FUNMILAYO RANSOME-KUTI MOVIE PREMIERE

FUNMILAYO RANSOME-KUTI WINS BEST WRITING AT THE AMVCA, A NIGHT BEFORE ITS PREMIERE.
The premiere of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti left an indelible mark in the history of movie premieres in Nigeria. The movie premiered the history of a great woman who successfully revolted against the oppressive tax increase of the Abeokuta female traders.

Some learned about Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti as the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria and the mother of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the King of Afrobeat, but she is much more than that. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a political leader and a Nigerian feminist who always advocated for the rights of women in Nigeria in the first half of the 20th century, she was also the first female student at the Abeokuta Grammar School from 1914 to 1917 before she went on to become a founding member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in 1944.

A LOOK INTO THE RED CARPET

The Premiering of the movie Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was done at Terra Kulture on Sunday, May 12, 2024, after it won Best Writing in a Movie at the AMVCA, the night before its premiere. The refreshing breeze around Terra Kulture on Sunday was filled with jet-setters, glitterati and decision-makers from Lagos, Ogun State and Nollywood. The red carpet started at 5:00 pm, buzzing with panache and allure from celebrities like Kehinde Bankole (who played Funmilayo), Brother Shaggi, Femi Adebayo, Fathia Balogun, Miss Universe Nigeria 2023, Olumide Oworu, Bolanle Austen-Peters, the Ransome-Kuti family, Adebayo Salami, Abiri Tobi, and more. A nod to the celebration’s focus, the event’s theme was Colonial Affairs.

Something noticeable was how timely everyone was for the event, including the Governors of Lagos and Ogun State. They arrived the event at 7:10 pm before the movie premiered at 7:30 pm. Terra Kulture was 200x more secure as enough security personnel were present at the event. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti premiered at three different spots within Terra Kulture, they were all filled up from the main movie theatre with 500 seats, and the back and front lounge with 150 and 100 seats respectively.

WHAT THE KEY DIGNITARIES HAD TO SAY

After seeing the movie which lasted 91 minutes, dignitaries like the Governor of Lagos State and Ogun State were graced with a mic to talk about the movie they had just watched. The Governor of Lagos had this to say “This movie is one of the best movies Nigeria is offering to the world, the storyline is deep with a rich content that has a powerful narrative. The movie showed high professionalism with depth and details of how stories and movies should be created” he also talked about how proud he was on that day to be the Governor and a friend to Bolanle Austen-Peters.

Ogun State’s Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, said, “I couldn’t be more proud to be Governor of the State where Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti hailed from. This movie told us who Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is, I am proud that she fought for women to own their space and be recognised in society ”, he also described Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti as a woman with an indomitable spirit and thanked the amazing Bolanle Austen-Peters for producing an awesome movie. He didn’t leave the mic without talking about the excitement that part of the movie was shot in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

CAST

The team of amazing cast that put the movie together included Ajoke Silva who was the older archetype of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Kehinde Bankole who played Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Iyimide Ayo-Olumoko, the younger archetype of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. We also have Babajide Kosoko, Peter Thomas, Funmi Abe, Adunni Ade, Earl Atta, Kunle Kuti, Yenu Kuti and more

Conclusion

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti winning Best Writing in a Movie at the AMVCA made the movie premiere after-party more interesting as everyone who waited was celebrating sipping their favourite juice, drinking and dancing simultaneously.