Ekene Som Mekwunye

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Ekene Som Mekwunye
Ekene Som Mekwunye, March 2022.jpg
Ekene in 2022
Born (1978-04-22) 22 April 1978 (age 46)
Surulere, Lagos State, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Occupation(s) Film Director, Film Producer, screenwriter, Educator
SpouseMutiat Mekwunye
Children2
Parent(s)Ezekolie Peter Mekwunye (d. 2016), Lozie Grace Mekwunye [1]

Ekene Som Mekwunye (born 22 April 1978) is a Nigerian film director, producer, screenwriter and educator. [2] He is known for Directing and Producing movies like Light In The Dark, One Lagos Night, Honey Money and Sylvia.

Contents

Career

Mekwunye started his career being a camera assistant at his church before getting a job at Africa Magic producing 53extra and Jara as well as all Channel O contents in Nigeria. He later went to New York film Academy in Los Angeles to study filmmaking. Shortly after his return, he moved to MTV shuga as the project coordinator where he organized for their hit TV series titled Shuga 3. He shot a short film, Oblivious and it won an AMVCA [3] (Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award) in 2015 for best short film.

He started his Company, Riverside Productions after He left MTV Shuga and created a TV show called My Big Nigerian Wedding which went on to become a big wedding reality TV show in Africa. He later produced 3 short films titled The Encounter, [4] A Simple Letter and Lasgidi Vice. The Encounter won an AMVCA [5] for best Sound track/original score in 2017 and Lasgidi Vice got to screen at the Cannes International Film Festival [6] in 2018. He produced his first Feature film titled Sylvia, [7] which was released in Nigerian cinemas [8] in September 2018 and screened at different film festivals including Nollywood Week [9] in Paris and BFI. [10]

He Directed his first feature film, which he also produced with Chidinma Uzodike titled Light In The Dark, which was released in Nigerian and Ghanaian cinemas [11] on the 25th Of January 2019. It got 3 nominations at the AMVCA 2022 including the highly coveted Best Director. [12] It went on to screen at film festivals in 5 different continents including, Nollywood Week in Paris, [13] Silicon Valley African Film festival [14] and Soo Film Festivals both in the United States, Brasilia International film festival in Brazil, Durban International Film festival [15] in South Africa and other countries in India, Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria and Australia. He won the Best Director award at the Kaduna International Film Festival [16] in 2020 for the same film. He directed his second feature film, which he also produced titled 'One Lagos Night' [17] that was acquired exclusively by Netflix [18] and the international release on their platform was on the 29th of May 2021. It was also the closing film at Nollywood week Film Festival, Paris [19] which held online in 2021. It got 2 nominations at the AMVCA 2022. [20]

In 2022, he made the movie titled 'Honey Money' starring Nancy Isime, Timini Egbuson, Iyabo Ojo, Femi Branch, Babarex, Uzee Usman, Sandra Okunzuwa, Junior Pope etc. He was the Director, Co-Producer and also an Executive Producer. [21] The movie was released in cinemas In April 2023. Amazon Prime released [22] 2 of his films exclusive to their platform Prime video in April 2024 titled AMBIVALENT and KALI. [23] He directed and Produced the Movie 'Move Like A Boss' which premiered in Nigerian cinemas in August 2024. [24] His films 'I Hate Love Stories' and 'Honey Money' screened at the Zanzibar International film Festival in August and were the first Nigerian films to screen at the film festival in close to 10 years. [25] He is also an adjunct faculty [26] at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University where he teaches final year students film Production and Techniques. He also organises free workshops for young filmmakers called The Imagery Program where he teaches Screenwriting, Filmmaking and acting for screen. It has held twice. He was one of the speakers invited by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to speak at a conference titled 'Videography In The Hands Of The People' which held at the school campus in October 2022 in Boston. [27]

Personal Life

He got married in April 2012 to Muti Mekwunye, (née Omotosho) in Lagos and they have 2 kids together. [28]

Filmography

Selected Filmography

YearTitleMajor CastRoleNotes
2011-2013Jara Helen Paul, Uti Nwachukwu,ProducerTV Show
2011-201353extra Eku Edewor, Dolapo Oni,ProducerTV Show
2011-2013Channel O Denrele Edun,Producer, DirectorTV Show
2013MTV Shuga 3 Nick Mutuma, Timini Egbuson, Emmanuel Ikubese, Tiwa Savage, Chris Attoh Project CoordinatorTV Series
2013My Big Nigerian Wedding Sisi Yemmie, Bobo Yomi,Director, Producer, Executive ProducerTV Show
2013Oblivious Deyemi Okanlawon, Kiki Omeili, Uzor Osimkpa Screenwriter, Producer, Executive ProducerShort Film, winner for the 2015 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for Best short film
2015 The Encounter Gregory Ojefua, Amarachi Onoh, Stan Nze,ProducerShort Film, winner for the 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for Best Sound Design
2015 A Simple Letter Nancy Isime, Paul Utomi ProducerShort Film
2016Lasgidi Vice Theresa Edem, Bucci Franklin, Hauwa Allahbura, Tunji Ogunkeye ProducerShort film
2018 Sylvia Zainab Balogun, Chris Attoh, Ini Dima-Okojie and Udoka Oyeka ProducerFeature Film, available on Prime Video
2019 Light In The Dark Rita Dominic, Joke Silva, Kalu Ikeagwu, Kiki Omeili, Bimbo Ademoye, Ngozi Nwosu, Saidi Balogun Story Writer, Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature Film, available on Netflix
2021 One Lagos Night Frank Donga, Gold Ikponmwosa, Eniola Badmus, Genoveva Umeh and Ali Nuhu Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature film, available on Netflix
2023 How to Love Me Yvonne Jegede, IK Ogbonna,Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature Film, available on Prime Video
2023 Honey Money Nancy Isime, Timini Egbuson, Iyabo Ojo, Femi Branch,Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature Film
2024 Ambivalent Gabriel Afolayan, Derby Frankson, Aereis Umusu, Anita.O James,Writer, Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature Film, available on Prime Video
2024 Kali Lota Chukwu, Bimbo Manuel, Preach Bassey, Nedine Love, Blessing Martyn, Doddy Abili, Christle Lotanna Chris-Okafor,Writer, Director, Producer, Executive ProducerFeature Film, available on Prime Video
2024 Move Like A Boss Nancy Isime, IK Ogbonna, Yemi Solade, Jaiye Kuti, Tope Olowoniyan, MC Lively, Denrenle Edun,Director, Producer, Casting DirectorFeature Film, available on Prime Video

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References

  1. ↑ "Nigeria's govt hospitals are slaughter slabs". 17 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "Conference Details". Bearing Witness, Seeking Justice.
  3. ↑ "'The Meeting', 'October 1' shine at AMVCA | Premium Times Nigeria". March 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Ekene Som Mekwunye Releases "The Encounter" | Xplorenollywood". 18 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "AMVCA 2017: See full list of winners". March 5, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Leute: Nollywood Germany statt Bollywood". July 18, 2018 – via www.welt.de.
  7. ↑ Mboho, Eddy (October 3, 2018). "Sylvia Review - Directed by Daniel Oriahi and Produced by Ekene Mekwunye".
  8. ↑ "Sylvia... The 'art' of exploring 'spirit husband' in Nollywood". September 9, 2018.
  9. ↑ "'Sylvia' debuts at Nollywood Week in Paris". May 4, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Sylvia (2018)". BFI.
  11. ↑ "Latest Nigerian Entertainment News & Updates". Pulse Nigeria.
  12. ↑ "AMVCA: 2022 Africa Magic Awards Nominees don land- See who dey list". BBC News Pidgin.
  13. ↑ "Light in the Dark | NollywoodWeek Film Festival".
  14. ↑ "Silicon Valley African Film Festival 2019 Souvenir Booklet". Issuu. 29 September 2019.
  15. ↑ https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DIFF-Prog-2019.pdf
  16. ↑ "Rita Dominic, Joke Silver Win Big At KADIFF 2020 Awards". September 9, 2020.
  17. ↑ "One Lagos Night | NollywoodWeek ONLINE 2021". watch.eventive.org.
  18. ↑ "Netflix acquires exclusive rights to Ekene Som Mekwunye's film "One Lagos Night"". May 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ "NollywoodWeek Film Festival – Festival du cinéma nigérian".
  20. ↑ "AMVCA 2022: Movies, actors that got double nominations".
  21. ↑ "VSL MEDIA Taps Ekene Som Mekwunye to Direct New Star Studded Feature". August 26, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Ekene Som Mekwunye's tw Prime directed films "Kali", "Ambivalent" hit Amazon Prime".
  23. ↑ "Ekene Mekwunye premieres new films on Amazon Prime". 5 April 2024.
  24. ↑ ""Move Like a Boss" for Cinemas Second Week of August".
  25. ↑ "Zanzibar International Film Festival selects two Nigeria films for 2024 competition".
  26. ↑ "LMS: All courses". elearning.pau.edu.ng.
  27. ↑ "Nigerian film-maker, Ekene Mekwunye invited to speak at MIT's conference". Vanguard News. October 2, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Ekene Mekwunye: Memoirs of a Father". 10 February 2015.
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