Media Mogul and one of Nollywood’s most successful producers finds time to hone her filmmaking skills while steering multiple projects.
Mo Abudu, executive producer of Fifty and The Wedding Party, recently
completed an intensive 3-week course for directors at the London Film
School.
Coming in the midst of a whirlwind period of production and promotion
of two movies, The Wedding Party 2 (with the ELFIKE Film Collective)
and The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, the passionate creative was determined to
carve out time for learning. “This is an incredibly busy year at
EbonyLife, with several series launches on our TV channel, two new films
and several other projects in pre-production. However, I felt that it
was really important to continue my growth as a filmmaker, with a view
to directing my first feature in the near future.”
The course explored the fundamentals of filmmaking from script to
screen, and is based on an exercise originally devised by FAMU, the Film
and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech
Republic. According to Ms. Abudu, “The course was very practical and
covered scriptwriting, visual language, choosing locations, working with
actors, shooting, editing and post production. One critical area of
learning for me was mise-en-scène – the arrangement of everything that
appears in the frame – actors, lighting, décor, props and costumes.”
Mo Abudu gets behind the camera to direct filming of her short story, written while on the course.
“Luckily, we had a great course leader, Udayan Prasad, the director
of The Yellow Handkerchief (2008), a critically acclaimed independent
film, starring Oscar-winner William Hurt, which was a remake of a
Japanese classic of the same name. One of Udayan’s favourite sayings is,
‘It all begins and ends with the story’, something that I truly believe
in,” says Mo Abudu.
With a slate of new movie releases scheduled for 2018-19, Mo can’t
wait to get started. “I have learned so much over the last few weeks and
I am really looking forward to putting all of it into practice very
soon.”
The world premiere of The Royal Hibiscus Hotel (RHH) takes place on
Saturday, 9th September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF). Executive Producer, Mo Abudu will be joined by Director, Ishaya
Bako and the cast, including Zainab Balogun, Kenneth Okolie, Rachel
Oniga, Jide Kosoko, Deyemi Okanlawon, OC Ukejie, Lala Akindoju and Toni
Tones. RHH has been highlighted by TIFF as a ‘Hidden Gem’, a film worth
viewing by audiences at the festival.