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Following its screening on the 5th remembrance of the abducted schoolgirls in Chibok town, ‘‘Daughters of Chibok’ will be screened at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival.

The film will be competing in the linear content category, among 12 other Virtual Reality films selected from around the world.

The 76th Venice International Film Festival will run from August 28 to September 7 at Venice Lido.

Representing Nigeria and Africa in the category, ‘Daughters of Chibok’ joins other VR movies from countries including France, China, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Italy, Taiwan, and Israel.

The films will be judged by an international jury who will determine the winners for Best VR, Best VR Experience for Interactive Content and Best VR Story for Linear Content awards respectively.

Speaking on the movie, Benson told Pulse that one of the reasons he’s pushing the film across the world is to raise funds for families of victims of the insurgents.

We hope that this film serves as a vehicle to not only transport people to Chibok, but we also want to use it as a means of raising financial assistance to families of victims of the insurgents. It is one thing to lose your child and spend years waiting for her return, and it is another to still be living in abject poverty.  

Joel Kachi Benson's second Virtual Reality film, 'Daughters of Chibok' tells the story of a kidnapped schoolgirl from Chibok. [Kachi Benson]
Joel Kachi Benson’s second Virtual Reality film, ‘Daughters of Chibok’ tells the story of a kidnapped schoolgirl from Chibok. [Kachi Benson]

“We must remember that these women have other children to cater for, and when you don’t have the means of taking care of them, that is extra pain. If we can’t bring back their girls now, at least we should be able to do something about their economic situation”, he said.

More so, he said he realised the significant role the womenfolk of Chibok play in sustaining their families, thus the need to support affected mothers who are waiting for the return of their daughters.

Daughters of Chibok‘, which is the first-ever VR film on the infamous Chibok kidnappings, centers on Yana Galang, a woman leader in Chibok, whose daughter was among the kidnapped Chibok girls.

The film is a stark reminder that the traumatic events of that fateful night in April 2014 are still fresh, and there are women still waiting for their children to be returned.

The 11-minute short film mirrors Galang’s pain as she hopefully awaits the return of her daughter while struggling to live a normal life as a peasant farmer.

In 2018, Benson made his first Virtual Reality film, ‘In Bakassi‘, a short film that captures the plight of children living with PTSD in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in the northeast region.

 

 

Credit: pulse.ng

51-year-old Mo’Nique explains that Oprah put her family on her show without telling her in advance, despite the fact that Oprah knew of Mo’Nique’s strained relationship with her family.

Mo’Nique says she was hurt when she saw commercials  for the episode with her other family members featured, including her mother, father and brother.

She says:

We didn’t discuss that, Oprah…I’m watching my father sit there, who was a strong alcoholic. I’m watching him drunk. I’m watching my mother be greedy. I’m watching my other brother, who was my manager, be greedy…I’m watching the scam. I want you to understand something, see this is why me and Oprah Winfrey got a problem…until that woman says let me apologize to you publicly, it’ll be ’til the day that I leave this Earth, because what you did was malicious.

She then sent a message to Oprah: “I would say Oprah Winfrey: you know what you need to do. And stop hiding behind what you call is negative comments…what people are beginning to do is see you for who you are.”

Watch.

The Ghanaian market has introduced a revolutionary sanitary pad courtesy two female students from KNUST.

Miss Otoo-Quayson and Matilda Sampong decided to solve challenges women go through monthly by producing sanitary pads out of banana stems.

Miss Otoo-Quayson said, “According to statistics about 95% of girls in rural areas miss classes during this period and we thought to do something about this,”

Conferring to the young ladies aside from the sanitary pads from the west being expensive, they are also harmful to the reproductive organs. They said these sanitary pads are made out of plastic, dioxin (cellulose gel) and a little cotton.

Banana stem sanitary pad
Banana stem sanitary pad

Plastics found in sanitary pads are known to complicate embryonic development resulting in organ damage aside polluting the environment. Also, dioxin is listed by the WHO as a highly toxic environmental pollutant and has been linked to immune system damage and cancer.

Miss Otoo-Quayson and Matilda Sampong (KNUST students)
Miss Otoo-Quayson and Matilda Sampong (KNUST students)

Therefore, the new sanitary pads made from banana stems is very welcomed because not only is it environmental-safe alternative but it is also cheaper compared to conventional sanitary pads. According to the duo, these new sanitary pads are priced at just 2 cedis per pack which is comparably cheaper than conventional sanitary pads sold at 5 cedis per pack.

 

Credit: pulse.ng

Teni the entertainer has opened up on how her seven years in the university inspired her hit single, ‘Uyo Meyo’.

In a recent documentary, Teniola Apata opened up on her world as an entertainer, her inspiration and her dream to win a Grammy.

Teni is so confident of her talent and abilities that she says she will not only win Grammys but also perform and sell out stadiums globally.

I believe I will win the Grammys, I know I will win the Grammys, I will win the Grammys and I will sell out stadiums around the world. I just know, it’s just in my soul,” she said during the 12 minute-long interview.

In the early part of the interview, Teni reminisced on how she has prophesied greatness to herself and how it came to be.

I told someone, you better take my picture, you better take my number because I will be a superstar. I was just saying it, do I even know what I was saying? I was just saying my own, but I just spoke it to the universe,” she reminisced.

Teni says she would only do what she feels or wish to do and not what others want her to do.

On her personality, the ‘Askamaya’ singer says she’s known to be a stubborn lady, who does solely what she wishes and not others wish for her.

People I grew up with, like friends, have always known me to be a stubborn person,” she began. “I do what I want to do because I just realise from a very young age that look here, how long am I going to be on this earth? I need to enjoy my life, as long as I am not harming anybody, I need to do what is best for Teni. I would rather fail at what I want to do than fail doing what someone told me to do. I’m comfortable in what I am wearing, I mean if I was wearing all these tight things, I won’t be comfortable,” she said.

For Teni, people’s worth is in their person and not their estimated worth. She says, “Everybody has something to offer, I can’t do your job, can’t hold the camera like the cameraman but you have to be with them to realise because in Nigeria, you being special depends on how much money you have. People don’t know their worth is in their skin.

Teni‘s confidence in her talent when she started was so strong that she told her label owner, Dr. Dolor that he would be making a huge mistake if he fails to sign her. “Here’s what I told my boss before he signed me. I told my boss (Dr. Dolor) that if you don’t sign me, you are going to be making a very bad decision because I’m different.

The 26-year-old BET awards nominee says her hit single, ‘Uyo Meyo’ is good music. In her words, “Uyo Meyo is good music. I have had governors call me because of ‘Uyo Meyo’ and I sat across Dangote because of ‘Case’. Isn’t that good music? Actually, I saw Dangote twice in a row, why? Isn’t that good music? ‘Uyo Meyo’ was a song that was just from the bottom of my heart. 

For Teni, her hit song, 'Uyo Meyo' is a good song that was created from the bottom of her heart.
For Teni, her hit song, ‘Uyo Meyo’ is a good song that was created from the bottom of her heart.

I was just in my car driving to graduation and on my way to graduation, I was listening to a song I had and I called the producer and said send me the beat because the beat was so spiritual and I just started freestyling in my car and that’s just how ‘Uyo Meyo’ came out. It just came from me being grateful to God for everything thus far. For me, even being able to complete the programme, it took me 7 years to graduate from the university,” she told her interviewer.

During the interview, Teni confesses to loving roadside stuff that includes local Nigerian snacks.

She went further to share what she has learned after one of her hit singles, ‘Case,’ was released in Nigeria. She said, “I learned something vital when I dropped ‘Case’. If you want to keep making good music, you can not think about making a hit song, you just have to make good music. You just have to have that juice and mindset that I want to make good music. I don’t know if it’s a hit or not, and if it’s a hit, we thank God. If it’s not a hit we keep trying.”

Continuing, she said, “By the time Askamaya blew, I was in America, they were telling me that my song has blown in Nigeria. When I returned to Lagos, people were already calling me olomoge askamaya and I was like…It blew up in London like crazy, like a wildfire.”

For her legacy, Teni wants to live a fully well-spent one. “I want to make sure that when I am dead and people gather around me to sing goodbye, and they are singing it is well, I will know that it is well. And I live my life for myself and I don’t leave my life for anybody.”

 

 

Credit: Pulse

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 23: (L-R) Wendy Williams attends SiriusXM Town Hall with Wendy Williams hosted by SiriusXM host Karen Hunter at SiriusXM Studios on July 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 23: Wendy Williams attends SiriusXM Town Hall with Wendy Williams hosted by SiriusXM host Karen Hunter at SiriusXM Studios on July 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

In a chat with Karen, Wendy Williams opened up about her alleged feud with Blac Chyna‘s mum Tokyo Toni.

She also spoke about her need to have a sober house to feel safe as well as her relationship with her ex.

Wendy Williams got emotional when Karen Hunter asked about how she was handling her recent separation from Kevin Hunter Sr. When asked whether she’ll change her name on credit card and bank accounts, Wendy got choked up.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 23: Wendy Williams attends SiriusXM Town Hall with Wendy Williams hosted by SiriusXM host Karen Hunter at SiriusXM Studios on July 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 23: Wendy Williams attends SiriusXM Town Hall with Wendy Williams hosted by SiriusXM host Karen Hunter at SiriusXM Studios on July 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 23: Wendy Williams attends SiriusXM Town Hall with Wendy Williams hosted by SiriusXM host Karen Hunter at SiriusXM Studios on July 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

She said:

My name is Wendy Hunter. That’s my son’s name. You can’t take away twenty…don’t make me cry… Next.

She added, “I’m happy, I’m healthy…I’m at peace with the world and everyone around…I’m going through a situation in my family.”

“Is there a chance…” Karen began to ask.

“No! Don’t ask. Girl. No. Don’t ask. I know what you’re saying…but my family’s good, and we’ll always be family

Watch below.

Watch below.

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Astrid Stawiarz

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Astrid Stawiarz

 

 

Credit: LIB

Described as “skilful, sharp and engaging a debut as any first novelist can produce,” Oyinkan’s novel is the only debut on the 13-man longlist also featuring Chigozie Obioma‘s An Orchestra of Minorities.

Chigozie had been shortlisted in 2015 for his debut The Fishermen, and his second novel is loosely based on the Odyssey.

Others on the shortlist are:

  • Margaret Atwood from Canada for her highly anticipated novel, The Testaments.
  • Kevin Barry from Ireland for his crime fiction, Night Boat to Tangier.
  • Lucy Ellmann from the USA/UK for her 1000-word single sentence novel, Ducks, Newburyport.
  • Bernardine Evaristo from the UK for her novel about the lives of black women, Girl, Woman, Other.
  • John Lanchester from the UK for his dystopian novel, The Wall.
  • Deborah Levy from the UK for her novel which slips between time zones, The Man Who Saw Everything.
  • Valeria Luiselli from Mexico/Italy for her first novel published in the English Language, Lost Children Archive.
  • Max Porter from the UK for his novel about a missing boy, Lanny.
  • Salman Rushdie from the India for his novel based on Don Quixote, Quichotte.
  • Elif Shafak from the Turkey for her novel which details the memories of a dead Istanbul sex worker, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.
  • and Jeanette Winterson from the UK for her novel based on Frankenstein, Frankissstein.

The Booker Prize (formerly the Man Booker Prize) is a £50,000 prize awarded to the best novel written in the English Language. Until 2014, it was awarded to only novels written by writers from the Commonwealth, Irish, South African and Zimbabwe.

Nigerian magical realism writer Ben Okriwon the prize in 1991 for his novel The Famished Road.

You can read excerpts of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killerwhose copies we gave away, on BellaNaija hereherehere and here.

 

 

Credit: Bella Naija

Captain Simisola Ajibola is the pilot who averted the near tragedy on Air Peace aircraft that happened at the Muratala Mohammed International Airport Lagos yesterday July 23rd.

 

Meet the beautiful Nigerian pilot who averted the near tragedy in Lagos airport (photos)

Meet the beautiful Nigerian pilot who averted the near tragedy in Lagos airport (photos)Meet the beautiful Nigerian pilot who averted the near tragedy in Lagos airport (photos)

Credit: LIB

This was made known in a statement by Morgan Ortagus, spokesperson of the US department of state, according to TheCable.

“The United States is a steadfast supporter of Nigerian democracy. We commend all those Nigerians who participated peacefully in the February and March 2019 elections and have worked to strengthen Nigerian democratic institutions and processes,” the statement read.

“As Nigeria marks the twentieth anniversary of a return to democratic rule this year, we remain committed to working together to continue to advance democracy and respect for human rights and achieve greater peace and prosperity for both our nations. We condemn those whose acts of violence, intimidation, or corruption harmed Nigerians or undermined the democratic process.

“In a January 24 statement, the U.S. government said that we would consider consequences – including visa restrictions – for individuals responsible for undermining the Nigerian democratic process or for organising election-related violence.  To that end, the Secretary of State is imposing visa restrictions on Nigerians believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Nigeria. These individuals have operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and undermined democratic principles and human rights,” it concluded.

 

 

Credit: Bella Naija

 

A wig-hat is a hat that has hair sewn into it, so when you wear the hat, it looks like that hair is yours.

According to her team, the wig hat is carefully created for all women who desire a twist of elegance and class in their beauty and fashion style.

 

 

Credit: Bella Naija

Seven women made the 2019 ministerial nominees list of President Muhammadu Buhari released yesterday.

The figure represents 16.3% of the total of 43 nominees.

Here are the seven women that made the list.

1. Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna)

Image result for zainab ahmed finance minister

She is the current Finance Minister who was appointed in September 2018 after the resignation of Kemi Adeosun.

2. Paulen Talen (Plateau)

Image result for paulen tallen

She was Minister of science and technology under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

3. Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra)

Sharon is the Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)

4. Ambassador Maryam Katagun (Bauchi)

 

Maryam is Nigeria’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.

5.Ramatu Tijjani (Kogi)

Ramatu is a former All Progressives Congress (APC) women national leader.

6. Gbemisola Saraki (Kwara)

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Gbemisola is a sister to ex-Senate President, Bukola Saraki and she is also a former senator and of House of Representatives member,

7. Sadiya Umar Faruk (Zamfara)

Image result for sadiya umar faruk

She is the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs (NCFRMI)

 

 

Credit: fabwoman.ng