H istory was made on the, June 1, 2016 as Kunle Afolayan, premiered aboard on Air-France flight to Paris, France, his highly anticipated mystery thriller, ‘The CEO’.
With this being the first of its kind, the special premiere edition had various celebrities including top Nollywood actors and actresses, film makers and producers and Nigerian musicians.
Most of the celebrities on board told BD Sunday that there wouldn’t have been a more exciting, befitting and relaxed manner to see the premiere, than it was done on the famous France flag carrier, Air France.
The movie was produced and directed by award-winning movie maker Kunle Afolayan and written by Tunde Babalola. The highly anticipated movie “The CEO” cast, crew and special guests took an AirFrance flight from Lagos to Paris for a fun filled event.
The premiere was attended by Adesua Etomi, Linda Ejiofor, Ramsey Nouah, OC Ukeje, Elma Godwin, Ayo Animashaun, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Adekunle Gold and many more.
The CEO is a movie full of intrigues and suspense which all began after five top executives embarked on a week-long business trip. The trip was intended to elect the new CEO for the company but things go out of hand along the line. It was filmed in an outskirt of Lagos, as well as other African locations. The entire drama started when the executives arrived their destination for the business meeting and suddenly began to die one after the other through mysterious circumstances, leaving only two behind, a situation which led to suspicions.
For the movie, ‘The CEO,’ Air France supported in travel needs, including flight tickets and equipments for actors and crews.
“This is the first time Air France is premiering a movie on board and it has not been done before by any airline,” Arthur Dieffenthaler, Commercial Director Air France, said.
Dieffenthaler explained that this is history in the making for both airline industry and the movie industry, adding that the airline is proud of the movie because the film deserves the best.
He noted that Air France is helping to showcase the strength and beauty of the products in Nigeria and is physically taking them abroad through the airline, adding that connecting people is what the airline has done over the years.
“This is a unique event and I am overwhelmed by the turn out today because it is the first time ever. We have limited number of tickets to sell for that day, so those who can buy ticket should do that now.
Kunle Afolayan, the award winning film maker is an ambassador of Air France in Nigeria.
Speaking on the film festival in Paris that took place after the premiere, Afolayan said, “NollywoodWeek in Paris was set up in order to foster Nollywood distribution opportunities in the Francophone regions and in further markets. We screen some of the most popular Nigerian films from last year to raise international awareness.
Afolayan explained that Nigerian movies acceptance is growing especially with platforms like the Nollywood week in Paris, African magic and the online platforms that are streaming the movies to various countries like France, Netherlands, UK, Spain Finland, amongst others.
“The interest is growing and will continue to grow for some Africans in Diaspora and some Europeans who are interested in watching Nigerian content as we plan to have more platforms like this because the Nollywood stars are planning to have the festivals in other part of Europe other than Paris,” he said.
Afolayan revealed that what the organizers of the festival wanted to achieve was to bridge the gap between Europe and Nigeria in the movie industry, making it possible for media and film makers from Nigeria and other counties to learn together.
IFEOMA OKEKE
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