HOME VIDEO:Why I am in Europe—Ozokwor
It first started as a mere rumour, then the likelihood of it being reality started showing. Now it is reality. Ehizoya Golden Entertainment led by show promoter Isaac Izoya and his Nigerian based partner, award winning movie director, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, are at it again.
Apparently undaunted by the failure of Nigeria's screen diva Genevieve Nnaji to make the trip already promoted last time, they have taken yet another batch of Nigerian artistes to Europe on another tour this time of a whooping nine countries and eighteen cities.
Among the group are Nigeria's notables, Patience Ozokwor, Jim Iyke and humour merchant Basket Mouth. This time around, the train didn't only take Nigerians alone but also had some Ghanaian actresses including Nana Ama McBrown.
After being on the heels of Ozokwor before the trip without success, I couldn't be more elated when my telephone rang early Thursday morning and she was on the line live from Berlin with love.
She told of why and what she was going to Germany to do and what she will do in the next one month amongst others.
“I am very much ready for the shows that are already put in place for us. I hear it is for about nine countries and that is not a joke. For me it is going to be a very great line up and I am really prepared for them. Our fans should just be ready for our typical African style and that is very true.
The flight was very smooth and there is nothing like being jet lagged. Apart from the shows, there are also plans to shoot a new movie Love in Berlin and the Germans ain't seen any thing yet. I must say that I was very much carried by the reception we got in Berlin. I was really surprised to see what our movies have been able to do for Nigeria's image in far away Europe and worldwide and I am so very happy. Before now, I had only been to Cameroon where I had taken some of my colleagues Charles Awurum, Pete Eneh and Amayo Uzor Philips. However, this is my first time of going to Europe and I am very grateful to God for this trip and what He has been able to do for me and with our movies, I don't know about others. I also thank Isaac Izoya who made this trip possible. Circulating Europe will not be an easy task but I am really prepared with great expectation.
I have every reason to be happy because God has been with me in a very special way. Since I got into the industry and even now, my bad roles has never determined the kind of love that my fans have for me. They still want me to succeed even with my very terrible roles. They still want to stay around me. This is the special grace of God .
May be a very brief history of my entertainment life will explain further what it means for me.
Acting for me runs naturally from the days of my childhood and the days I spent in secondary school and Teacher's Training College. We staged Hamlet severally and this led to my working for Radio Nigeria Enugu. As an announcer who presented other programmes including the serial Igbo play every Sunday, I had fun in my love for the arts.
Soon I was retrenched and I had to fall back on the vocation I love, training young women to be useful to themselves. I had to do this because I did home economics in training as a teacher. I soon opened a vocational school at the 9th mile corner , Enugu, which soon got the certification of the National Directorate of Employment because we delved into the area of handicraft, hairdressing, fashion designing, confectionaries and so on. So when the home video industry started, those who knew me fished me out and the rest they say is history. I still miss the vocational school because it is an area I love with great passion and will still get back there if there is any retirement for actors. I love teaching young women how to be women and how to help their husbands carry the home.
In this effort that Izoya is making to help propagate our movies and culture, all he needs is the encouragement and support from those who can give him that because he is really trying. For Nigerian movie stars, we shouldn't continue to be home made stars because we have a very good product in the home video movies that we produce. Let me tell you why our movies make waves in the world. It is because it is movie of the people by the people for the people. We have not copied any one, not the Indians or the Americans.
You can notice that our people do not cherish violent movies because it is alien to us. We do family conscious movies and our locations, make-up are African even when the stories are contemporary. This is why I often give kudos to the pioneers of the industry because they sowed wonderful seeds which now have germinated for the world to now harvest.