Meet Hilda Dokubo… the evergreen screen darling

(Actor of the Week)

HILDA Dokubo may not be a face on every movie poster or DVD jacket, now; some may even argue that she has taking a back seat in terms of appearance in Nollywood movies, but her position as one of Nigeria’s leading Nollywood actresses cannot be contested. A choreographer, activist and caregiver and an actress in the professional class, Hilda a product of the theatre arts department of the University of Port Harcourt and an alumnus of the prestigious Royal College of Arts, London has remained timeless. The native of Buguma in Asaritoru Council Area of River State has also continued to grab mostly lead or supporting roles on stage and screen whenever she finds a good script. 

Born Hilda Dokubo in England to Prince and Princess Benibo Dokubo “some years back”, Hilda who lost her father in her formative years had her early education at Bredfruits International School, London and was just in her fourth class at St. Mary’s State School Port Harcourt when she was admitted into the prestigious Government Girls Secondary School. It was while at girls’ school that her career in acting picked up. Since then it has been almost three decades of unbroken record on stage and screen. Today, the actress has her name on the credit lines of a number of stage and screen productions including ‘Everyman’, Isiburu, Ebejiba, Great Wedding, The Gods Are Not to Blame, Behold my Redeemer, Hopes of the Living Dead, Odumegege, House of Bernada Alba among others.

On the movie turf, ‘Nne Boys ‘(Mother of Boys) as some of her friends call her, is hot. She probably has done more movies than the American star actress Demi Moore whom she has a lot of respect for and whom she listed as one of those who oiled her zeal for acting. At the last count, she was said to have featured in over 150 movie productions and many short films including the M-net film, Barber’s Wisdom produced by Tajudeen Adepetu. Evil Passion, Jezebel, Great Experience, Fatal Desire, Frame Up, Deadly Passion Without Love, Restless Soul and Stigma are some of the movie credits of the star of Kunle Afolayan’s big budget movie ‘The CEO.’ Hilda who presently combines her work as an actor with training and mentoring young people. 

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REVIEW

Title- 21 Days With Christ  

Producer- Okoro Ugwu

Director- Bond Emeruwa

Actors- Hilda Dokubo, Olu Jacobs, Saint Obi and others

SOME women are in a cult that was supposedly set up to assist widows. But on joining the cult, some of the women discover there is more to the cult than they thought. Even the state becomes so suspicious of the activities of the group. The police is handed the charge to investigate. But the detective put in charge of the investigation disappears in the process. With nobody to care for the wife of the missing cop, she is talked to joining the dreaded cult….

This is good. The efficacy of prayers is the lesson here. And to drive the point home, the promoters engaged some of the sector’s reliable hands , who all gave a good account of themselves. But this would have been gripping if it ran for say 60 minutes. Here lies the problem; it ran for more and even got too preachy at some point. 

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Filmdom Notice Board

For Sadiq Daba, Cockcrow at Dawn

LIGHT has dimmed on legendary actor and broadcaster Sadiq Daba after a long battle with leukemia and prostrate cancer. Daba who has since been buried at a cemetery in Agege, Lagos, cameto limelight on the back of his delightful interpretation of the role of Bitrus in the defunct series, ‘Cockcrow At Dawn’ series on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Daba started out as news presenter and reporter at the NTA Sokoto before he was drafted to be part of the television series, which ran for several years before it was rested in the mid-90. Married with children, Daba resigned from the NTA voluntarily and went into private practice. He produced and directed some television shows as an independent producer and he found time to do some acting whenever he found a ‘’good script’. Daba’s most pronounced performance as an actor was as inspector Waziri in Kunle Afolayan’s jubilee hit ‘October 1’. Other movies that have had the benefit of his deep potrayal include ‘Eagle Wings’ by Paul Apel and ‘Citation’ by Kunle Afolayan.  

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Kunle Afolayan Three ‘Original’ film deal with Netflix 

THIS year will be a busy one for filmmaker Kunle Afolayan. The director of hit flicks such as ‘October 1’, ‘Irapada’, and ‘Phone Swap’, recently signed a deal with streaming giants Netflix to make three new films, all set in Nigeria. The filmmaker revealed that the first title will be an adaptation of Nigerian-American writer Sefi Atta’s 2010 novel, ‘Swallow,’which is about a naïve secretary who, after a series of career woes, considers her roommate’s offer to work as a drug mule in Lagos. The other titles, according to Afolayan, are ‘the story of folklore and fantasy’ and ‘a story that deals with an African spiritual influence’. Afolayan who has had four of his works screened on the Netflix platform — The CEO, October 1, The Figurine, Citation) — revealed that ‘Swallow’ is almost ready as it is at the tail of post-production. ‘’The story is very authentic to Africa. People have told different stories about drug peddling, drug abuse, but nobody has done anything around here. So, call it an expose if you like,” Afolayan enthused. 

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Filmdom WORD BITES: All for SADIQ DABA

“The greater warrior we have ever known, whose undaunting nature shone brightly during his time on set with us. Uncle S, you came, you fought, and you conquered. It was Christopher Holloway who said that the life of one we love is never lost. His influence goes on through all the lives it ever touched. Just like the impact of our dear beloved one, Mr. Sadiq Daba whose ever positive and enlightening presence left an unforgettable mark in our hearts. We have come a long way as a family and we are truly grateful for every moment we shared’’.  

– Filmmaker Kunle Afolayan who has had more opportunities to work with the actor and broadcaster in movies such as ‘October 1’ and most recently ‘Citation’.  

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“Sad that the cock will no longer crow at dawn. Sadiq Daba, thank you for the joy you brought into our homes. May your sins be forgiven and your memories be a blessing.”

• Former Nigerian Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, GCON.  

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‘’Sigh… Sadiq Daba, my Oga, what can I say? We were quick to fight as colleagues but also quick to make up. We would hear your voice from the control room of the NTA studio and your laughter reverberated through the studio walls, cracking everyone up in the process. You were an amazing broadcaster, actor, teacher, mentor and friend. You will be sorely missed’’.

• – Katherine Obiang, Sadiq Daba’s former junior colleague at the NTA 

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Star Fad & Hobbies

The Actress Rita Dominic –

“Most times I can’t just believe that I am the one people are talking about in such glowing terms. It’s a good feeling for me that one is reaping what you worked so hard for. Sometime I stop when I see people crowd a poster and when I hear them say, ‘hey this is a new one starring Rita. Hey we need go see this’… I am excited. I mean you get to enter places that you never dreamt of entering. You get a lot of thing done easily. But basically the thing is that you don’t have a private life. You live for the people. You don’t really have a life of your own. But I like my privacy so much. I like to do things I want to without people prying into them. But I cannot have that now because of my being in the movie.’ 

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‘ The Actress Uche Nnenna Jombo-

“I like reading novels a lot and I watch films a lot. I also find time to watch football and play only if it’s a novelty match. As for likes and dislikes, I hate dishonest people and I like people with sense of humour because I love to laugh. I mean what’s life without laughter. I hate it when people are lying and they know they are lying. It just puts me off. As for colours I love black in as much as I am dark. I adore black because it kind of high excess flesh for those of us on the big side. I love red colour too. As for whether I wear designers. Well, I do but I am not particular about any designer’’. 

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MILE STONES & ROUGH CUTS

 #IREP & AWDFF Collaborate on Virtual Festival – A total of 60 documentary films from 26 countries would were exhibited virtually by the time the IPREP and AWDFF jointly held Documentary Film Festival closed on Sunday, March 21. The four days virtual festival opened on March 18 courtesy of collaboration between the Lagos-based IREP Documentary Film Forum/Festival and the US-based African World Documentary Film Festival at the School of Theatre, Television and Film at San Diego State University. Other collaborators were drawn from Cameroon, South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda and the Caribbean. Still held under its usual thematic theme of ‘Africa in Self-Conversation’, the Covid-19 pandemic, which has rendered physical gatherings impossible due to stringent protocols is the reason this year’s edition of the festival, took place in the virtual world. It will be recalled that IREP cancelled its planned 10^th anniversary edition in 2020 as the lockdown was announced just days to the commencement of the festival.  This 2021 virtual edition featured films that reflect the diversities of human experiences through universal themes that cut across social, cultural and political issues. The festival held conversations and screened significant documentaries such as ‘Unmasked: Leadership, Trust and the Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria’ directed by Femi Odugbemi; ‘King of Highlife: Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson (The One who lived) directed by Kaka Benson; ‘Nightlife in Lagos’ by James Amuta; ‘Eye of An Artist’ by Kennii Ekundayo and ‘Painter-Juliet-Ezeanwa-Pearce’ by Tam Fiofori. The festival closed on Sunday March 21 with the usual CORA Art Stampede organised by the Committee For Relevant Arts (CORA) on the theme ‘Documentary and Preservation of Memories’. It featured the screening of Ezennia Ed Emeka Keazor’s ‘January 15, 1970-Untold Memories of the Nigeria-Biafra War.  A conversation between Keazor and the Secretary General of CORA Toyin Akinosho followed immediately after the screening. 

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#Spike Lee back in Cannes: Organisers of the Cannes international Film Festival have named Oscar winning filmmaker Spike Lee as President of the jury of the 2021 edition of the festival. The festival runs this year from July 6 through to 17. It was cancelled last year, pushed back this year from its usual May slot due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly, Lee was announced as Jury President for the 73^rd edition back in January 2020. His reappointment for the 74^th edition as announced by the President of the festival Pierre Lescure only means that Lee has a chance to return to Cannes as Jury President after last year’s cancellation of the festival. Spike Lee has been described as a Cannes veteran. The filmmaker has had seven of his films premiered at the Cannes filmfest, including ‘Jungle Fever’(1991), ‘Summer of Sam’ (1999) and ‘BlacKkKlansman’ (2018). He is perhaps, the first African-American to serve as Jury President and the first person from African Diaspora to be Jury President of the prestigious Cannes Filmfest.