Ekene Som Mekwunye
Ekene Som Mekwunye | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo | |
| Born | 22 April 1978 Suru-Lere, Lagos State, Nigeria |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Citizenship | Nigerian |
| Occupation |
|
| Spouse(s) | Mutiat Mekwunye |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Ezekolie Peter Mekwunye (d. 2016), Lozie Grace Mekwunye |
Ekene Som Mekwunye (Born Saturday, 22nd April 1978) is a Nigerian director, film producer, screenwriter, university lecturer and a Public Speaker.[1]
Career
He 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[2] (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[3], A Simple Letter and Lasgidi Vice. The Encounter won an AMVCA[4] for best Sound track/original score in 2017 and Lasgidi Vice got to screen at the Cannes International Film Festival[5] in 2018. He produced his first Feature film titled Sylvia[6], which was released in Nigerian cinemas[7] in September 2018 and screened at different film festivals including Nollywood Week[8] in Paris and BFI[9].
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[10] on the 25th Of January 2019. It got 3 nominations at the AMVCA 2022 including the highly coveted Best Director[11]. It went on to screen at film festivals in 5 different continents including, Nollywood Week in Paris[12], Silicon Valley African Film festival[13] and Soo Film Festivals both in the United States, Brasilia International film festival in Brazil, Durban International Film festival[14] 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[15] in 2020 for the same film. He directed his second feature film, which he also produced titled ‘One Lagos Night’[16] that was acquired exclusively by Netflix[17] 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[18] which held online in 2021. It got 2 nominations at the AMVCA 2022[19].
He has also directed and coproduced 2 other feature films titled ‘Familia’ and ‘How To Love Me’ which were both shot in Abuja. His most recent work wrapped shooting in November 2022. It is a feature film 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.[20] The movie is expected in cinemas In April 2023. He is also an adjunct faculty[21] 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.[22]
Personal Life
He got married in April 2012 to Muti Mekwunye, (née Omotosho) in Lagos and they have 2 kids together.
{External Link}}
- ↑ "Conference Details". Bearing Witness, Seeking Justice.
- ↑ "'The Meeting', 'October 1' shine at AMVCA | Premium Times Nigeria". March 8, 2015.
- ↑ "Ekene Som Mekwunye Releases "The Encounter" | Xplorenollywood".
- ↑ "AMVCA 2017: See full list of winners". March 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Leute: Nollywood Germany statt Bollywood". July 18, 2018 – via www.welt.de.
- ↑ Mboho, Eddy (October 3, 2018). "Sylvia Review - Directed by Daniel Oriahi and Produced by Ekene Mekwunye".
- ↑ "Sylvia… The 'art' of exploring 'spirit husband' in Nollywood". September 9, 2018.
- ↑ "'Sylvia' debuts at Nollywood Week in Paris". May 4, 2018.
- ↑ "Sylvia (2018)". BFI.
- ↑ "Latest Nigerian Entertainment News & Updates". Pulse Nigeria.
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-60818021
- ↑ "Light in the Dark | NollywoodWeek Film Festival".
- ↑ "Silicon Valley African Film Festival 2019 Souvenir Booklet". Issuu.
- ↑ https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DIFF-Prog-2019.pdf
- ↑ "Rita Dominic, Joke Silver Win Big At KADIFF 2020 Awards". September 9, 2020.
- ↑ "One Lagos Night | NollywoodWeek ONLINE 2021". watch.eventive.org.
- ↑ "Netflix acquires exclusive rights to Ekene Som Mekwunye's film "One Lagos Night"". May 11, 2021.
- ↑ "NollywoodWeek Film Festival | Festival du cinéma nigérian".
- ↑ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/05/amvca-2022-movies-actors-that-got-double-nominations/
- ↑ "VSL MEDIA Taps Ekene Som Mekwunye to Direct New Star Studded Feature". August 26, 2022.
- ↑ "LMS: All courses". elearning.pau.edu.ng.
- ↑ "Nigerian film-maker, Ekene Mekwunye invited to speak at MIT's conference". Vanguard News. October 2, 2022.