Nollywood is now going to do something that no African film has ever managed to achieve. On September 26, Rixel Studios and FilmOne Entertainment will hold a screening of Black Market at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos with the aim of setting a Guinness World Records title. Here then is all the information you need about this historic endeavour.
The film is attempting to break a record which has been held for more than ten years.
The Black Market campaign is aiming to set the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people attending a film screening in one place. This record was established on October 4, 2015, when 43,624 people attended the premiere of the biographical film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena in Ciudad de Victoria. Rixel Studios intends to exceed that figure by having 50,000 people watch the film at Tafawa Balewa Square, and if they achieve this, Black Market will become the first African film to hold the record.
The place has a historical significance of its own.
Tafawa Balewa Square is more than merely a large open area in Lagos since it was on that ground that Nigeria declared its independence in 1960; having a record-breaking screening there gives the event a national significance and links Nollywood’s most ambitious endeavour to one of the nation’s most important historical sites.
It involves some of the most prominent figures in Nollywood working together
Black Market is a film produced jointly by Rixel Studios, FilmOne Studios and Signet Ring Studios, with the assistance of Switch Visuals Production in regard to the screening. The film is being distributed by FilmOne Entertainment. The executive producers are Rixel Studios, FilmOne Studios, Omowunmi Dada, Susan Pwajok and Mike Afolarin, while Nora Awolowo and Nicole Ofoegbu are listed as producers. Nora Awolowo, who set up Rixel Studios when she was 19, heads the group responsible for the film.
The story centres on five market women who take part in a cross-border smuggling operation.
The film Black Market, which was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and written by Abdul Tijani-Ahmed and Fatimah Binta Gimsay, is a crime drama set in the context of fuel shortages and increasing economic difficulties in Nigeria. It centres on five market women who carry out a cross-border fuel smuggling operation in secret. The movie was filmed in Abeokuta and includes in its cast Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor Suleiman, Itele D Icon, Scarlet Gomez, Omowunmi Dada, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Uzor Arukwe, Folagade Banks, Tomiwa Tegbe, Andrew Yaw Bunting, Shamz Garuba and Adeoluwa Akintoba.
Now tickets are available and there are standard and premium choices.
Tickets for the screening on September 26 can be obtained from www.blackmarketmovie.com. The organisers are presenting the event as a communal experience rather than a conventional red carpet premiere, offering both standard and premium types of tickets for the tens of thousands who are expected to attend. The team is also making arrangements regarding security and traffic control to accommodate such a large crowd in a public area.
It makes no difference whether Black Market reaches 50,000 or not, since the fact that an attempt has been made indicates that Nollywood has now reached a new level of ambition — one that places an African production at the heart of a discussion about the Guinness World Records for the first time.
