MTN introduces new vista into Nollywood

Last month, MTN was one of the sponsors of the cross-border film, Dr. Bello produced by Tony Abulu at the Genesis Deluxe Cinema, Victoria Island, Lagos. The movie also features Hollywood’s top artistes like Isaiah Washington, Vivica A. Fox, Jimmy Jean Louis while Nigeria’s top stars like Genevieve Nnaji, Stephanie Okereke-Linus among others, participated.
The story is built around Isaiah Washington (Michael Durrant), a medical doctor whose inquisition into the potency of African traditional medicine drives him across the Atlantic to Oke-Idanre, Ondo State. His pursuit is for the cure of cancer. As strange as that sounds, even to himself at first, he comes to believe in the possibility of a cure, for the deadly disease, when he witnesses Dr. Bello, a Nigerian traditional doctor, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, United States, administers it to cure a dying boy at his New York hospital. The movie’s message is that of the possibility that ‘indeed cures for cancer and other ailments plaguing humanity can indeed be discovered in Africa’, says the co-producer, Tunde MacAlabi.
The movie communicates the relevance of Africa to the well-being of the entire world. And MTN, being part of this initiative, besides the company’s partnership with Afrinolly, is commendable. These are: entertainment and message. The two elements are consciously adhered to in the scripting of the movie.
The movie features short scenes and the use of clear and simple English mixed with Yoruba dialects, at crucial instances which makes the characters believable in the message. With MTN introducing a new possibility in film-making, Nigerians look forward to a greater level of global recognition for the Nigerian film industry.