Something unusual for the Nigerian film industry took place on Thursday, January 29, when BP Vision Limited unveiled the soundtrack for Entreat, a film in the making at Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Although this is not the first time a movie production company would unveil its soundtrack, the ceremony around the event and the quality of the songs presented stood the event out.
While the guests that included media, movie people and players from corporate Nigeria waited for the unveiling, they were serenaded by the Perfect 4 String Quartet which did a good job of rendering contemporary and regular tunes to the delight of the guests.
Guests that included renowned music producer, Cobhams Asuquo, listened to the cast and crew of the film, ‘Entreat’, which will soon go on location, talk about how they got involved in the project.
Such cast and crew included the producer, Grace Edwin-Okon; actors like Brian Okpara, Monalisa Chinda, Wale Ojo, Zainab Balogun, Kemi Lala Akindoju and the director’s biological son, Michael Asuelime Jr., among many others.
Some of the actors that were not present include Femi Jacobs, Osas Ighodalo and Sadiq Daba.
The theatre director, whose company has produced plays for over 15 years, told the story of how he felt when he travelled to the United States of America to see the black American filmmaker, Tyler Perry.
“He took me on a tour around his studio and told me how he started out producing and directing plays on stage before crossing to film,” Asuelime said, explaining that Perry’s story of humble beginnings is just like that of BP Vision Limited, which is now ready to do films the way they should be done.
Asuelime also explained that the project is also to discover new talents, which is why his company was introducing online auditions to give opportunity to young talented individuals.
According to him, those interested should log on to BP Vision’s facebook page, like it, pick a monologue and upload 60 second video, get friends to also like the page and vote for a video.
The highpoint of the evening was when Joan Ekpai performed ‘I Entreat’, one of the soundtracks she composed for the movie project. Her performance started from the last floor of the galleria building and culminated in front of the guests at the gathering. The track was as soul-searching as it was intriguing. She went on to perform ‘Simple Life’ leaving everyone dazed and asking for more. It may be early days yet, but there is no mistaking that ‘Entreat’, like most of the stage productions BP Vision has been involved in, will get a lot of attention.