…Omoni Oboli Best Actress, ‘Anchor baby’ Best Film, Harlem International Film Festival in New York City.
Shot in Brampton and Hamilton, Ontario Canada, ‘Anchor Baby’ the film that had its producer Lonzo Nzekwe chosen by the Reel World Film Festival as one of the 20 emerging film makers in Canada now bags two awards from the Harlem International Film Festival in New York City.
Harlem International Film Festival has had the honor of programming five years of diverse, quality films and gave ‘Anchor Baby’ its first award as the best film of the year and ace actress Omoni Oboli was pronounced the best actress for her roles in ‘Anchor Baby’.
A film that had Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian and African characters playing major parts, ‘Anchor Baby’ tells the tale of a married illegal immigrant couple living in the US, Joyce and Paul Unanga. They have been ordered by the US immigration to leave the country by voluntary departure. They agree to leave; but only after Joyce who is 5months pregnant delivers her baby inside the US. This will guarantee automatic citizenship for their child. Ignoring the deportation order, the couple goes into hiding. Paul was later caught and deported while Joyce stayed back to struggle on her own to achieve their dream. The love, hope, pain and struggle that came with this decision is bound to stir up some emotion in you.
Speaking on why he chose Omoni Oboli for the lead role the producer Lonzo Nweke said ‘That decision is one of the best decisions I made in the earlier stages of production. When I wrote the script, I wanted someone who could transform the script and bring it to life. I hired a professional casting director to audition all the actors I used in the movie. I sat through all the auditions and hand picked every single character in the movie. When I watched a few of Omoni’s movies, I was convinced that she has the ability to transform the script. Plus, I did a brief background check on her and spoke to her extensively on the phone to know more about her, that’s when I decided she was the one’
Set to hit the Nigerian Cinemas soon ‘Anchor Baby’ had almost 40 actors with speaking roles and about 60 extras. The frontline actors in the film are Omoni Oboli, Sam Sarpong, Terri Oliver, Colin Paradine, Michael Scratch, Mark Cassius, Rachael Ancheril, Cyrus Faird, Santiago Lopera, and Chris Patterson.
