… Prolific Nollywood Director, Afam Okereke is fully back to the hood!
BY: Ikenna Oluka
GRASSROOTS.NG can authoritatively confirm that Afam Okereke is returning to the big screen after a brief political stint with a movie premiere of “JUST A WISH”– a family oriented movie produced and directed by him.
The movie features some of Nollywood’s finest thespians – Ebele Okaro, Tana Adelana, Kenneth Okolie, Bimbo Ademoye, Paul Sambo, phildaniels among others.
Currently, the movie has attracted the attention of Nigeria’s topmost film distributing companies as it has been rated fit for Cinema viewing.
Movie Premier Event
The official screening and presentation of the film to the public in Enugu; the cosmopolitan capital of the South East is holding on 22nd April 2019. The ticket goes for Regular N2,500; VIP N10,000; VIP Couple N15,000; Table for 5 persons goes for N100,000.
Venue: The Base Event Centre Enugu. (See poster for further details)
The Acting Editor of GRASSROOTS.NG, Ikenna Oluka had a brief chat with the legend.
Excerpt:
GR: What informed the scripting of this movie?
Afam: My Quest to bring back our culture. The white men came to our country and took away our culture and left the Bible with us. We still, up to date, have not been able to look proper: the interpretation of the Bible.
There’s an instance in the Bible where Jesus Christ turned water into wine. That incident happened in a “wine carrying” ceremony. At the end of the marriage, we never heard that they went to church for any wedding. Traditionally, every community have a way of doing things. We have our tradition in marriage. We have our traditional way of presenting kola nut, etc. so this script is trying to bring back our culture.
At the same time, we need to look at the current trend in our society where marriage is sort of ‘imposed’ on would be couple by parents. Sometimes, a Young lady wouldn’t know the Young man that wants to marry her which negates our tradition. This act is today one of the major causes of broken marriages and homes, because after the wedding razzmatazz the realities show up. Every young person has ‘a Wish’ when it comes to marriage as was shown in this must watch movie.
GR: What is the theme? And why did you choose South East for the movie premiere?
Afam: Well, I shot the movie here in Enugu State. The theme is centered on decision making and impositions in the life of our children, and it has to do with our culture. It’s also good to project our culture from different background. It will help us interpret what we need to get from there.
Furthermore, Enugu was the center of Nollywood. We started it here. And we from South East also want to give relevance to the city, thereby putting Enugu in a limelight.
GR: How easy was it to assemble actors, being that you are making a come-back?
Afam: These are my colleagues! Even when I left the movie industry and joined Politics I still maintained my contacts with all of them. A lot of them encouraged me to come back because they know my skill here. A lot of them too, became what they are today because of my impact. So, it wasn’t difficult at all.
Political adventure
Nollywood actor, Afam Okereke’s adventure into politics remains, perhaps, less known to many fans who may know him only as an actor or savvy movie producer.
His first acting role was in Nollywood actor, Nkem Owoh’s movie titled ‘Ikuku’.
But Okereke, whose acting vocation began in Enugu in 1995, took his first shot at politics when he accepted his appointment as Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, in 2011.
While as Governor Chime’s SSA Okereke facilitated a revival of the dilapidated Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) to what is known today as the state’s flagship of broadcasting. He rallied the Committee set up by then State Government to ensure that all facilities purchased are installed and functioning to full capacity.
Owing to Okereke’s stupendous achievement as the SSA Media and Publicity to the Governor, the movie star-cum-politician took his first shot at an elective seat in 2013.
He vied for the position of chairman of Nkanu West LGA of Enugu State under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and unsurprisingly won.
Afam Okereke is notable for high-flying movies:
He is a director and writer, known for My Sister My Love (2006), Back Drop (2005), Fine Things (2007), Billionaires Club, The General, Girls Cot and host of others blockbuster movies were to his credit.