PRODUCERS of the anticipated movie, Oloibiri, last Sunday, brought guests and the media together for a VIP screening at Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island.
Welcoming guests to the premiere, which featured a viewing of snippets of the movie, its producer cum director, Rogers Ofime, said that the story of Oloibiri is one that needs to be told.
Oloibiri is where oil was first found in 1956. And if you go there, the people still don’t have good water, they don’t have health care, they don’t have roads. So I said to myself, that community that contributed so much wealth to the nation still doesn’t have those things? We had to tell their story.
“I think basically because we had cast and crew from about four countries, coordinating was a bit difficult. We had to shoot between Nigeria and Canada. We had a very wonderful experience. In fact, the community where we shot were part of our crew. We spent one year doing preproduction so they already knew our intentions. They knew we were not coming to exploit them,” Ofime said.
Also speaking, lead character, Richard Mofe Damijo, said that Oloibiri is a movie which describes the true situation the people of that region have to face.
“You have to understand that I’m from the Niger Delta. I understand the level of degradation that is there. I was in charge of culture and tourism what I did mostly was to grab most young people away into the arts as against going into the trenches,” he said.
Among guests who attended the premiere were Mrs. Taiwo Ajai-Lycett (Ebiere in the movie), Mr. Olu Jacob (Temipre Dobra) and Mr. Mofe-Damijo (Gunpowder); Mr. Emeka Osai and his wife, Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Kingsley Omoefe, President, Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Mr. Fred Amata, comedian, Mr. Ali Baba, Joke Silva, Mr. Segun Arinze, Mr. Steve Onu (Yaw) and many others.
