at number one in the first week of its release.
The 53-year-old won Best Movie (West Africa) for Collison Course at the 2022 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).
