By Solomon Nda-Isaiah
A star-studded film, The Three Wise Men, is the latest in the series of films funded by the Bank of Industry (BOI) under its initial N1.0billion loan scheme tagged NollyFund.
Produced by popular comedy entrepreneur, Opa Williams, the film is coming after Kunle Afolayan’s The CEO, Okey Ogunjiofor’s Queen Amina and Emem Isong’s Anyama, all of which got funding from the bank.
Currently being shot in Parafa, Ikorodu, an outskirt of Lagos, the film parades veteran actors such as Richard Mofe Damijo, Zack Orji, Victor Olaotan, Tina Mba and Ebele Okaro.
Directed by Patience Oghre Imobhio, The Three Wise Men, according to Williams, is a Dramatic comedy that humorously presents the follies of three aged men.
He said: “The comedy satirizes the actions and intents of three elderly men in their mid/late 60’s who struggle to re-live their lost youth.
After many years of service in different government parastatals the three aged men are retired and they all settled in a suburb to enjoy their retirement benefits. How they decide to spend this retirement money remains highly humorous and dramatic.
“The pack is led by Irikefe(Richard Mofe Damijo) 64, a divorcee with three failed marriages after five children and refuses to re-marry. Irikefe decides to live alone as his covetous children are now grown and also live on their own but patiently waiting for him to die so they can swoop on whatever is left of him. Irikefe is aware of his children’s intentions and wants to make sure he exhausts every savings of his, before death. Upon his retirement he refurbishes his flat, buys a laptop, a nice spot car supposedly meant for a young-man, and goes for shopping, for jean, T-shirt, Papa’s Cap, sneakers and everything a young-man could dream of.
“The three men become an item, as Irikefe introduces them to his world of fun, from tracking girls on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, joy riding and picking the finest of young girls home for a nice time, to clubbing. Irikefe is the yippee-happy-go-old guy man, who sags and wears tattoos. He loves snapping selfies and posting them on his social media pages.”
Visiting the film location recently, officials of BOI, led by Mrs. Uche Nwuka C. Nwuka, Group Head, Creative Industry observed as the cast and crew shot two scenes, involving RMD, Zack Orji, Victor Olaotan and Gennfie Kanu, a relatively new actress, while Tina Mba and Ebele Okaro among others were seen rehearsing their lines.
Other officers of the bank who visited the film location include Okechukwu Madu, Assistant Manager (CI); Stanley Onugu, Assistant Manager (LE Credits); Tejumade Talabi, BO(CI) and Toyin Oyekanmi, BO(CCD).
Williams informed the BOI team that 30 members of crew are involved in the production of the film, adding that the project has also employed about 100 individuals, including new set of actors that are being groomed for various roles.
Nwuka, who also interacted with the actors on location, expressed satisfaction at the level of work done so far. She said her bank is encouraged by the efforts of filmmakers who have benefitted from the scheme so far, hence the bank is expanding its chain of exhibition outlets around the country.
She reiterated that BOI has already accredited some reputable distributors such as G-Media, Filmone Distribution Company, Silverbird Distribution Company and Genesis Deluxe Distribution Company, as well as Studio Operators such as Fans Connect Online Nigeria Limited (i.e. Afrinolly), Kingsley Ogoro Productions Limited and 4Screams International Nigeria Limited) to support this initiative.
It would be recalled that the Bank of Industry had in the recent past, financed creative-industry projects such as Half of A Yellow Sun, Flower Girl, Digitization of Silverbird Cinemas, G-media and establishing of Filmhouse Cinemas, Viva Cinemas and Ozone Cinemas among others.
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