Mo Abudu has said her company, EbonyLife Films, is thrilled to have the Lagos State Government endorse Fifty. The executive producer of the movie was reacting to the letter from the state government, which announced its partnership with the company.
“We are thrilled to have Lagos State endorse our movie. Fifty is a celebration of all that is good in and about Lagos and Africa as a continent. Our hope is that our great city continues to be an iconic backdrop for many more stories in the near future,” Abudu said.
Lagos State and its Ministry of Culture and Tourism made the announcement in the build-up to the film’s worldwide premiere on Sunday, December 13. The state confirmed its support for the film in an official letter to EbonyLife Films signed by the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Foli Coker.
“We appreciate the rich showcase of our great city through Fifty’s celebration of the pulse and energy of this fast developing metropolis and its people through the lenses of its four leading women. We can proudly say Lagos State is the movie’s fifth character,” Coker stated in the letter.
This endorsement is another great feat for the EbonyLife Films Production which continues to rally local and international support. Earlier in the year, the film was selected to screen at the 59th BFI London Film Festival – the only Nigerian film and one of five African films – alongside some of the year’s biggest titles. As a result, the film has garnered rave reviews from the BBC, CNN and leading local online and print publications.
Directed by Biyi Bandele, it captures a few pivotal days in the lives of four Nigerian women at the pinnacle of their careers. Tola, Elizabeth, Maria and Kate are forced at midlife to take inventory of their personal lives, while juggling careers and family against the sprawling backdrops of the upper middle-class neighbourhoods of Lagos.
The movie stars Ireti Doyle, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli and Nse Ikpe-Etim. The production is Abudu’s quest to showcase African women coming of age, loaded with increasingly similar aspirations and dilemmas faced by their contemporaries everywhere, while yet navigating unresolved traditions and obligations.
Fifty will premiere in Nigeria with a special grand Lagos premiere on December 13 at The Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, and will be released in cinemas nationwide on December 18.