In celebration of the International Women’s Day, Pulse Movies highlight some of the most inspiring female directors and producers who are making impact in Nollywood industry, in no particular order.
Mo Abudu
Ever since Mo Abudu ventured into filmmaking, she has turned herself into a reputable auteur and a force on both the big screen.
Her magic wand produced top Nollywood blockbusters like ‘The Wedding Party’ franchise, ‘Fifty,’ ‘The Royal Hotel Hibiscus.’ Abudu was also responsible for some TV production that includes ‘The Governor,’ ‘Desperate Housewives Africa,’ ‘Sons of the Caliphate,’ and ‘Fifty the Series.’
‘The Wedding Party’ and ‘The Wedding Party: Destination Dubai,’ which grossed hundreds of millions of Naira, are huge success currently ranking as the top two highest grossing Nollywood movies.
In 2017, Abudu was mentioned in The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the ‘25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television alongside Angelica Guerra (Latin America), Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner(United Kingdom).
In 2018, Abudu made headlines again with ‘Chief Daddy’ after which she got herself a seat as one of the academy directors for the prestigious Emmys.
Biola Alabi
Biola Alabi is notable for spearheading the berth of one of Africa’s biggest movie awards, Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards, while she worked with Multichoice Nigeria.
After her exit from the cable TV company, Alabi began working on her production house, Biola Alabi Media. The company delved into movie production and have successfully found space as a major player in the industry.
With the production of ‘Banana Island Ghost’ and ‘Lara & the beat,’ the company has made an impactful contribution to Nollywood.
Alabi went a step further to host a TV show on Arise Network. She has since been a host of the TV station coverage of the Academy Awards, Oscars since 2017.
Kemi Adetiba
Kemi Adetiba carved a niche for herself after shot series of music videos for top Nigerian musicians that included Olamide and Niyola.
A graduate of the New York Film Academy, Adetiba has worked as an On-Air Presenter, TV show host before she started shooting music videos.
A filmmaker, and television director whose works have appeared on Channel O, MTV Base, Soundcity TV, and BET, Kemi Adetiba made her entry into Nollywood when she worked on ‘Wedding Party 1’ for EbonyLife films.
Adetiba was also responsible for some issue based series and documentaries that include ‘Brotherhood’ and ‘King Women.’
The success of the feature film saw her making her second feature film, ‘King Of Boys,’ a political thriller that ruled 2018.
Aside from breaking her own record with ‘The Wedding Party 1,’ Adetiba was listed as a game changer in 2019.
According to a Nigerian economist, Bismarck Rewane, Kemi Adetiba amongst the 15 people who he believes will shape the country’s economy.
Tope Oshin
Tope Oshin was the only female director on M-Net’s hit soap opera ‘Tinsel’ in its first five seasons – she shot about 350 episodes of the show.
She has produced and directed several acclaimed movies such as ‘Fifty,’ ‘Journey to Self,’ ‘In Line’ among others.
She is also known for directing series such as ‘Hush,’ ‘Hotel Majestic,’ ‘The Apprentice Africa,’ ‘Shuga’ (Season 3 and 6).
Oshin has also directed several short films including ‘The Young Smoker’, ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ and ‘New Horizons.’
In 2016, she directed the documentary, “Amaka’s Kin: The Women Of Nollywood,” a memorial to influential filmmaker Amaka Igwe, who died in 2014, and had before her death, paved the way for most female filmmakers.
In 2017, she shot the critically acclaimed movie, ‘We don’t live here anymore’ and in 2018, she returned to the cinemas with ‘Up North.’
Genevieve Nnaji
Genevieve Nnaji is one of the accomplished Nigerian movie stars with mentions in international media.
The actress has featured in over 200 movies since her career kicked off 20 years ago. She also featured in the film ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ based on Chimamanda Ngozi’s book of the same name about the Nigerian-Biafran War from 1967-70.
In 2015, Nnaji made her debut as a producer when she co-produced ‘Road to yesterday’ which she also featured in.
In 2018, she made her directorial debut with the movie, ‘Lionheart.’ The movie became the first Nollywood movie to be acquired by Netflix before release. It was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and got good reviews.
Nnaji has since signed a management deal with a top US talent management firm and has been working on new grounds to break into Hollywood.
Bolanle Austen-Peters
The managing director and founder of renowned Arts and Cultural organisation, Terra Culture, Bolanle Austen-Peters ventured into filmmaking with “93 Days,” a stirring depiction of how the deadly Ebola virus was contained in Lagos.
Bolanle Austen-Peters Production is popular for producing critically acclaimed musicals such as “SARO the Musical,” “WAKAA!” and “FELA and the Kalakuta Queens.”
In 2018, Bolanle Austen-Peters took it a notch higher as she made her directorial debut by shooting her second feature film, ‘The Blings Lagosians.’
Biodun Stephens
Biodun Stephens resigned her job as an On-Air Presenter to study filmmaking and scriptwriting at the London film academy.
Upon her return, she immersed herself into making a change in Nollywood and partnered with Koga Entertainment to make the movie, ‘The Visit,’ which went on to open doors for her.
Working with several individuals, Stephens made headlines again with the interesting drama, ‘Picture Perfect’ in 2017.
In 2018, Stephens joins Tope Oshin as one of the female filmmakers working with M-Net and Multichoice Nigeria to create content for Africa Magic.
Stephens is billed to released a faith-based feature film, ‘Joba’ in 2019.
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& Lidwine Rakotozafinoro
.They will take part in a training course from 31 March to April in Morocco #TotalAFCONU17
Riley Morrison is just 9 years old and she’s changing the game for female athletes. In November, the young girl wrote a letter to three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry expressing her concern over the lack of girls’ sizes in his Under Armour kids‘ basketball sneakers.
