Cordelia, the latest eponymous movie from the stable of ace filmmaker and culture advocate Tunde Kelani,has been selected to feature at the 30th New York African Film Festival on 15 May, 2023.
This was made known via a letter from the organizers of the prestigious film festival. “We are pleased to invite your film Cordelia, to the 2023 New York African Film Festival, ” the letter signed by the Director of the Festival, Mahen Bonneti, reads.
Scene from Cordelia
“Your film will screen at Film at Lincoln Center on Monday, May 15 at 7:30pm, along with the short film Employee of the Month by Goga Clay.“
The most remarkable features of this romantic period movie, an adaptation from Professor Femi Osofisan’s novella where romance meets politics is that it is one everyone familiar with post-colonial African politics can relate to.
Awards for Mr Latin,Kelani at Crescent Founders’ Day
Just as Kelani, the 75-year-old founder/director of the epoch-making Mainframe Productions said, “It is a product of collaboration with people from different cultures and backgrounds, united by a creative force without boundaries.”
A scene from the movie, Cordelia
And it features a cast of stellar actors such as veteran Nollywood actor Keppy Ekpeyong (Col.Nwankwo Peters); Omowunmi Dada (Cordelia); Femi Adebayo (Rasaki) ;Yvonne Jegede(Remi); William Benson (Dr Adekunle); Kelechi Udegbe (Major Kawale); Taiwo Ibikunle (Ahmed); Ropo Ewenla (Officer).
Members if the production crew include: REW: Screenwriter – Bunmi Ajiboye; Music Composition – Michael Ogunlade;
Director of Photography – Adekunle Adejuyigbe; Head of Production – Bola Belo; Post-Production Supervisor – Steve Sodiya; Associate Producers — Jide Bello, Seun Alli; Exec. Producers – Tayo Oladimeji; Kunle Adebiyi; Director – Tunde Kelani.
Set in Nigeria in the early 90s when the country was under military rule, it tells the story of a university professor who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the circumstances surrounding a military coup. One morning, he arrives at his office worried about his wife’s strange behaviour and is soon visited by two curious students, one of whom is Cordelia Nwaeze Peters, daughter of a popular Colonel Nwaeze Peters of the Nigerian Army, recently implicated in a
military coup. As a result of the coup, there is general unrest, with students on a rampage and Cordelia’s life in danger.
The professor decides to save Cordelia’s life. But he becomes further enmeshed in the national crisis. General Peters, encouraged by the professor’s altruistic action towards his daughter, is able to foil the coup. After settling into a new position as head of government, General Peters offers the professor a cabinet position as compensation for saving his
daughter’s life.
Cordelia is indeed a gripping tale of sacrifice, bravery, and the lengths a person will go to protect those they care about in times of crisis.
This forthcoming outing at the New York African Film Festival marks another milestone in the illustrious career of Kelani, easily Nigeria’s foremost filmmaker, who recently earned an honourary doctorate degree at the Lead City University, Ibadan, for his immense work in the field of the cinema and contribution to the propagation and preservation of Yoruba cultural heritage.
