Entertainment/Arts/Culture
Nigerian Filmmaker Okpue Wins Best Director in U.S.
Ogo Okpue, a UK-based Nigerian filmmaker has emerged as best director in a tie with Bryan Keith Montgomery Jnr., at the 2023 American Black Film Festival Award for his film, “A Song From The Dark”.
Okpue in a statement on Thursday said the achievement was another milestone for the Nigerian entertainment industry in Miami Beach, Florida, U.
S.The American Black Film Festival, currently at its 27th annual edition, is the biggest black film festival in the world created to highlight audio-visual works of black origin.
Okpue whose short films like “Saving Cain”, “Cat Face” have been recognised and screened at major film festivals around the world, said the recent feat was humbling for him, having dedicated three years for the film.
“Winning at the largest black film festival in the world for our film is an absolute honour.
“Three years grafting in the dark, and then within a year, we ended up in Miami Beach accepting two big prestigious awards; God did it. Congrats to my lead actress for winning Best Actor as well.
“Congrats to all my fellow 2023 ABFF winners. I will say many thanks to Jeff and Nicole Friday, for birthing ABFF and giving diverse voices such an amazing platform,” he said.
Speaking on the inspiration for the film, Okpue said it dated back to his grandmother.
“The story dates back to a certain period of my childhood when my family visited my grandmother in our village.
“She happened to be a well-respected traditionalist. Tales of her intrigued us and as I grew older, I regretted not knowing her more.
“She was an enigma and I wondered what it would have been like if some of her tales were captured in books.
“The world of African mysticism has not been explored enough in world cinema and most times it is vilified.
“I think in Africa, our superheroes have slept long enough; African stories are as diverse and as entertaining as the continent itself, so I thought ‘why not add more African heroes to the fictional world of cinema’?”
A Song From the Dark which also won the Best Actor category at the festival had six nominations at the 2022 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Nigeria, while Okpue won the Best Director for First Feature film.
The film had Nollywwod stars like Nse Ikpe Etim, Wale Ojo, alongside Ghanaian born Vanessa Vanderpuye, Octavia Gilmore, and Dean Kilby amongst others.
The film is a fantasy-horror, positioned to project heroes and heroines of African traditional mysticism. (NAN)
Entertainment/Arts/Culture
BBNaija’s Dorathy Begins Breast Reduction Journey
Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Dorathy Bachor, has taken the first step towards breast reduction surgery, three years after first considering the procedure.
Bachor disclosed this on Wednesday in a post on her X handle, saying she had finally attended a consultation.
“Finally got that breast reduction consultation.
After 3 years of procrastinating, I’m finally facing my fears. 2027… New year, New Me”, she wrote.The post indicates that the reality TV star is targeting 2027 for the procedure, although she did not announce a specific date.
Bachor rose to fame in 2020 during the fifth season of Big Brother Naija, titled ‘Lockdown’, where she emerged as first runner-up behind winner Laycon.
She gained instant popularity in the house, largely due to her bust size, which later inspired her business venture.
In 2021, she launched her lingerie brand, My Full Chest, aimed at catering to fuller-busted women.
Since leaving the show, Bachor has built a career spanning entertainment, influencing and entrepreneurship.
Entertainment/Arts/Culture
Withdraw all Charges within Two Weeks, Speed Darlington Appeals to Burna Boy, Apologises
Controversial Nigerian singer Speed Darlington has appealed to Grammy-winning artiste Burna Boy to withdraw all charges against him within two weeks, while promising to stop making comments about the singer’s sexuality.
Darlington made the appeal in an apology video addressed directly to Burna Boy, admitting that he was wrong to assume that everyone viewed issues from the same perspective.
“This video is for Burna Boy.
Burna, this is an apology video. I apologise for any pain that I have caused you, any [unclear] that I have caused you. I made a mistake of thinking that everybody vibrates at the same frequency. That’s wrong of me,” he said.He promised that if Burna Boy withdrew the charges, he would no longer make direct or indirect comments about his sexuality.
“I give you my word that if you withdraw all charges and let everything die, I give you my word that I will never make any direct comment regarding sexuality. Even indirect comment, I will no longer try such thing. I give you my word. Let peace reign,” he pleaded.
The singer specifically asked Burna Boy to withdraw the charges within the next two weeks, adding that he would never mention the Grammy winner’s name again.
“I promise that I will never use my mouth to mention your name,” Darlington added.
Entertainment/Arts/Culture
Actress Ademoye Rejects Apology over Movie Demonetization
Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Bimbo Ademoye, has rejected an apology from a man who filed a copyright claim against her YouTube movie, My 30th Wedding, insisting that she remains angry over the incident.
The actress had earlier offered a ₦1m reward for information about the individual, identified as Mazi Enemuo, after a copyright claim temporarily affected the monetisation of the movie, which has reportedly garnered about 29 million views.
The film was released on October 1, 2026, on her YouTube channel.
On Monday, Ademoye took to Instagram to express her frustration, alleging that Enemuo had uploaded a song from the movie and used it to claim earnings from the project.
She said the soundtrack, titled “We Can Take It (My 30th Wedding)”, was specially produced for the film by musician Progress and that she owned the rights to it.
Ademoye also urged her followers to report the individual across social media platforms and called on YouTube and YouTube Africa to intervene.
She later announced that monetisation on the movie had been restored, thanking her team for their intervention.
However, she maintained that her ₦1m bounty on Enemuo remained in place.
Enemuo subsequently apologised, saying he had uploaded the song to help promote the movie’s soundtrack and reach a wider audience, rather than infringe on Ademoye’s rights.
In a public apology, he said, “Unfortunately, the distribution platform has laid a YouTube Content ID claim on the content. I take full responsibility for the situation and have since taken down the song from all streaming platforms.”
He added that the song would be removed from all platforms within 24 to 48 hours and that he would contact the distributor to ensure that no residual claim remained.
But responding to the apology on Instagram on Tuesday, Ademoye described it as insincere and questioned his explanation that he had intended to help her reach a wider audience.
“Mr Enemuo, while I see your apology, I call it complete bullshit! I took multiple breaths and I’ve counted 1-10 multiple times to ensure I calm down and not say anything out of pocket but guess what, I’m still very angry!
“You claimed you wanted to help me reach a wider audience, I’m not sure you thought that statement through, you wanted to use your 250 subscribes to help me reach a wider audience with my almost 2 million subscribers?” she asked.
Questioning why Enemuo uploaded the particular soundtrack rather than another song from the movie, she said, “You specifically took the song I didn’t properly copyright of all the songs in the movie. Why didn’t you take hammerboi’s song? If anything, that’s the viral one I’d have loved to go even more viral song.”
She also questioned why he attempted to claim earnings from the movie after allegedly uploading the song to promote it.
“After you ‘helped me reach a wider audience’ why did you try to claim my earnings? Why did you monetise it and have me demonitised?” she asked.
The actress further warned that she would pursue the matter, writing, “But I’d make an example out of you. Don’t ever take my silence for weakness, believe me when I tell you I AM NOT THAT NICE AT ALL! ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO MY WORK.”
In a postscript to her response, Ademoye also dismissed suggestions that she was using the controversy for publicity or had failed to protect her work through copyright registration.
She shared screenshots of messages from people who, according to her, had contacted her after their channels were taken down following copyright enforcement on her projects.


