THE OBENSON REPORT

• The Prince of Broadway
• An Ethiopian film titled 13 Months of Sunshine
• Disappearing Voices - The Decline of Black Talk Radio
  
• A Cameroonian Film called Paris A Tout Prix (Paris or Nothing)
• Charles Burnetts's Namibia epic - Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation
• Sexe, Gombo Et Beurre Sale (Sex, Okra and Salted Butter) - a French film by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, who previously brought us the critically acclaimed 2006 film, Daratt

Nigeria's success with its Nollywood film industry is leading to a great deal of soul-searching. The country's censorship board NFVB has attempted to licence film distributors and is making pronouncements about how Nollywood films should reflect "a more positive Nigerian Image internationally". Kiszo DuFay learnt his film-making skills at the Hollywood Film Institute but he returned to Nigeria two years ago to make films in his home country and to launch the African Roving Film School as a way of raising skills locally. Russell Southwood spoke to him last week.

Q: What's your company Taradome Entertainment Group do?

It used to be a distribution company but now we do film productions. We want to tell African stories that are done well and we have various projects in development at different stages.

Q: What are the projects?

We've got three projects that we're hoping to realise starting next year. We've finished scripting two of them. One is Lagos Jumping, a buddy-style movie done in an African way. It deals with drug dealing via South Africa and narrated in the American style.

The second project is The Drive which is about three African doctors from different parts of the continent who are friends. They attend a medical conference and miss their flight but they have to get back to attend the wedding of one of them. They have to drive to the next country to get another flight and it's about the obstacles they encounter. It looks at the different prejudices there are about being different Africans.

The third one is an experimental project using Shakespeare's Othello to make a psychological thriller and we've not finished scripting it yet. It's a different twist on the relationship between Iago and Othello. We're trying to do all of them on internationally costed budgets and we're looking internationally as well as locally for the best possible persons to act and make them.

Q: How did the African Roving Film School come about?

It was born out of necessity. When I came back to do production, the skills needed were grossly wanting. I was trained in LA and I thought how can I have an impact on the industry? If you train someone, they'll never lose that.

Q: Where do you think the Nigerian film industry will be in five years time?

It will have produced an Oscar-winning product with great quality and talent. We have have the creative talent: the writers, the actors and the musicians. We haven't had the proper platform to showcase their talent. These are the kind of people we'd like to go after.

Writers on Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" and "Meet the Browns" received an early Thanksgiving treat.

The WGA and Perry announced Wednesday an agreement was reached in the five-month negotiations over having the guild rep writers on the two shows.

Details of the agreement were not immediately released. It was the last outstanding union agreement for Perry and his studio, which had previously brokered deals with IATSE, SAG, DGA and others.

According to a statement, the NAACP Hollywood Bureau and its executive director Vic Bulluck played an integral part in the two sides reaching a deal.

"We are pleased to have come to a resolution with the WGA and thank the NAACP for their support during negotiations," Perry said. "We look forward to many years working with the talented writers who are members of the Guild."
[...]
In October, the WGA announced that four writers involved with an organizing effort for the showrunner's programs were fired. The guild claimed the problems began in April when the writers -- Kellie Griffin, Christopher Moore, Teri Brown-Jackson and Lamont Ferrell -- were among seven scribes seeking to negotiate a first WGA contact with Perry's production company, which is also called House of Payne. The agreement would give the scribes health-care benefits, pensions and residuals.
[...]
"The NAACP is a staunch advocate for workers rights, and for nearly 100 years has fought for greater minority representation and inclusion in Hollywood," said NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous. "We recognize the unique and important influence writers have in our society. The NAACP will continue to work with the WGA to make sure their rights are protected and that all the networks and studios provide greater opportunity for minority writers."

Lionsgate today announced that it has acquired worldwide distribution rights from St. V, LLC to the documentary More Than a Game. Directed by Kristopher Belman and produced by Harvey Mason Jr. and Belman, More Than a Game tells the true story of five talented young basketball players, including future NBA superstar LeBron James, and their remarkable journey from Akron, Ohio to the national high school championship series. It's a remarkable true-life coming of age story about friendship and loyalty in the face of great adversity. Coached by a charismatic but inexperienced player's father, and led by future NBA superstar LeBron James, the "Fab Five's" improbable nine-year journey leads them from a decrepit inner-city gym to the doorstep of a national high school championship.

Lionsgate in association with Harvey Mason Media and Interscope Records plans to release More Than a Game in Fall 2009. The film made its world premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, where the audience responded with a five-minute standing ovation. Lionsgate will be joined in marketing More Than a Game by the NBA and by LeBron James' brand partners, State Farm®, Nike and Coca-Cola.

Robert L. Johnson, the billionaire founder of the Black Entertainment Television, is looking to get back into television is a big way by programming at least one channel on the Ion Media's stations under unique "share-time" licenses.

Like BET, the programming would be aimed at black viewers.

According to FCC filings, Ion and Johnson are forming Urban Television LLC, a venture owned by Johnson (51 percent) and Ion (49 percent), and asking the FCC to grant Urban share-time licenses that would enable Urban to broadcast its programming on a digital channel of Ion stations in 42 markets.

"Under the terms of the share-time licenses, Urban would be authorized to operate on the same channels as the Ion stations on a shared basis," the filings say.

Johnson and Ion contend that the share-time license would entitle the Urban channel to must carry in all markets.

Brooklyn’s Finest - Training Day director Antoine Fuqua’s cop tale about three unconnected Brooklyn cops who wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths. The film stars Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin, Jesse Williams and Lili Taylor.

Living in Brooklyn, I heard so much about this, and the ex-transit worker turned screenwriter's sudden rise to stardom. Director Antoine Fuqua's last directorial effort was 2007's Shooter (Mark Wahlberg) which I didn't see. Box office receipts show a successful run, earning over $95 million on a $60 million budget. Critics were split however.