The National President, CEFO Movies Industry and Chairman, Ika Movie Practitioners, Mr. Percy Edoki who has had about 618 movies to his credit since his coming into the movies industry in 1998, has during an interview in his residence at Alihami, Ika South LGA of Delta State on Thursday, May 14, 2020 stated that promoting Ika Language through their movies in Ika Language is priority.
He noted that the CEFO Movies Industry is a large industry that cuts across about nine states in Nigeria cum Benin Republic, Cameroon and Zambia, saying that the sole aim of the industry is to help build those who have the passion to act and bring out the best in them.
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He further noted that through the CEFO Movies Industry, they have helped young minds who seek avenue to develop their acting talents, saying that young intellects in the CEFO Foundation like Prevail Edoki and Christian Nkeiruka amongst others are those who have carved a niche for themselves through their industry.
In his words, “Percy Prevail is my last child and as a young actor, has over 15 movies to his credit which includes, My Vegetable, My Husband is Lazy, Ojanoma, Uwa Di Egwu, Agha Ri Ali amongst others. Over the years, he has done well in the movie industry which fetched him the 2017 Nollywood Golden Award as the Youngest Actor in Ika Land.
“The Nollywood Golden Award is an annual award by the Nollywood where they select and honour the best brains in the industry. At the last awards, Mr. Ibu, Chinwetalu Agu, Ngozi Ezeonu, Merit amongst others were the recipients of the 2018 Golden Awards.
“We couldn’t hold the award last year because of the international project we were handling. And so, Prevail happens to be amongst the recipients of the 2017 awards alongside, Reginald Daniels, Rita Edochie amongst others and the award has actually helped him to tighten his belt to work harder. It has also given him fame and edge over his peers.
“As a matter of fact, as of now, he is already getting equipped with the knowledge of Directing. It is also of interest to know that he delved into acting on his own without me compelling him. Apart from featuring in my films, he has also acted with other producers, which I spur him to greater heights in the industry.
Speaking about Christian Nkeiruka, Mr. Edoki said, “Nkeiru started with us last year and I can tell you she is the best so far we have in Ika nation. And because of this, the CEFO Industries had nominated her for this year’s CEFO Nollywood Golden Award as the Best Upcoming Actress of the Year Award.
“She has a very unique way of interpreting her role which most times, gets me puzzled. I can confidently say that she is like Mercy Johnson and we took all these into cognizance to nominate her for the award.”
He therefore advised upcoming actors and actresses to have a little patience in the movie industry, work on themselves and not be so over ambitious in getting to the top without no prior background knowledge of acting, saying that they must first of all ensure they create a niche for themselves in their respective locality before going for fame in the Nollywood.
Speaking further, the producer noted that his zeal for building talents at the grassroot level is one of the reasons he is passionate about language movies, particularly, Ika and Anioma languages.
He frowned at the notion of people believing that languages like Yoruba and Igbo have wider market than Ika which might, in a way hinder the sales of Ika movies.
According to him, “Ika Language has a wide market like the Igbos and Yoruba language movies as far as Anioma is concerned and we also receive patronage from those across the Niger. Some days ago, I was nominated as the State Secretary of Igbo Film Forum, Delta State. As a matter of fact, I am not an Igbo man but they believe that the Igbo language and Ika are interrelated. And so, it is fallacy to say or believe that the Yoruba has a wider market than us because of their population.
“The Ika as a nation also have children in Diaspora that also crave to watch our movies online. For example, ‘Uwa Di Egwu’ since the production online, has received over a million views.
“The only challenge is that we don’t have much language film because if we do, we would have gotten a DSTV station. Hence, we have embarked on a task to produce more Ika language movies frequently. The total films in Ika language in Ika now I think, is not more than twenty. If we are able to get up to 400 movies in Ika language, only then can we talk of owning a station in DSTV to air our movies. With this, we can commence occasions like Ika Movies Festival; a medium we can tap in to promote our movies. For example, through this platform, we can nominate and promote Best Actors and Actresses.”
In the same vein, he noted that Ika language movies are not exclusively reserved for those from Ika but for anyone who fits best into any role or interpret their role best, saying that most people like Camela, Merit and others whom they have featured in Ika language movies were not from Ika but were thought the language during the course of playing their roles.
The Producer and Director, stated that the difficulty in writing scripts and teaching the language has been a major reason while they are not in a hurry to produce language movies, saying that since they are out for the best in the language movies, there would be no need to hurry over it as making movies that are perfect or near perfections is their watchword as long as Ika Language movies are concerned.
Continuing, he noted that movies like, Ije Enu, Obiazi Ozor, Onye Nkuzi, Uwa Di Egwu, Agha Ri Ali, Ideghe and many more movies are movies that are in Ika Language to his credit, even as they also completed shooting another epic movie a day ago, titled, “Ogiso Le Mbeku.”
In conclusion, while congratulating a Grand Patron of the CEFO Movies Industry, Chief Godwin Ogadi for his new appointment as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Delta State on Political Matters, I also appreciated Donald Peterson for his support to the Industry. He appreciated the management of Ika Weekly Newspapers, saying that they have always given necessary attention at all times.