By Orji Onyekwere
The audacious move by the trio-Joy Odiete, Ramsey Nouah, and Chris Odeh to set up BRS Studios, as a formidable platform to enhance content, deepen distribution and improve creativity in audiovisual works from Africa, has been hailed as a step in the right direction to make works from the continent competitive on the global stage in terms of returns on investment and impact.
This was serially stressed by renowned Nollywood practitioners who graced the unveiling of the special platform, BRS Studios in Victoria Island Lagos, as they took turns to appraise the positive impact the initiative would have in the industry.
Actor Chidi Mokeme, who called the initiative insightful, described it as the right tool to further entrench the African cinema which is blessed with abundant talents. According to him, the platform will definitely take the industry further, because it would allow creatives the opportunity to explore their imaginations unrestrained by resources and logistics.
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Filmmaker Charles Novia in his submission said Nollywood was in need of such collaborations to enable it attain the desired heights. “We have been stressing the need for this kind of partnership in the industry. I am happy that BRS has set the stage rolling in this regard. I would not be surprised to see others copying this initiative under various guises and names; the fact remains that this is good for Nollywood”.
Film producer Uzodimma Okpechi in his remarks enjoined the team to give the platform the commitment it deserves so that the set goals will be realised.
Other stakeholders like Gideon Okeke, Osas Ighodaro, Wale Ojo, and Funny Bone equally expressed their optimism that the move would scale up productions out of the African continent.
The partnering companies clearly stated that the joint venture would serve as a special vehicle to push projects of greater proportions while pursuing their individual businesses and specialties.
The trio are bringing their different experiences and expertise in script writing, directing, production management, as well as marketing to create a world class audio-visual outlet out of Africa.
Ramsey Nouah, with over three decades of acting and more than 200 movies to his credit owns Ramsey Films and has directed the remakes of classics like ‘Living in Bondage – Breaking Free’ and ‘Rattlesnake’.
Joy Odiete, the producer of ‘Gone’, ‘Money Miss Road’ and ‘Owambe’ amongst others is the brain behind Blue Pictures, a renowned local and international independent film distributor/film sales agent, which has been a sub distributor to Warner Brothers Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Black Sheep Entertainment and other independent studios in the US, UK and South Africa for over 19 years.
Her works as a film distributor have recorded major successes for the foreign studios with franchise titles like: Harry Porter, Star Wars, Thor, Avengers, Batman, Iron Man etc. She has also worked with Nollywood greats and behind such Nigerian box-office hits like, The Return Of Jenifa, Phone Swap, Maami, Last Flight to Abuja, The Mirror Boy, and Anchor Baby amongst others.
Chris Odeh has almost 20 years of experience in the film and TV industry. He has also produced over 15 films, including Rattlesnake – The Ahanna Story, Choke, Nneka, the Pretty Serpent, Aki and Pawpaw, Love, Lust and Tokunbo, amongst others
He is the Senior Producer of Sozo Films and Ramsey Films, and a consulting producer for Play Network Studios, Blue Pictures, Take Out Media and Urbane Productions.
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