Why all the hullabaloo over Nollywood diva Genevieve Nnaji’s role in Biyi Bandele’s film daptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half Of A Yellow Sun when it is just a small role?
Well that is what Tambay A. Obenson calls it in a report on her leading role in Mahmood Ali-Balogun’s thriller Tango With Me set to premiere in London on August 16.
Nollywood starlet Genevieve Nnaji (maybe the most internationally well-known Nollywood actress) is a name and face that I think those who are not at all Nollywood-conscious will soon start to hear more about, as she navigates her way further towards much wider, global recognition.
Most recently, she was cast in director Biyi Bandele’s big screen adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half Of A Yellow Sun., alongside Thandie Newton, John Boyega, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Dominic Cooper, in what may end up being her most significant non-Nollywood project to date (although it’s a small role); she also co-stars alongside Isaiah Washington, and Jimmy Jean-Louis, in the upcoming Nollywood/Hollywood production, Dr. Bello.
She’s probably starred in about 50 Nollywood movies, maybe more, but the above 2 projects (especially Half Of A Yellow Sun) may be the first to screen commercially, theatrically in the USA, to audiences outside of the Nollywood sphere.
But we may as well get to know her and her work as she makes what seems like a gradual transition…
A press release I received earlier today about a project she stars in, titled Tango With Me, announcing its UK opening, for you UK readers:
Nollywood film ‘Tango with Me’ Secures UK distribution.
TALKING DRUM ENTERTAINMENT a new UK based distribution company specialising in black film have set an 17 August, 2012 release date for the hit African romantic drama ‘TANGO WITH ME’ starring Genevieve Nnaji and Joseph Benjamin as a young couple facing a complex concoction of moral issues within their marriage.
The film directed and produced by Mahmood Ali-Balogun under his Brickwall Communications production company has been booked to show across all the major cinema chains – Odeon, Vue and Cineworld – in what will be one of the widest releases for a black independent film in the UK & Ireland.
Watch the trailer below:
