Avid filmmaker, storyteller and media content producer, Femi Odugbemi, has been elected a member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, organisers of the New York-based International Emmy® Awards and the International Emmy® Kids Awards @ Mip. He becomes one of few on the Africans continent to vote in both Oscars and Emmy academies.
A congratulatory letter, dated Thursday, September 29, which also bears the announcement of the good news reads:
“Dear Femi,
“Congratulations! It gives us great pleasure to inform you that you have been officially elected by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In the coming weeks you will receive a letter from our President & CEO, Bruce Paisner, along with your Membership Card and International Emmy® Pin.”
The appointment is yet another international recognition for contribution of the ace documentary filmmaker, photographer, and Co-Founder/Executive Director of the 13-year-old IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum/Festival.
Odugbemi, since 2018, has been a Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – of the OSCARS; a status he shares with very few highly revered members of the Nigerian motion picture family.
The election into the prestigious Emmy Membership makes him one of the rare professionals in the continental media family elected to both international Academies of Film and of TV. It means he is privileged to vote both in the Oscars and the Emmys. This is indeed no mean honour for the former President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria, ITPAN, and the film industry in Nigeria and Africa.
As an elected member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Odugbemi has stepped further in his global credit as a leading African media practitioner.
His membership of the Academy comes with a lot of privileges, even as it bears greater responsibility, as enunciated in the letter:
”…you now have full access to the Members-Only section of the website…”. And with the privilege to log onto the “Member-Only section of the Academy’s portal, you will be able ”to RSVP to Events, watch videos of Academy Panels, view full episodes of International Emmy® Nominated Programs, search the Membership Directory, and track your International Emmy® Competition Entries.”
The letter, issued by the Membership Department of the Academy, concludes, ”We look forward to seeing you at upcoming Academy events and will be in-touch to schedule a Zoom meeting to personally welcome you to the Academy”.
With its motto being “Bringing Together the World’s Leading Media and Entertainment Professionals”, the Academy was founded in 1969 as a non-profit, membership organisation. Based in New York City, the Academy comprised of leading entertainment figures across all sectors of the television industry, from over fifty countries.
It was chartered with a mission to recognise excellence in television programming produced outside of the United States, and it presents the International Emmy® Award to programs in seventeen categories (including Non-English Language U.S. Primetime Program).
The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the International Emmy® Awards held in New York, The International Emmy® Kids Awards @ Mip, and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival, and Panels on substantive industry topics.
Board & Members Meetings take place three to four times a year and offer members the opportunity to network with their international peers from the world’s leading production/distribution companies and television channels.
A fortuitous season for the avid storyteller
The appointment, yet an addition to the garland-replete crown of Odugbemi, comes at a most fortuitous time, as the ace documentary film producer and media culture intellectual, is about to birth yet one more product from his television drama arsenal.
Covenant, a new TV series, debuted on October 3 on the pan-African screen, Africa Magic Showcase.
According to its synopsis, Covenant is the story of three seeming strangers on a perilous journey that will change them in ways they cannot imagine.
“Their journey takes us through their lives as they discover truths that unite them, rock their worlds, and ultimately lead them to take vows and make the greatest sacrifice possible through a covenant. Their stories reveal lives fraught with fatal desires for survival, rage, and ambition.”
Starring in the lead such popular actors as Antar Laniyan, Clarion Chukwurah, Funsho Adeolu, Shaffy Bello, Nonso Bassey, Linda Ejiofor, and others, Covenant joins his past works such as Battleground, Brethren and Movement Japa. Odugbemi is also a co-producer of the Tinsel, reputed as the longest-running TV soap on television on the continent, with over 1000 episodes already.
Speaking on the new series, Odugbemi stated: “As to #COVENANT, we are super excited to hit the airwaves! Over 77 crew and cast members have been working for the past 5months to get here. It is hard work but exciting too.
“The series hopefully takes off on a high note. The performances have been really good and I am hopeful that the mix of veterans and young thespians will once again deliver magic to our audiences.
Multichoice gave us every support we could imagine to birth this amazing story too. So all of us are counting down to presenting it tomorrow.”
Also commenting on his works generally as a filmmaker, storyteller, content creator and producer, he said: “I seek to create visually powerful stories in traditional and digital spaces that are not only different but make a difference.
“I am passionate about the power of stories, well-told, to persuade, provoke and mediate human experiences. Stories sustain cultures. Stories inspire change. Stories impact governance, development, business, commerce, education, technology and innovation.
“That conviction motivates my quest for excellence and effectiveness as a storyteller, filmmaker and content producer across the spectrum of development and corporate communications, general entertainment, documentaries, and feature films. I seek to create visually powerful stories in traditional and digital spaces that are not only different but make a difference.”
Profile
Femi Odugbemi is currently Managing Director/CEO of ZURI24 Media, a content production and management company.
He is a co-founder/Executive Director of the Foundation of the Promotion of documentary Film in Africa, otherwise known as the iREPRSENT Documentary Film Forum, organisers of the 13-year-old West Africa leading annual International documentary film Festival, iREP.
Femi is also a past Academy Director of Multichoice Talent Factory as well as a past President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN).
Trained in Film & TV Production at Montana State University, Bozeman, United States, Femi is an award-winning writer, producer/director and photographer, who is widely respected for his creativity and professionalism.
After graduation, he worked for a couple of years as a Producer at KUSM Channel 9 TV station in Bozeman, Montana. Since he returned home in the mid-80s, he has worked for decades in the Nigerian motion picture industry; creating and producing several critically-acclaimed entertainment programmes for television and radio.
A renowned name in advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria having directed memorable television advertising for many of Nigeria’s blue-chip multi-national companies, he worked as Film & Radio Producer at Lintas Advertising, Associate Creative Director at STB-McCann and later as Managing Director, Audio Visual First (AVF), Lagos. In these places, he wrote, directed, and produced several notable documentaries, dramas and commercials for such multi-national concerns as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestle, Cadbury, Beecham, Rekkit-Benckister, MTN, CELTEL and manyother FMCG marketers.
Since 1999, Femi has worked as an Independent Producer/Director. His screen credits include ”Like father, like son” (a TV sitcom), ”Who do you Love?” (SFH talkshow), ”Who wants to be a Millionaire?” (Nigeria’s most popular gameshow), the recent ”Lagos Lottery TV Gameshow,” the international documentary ”Life in Lagos”(2002) for CFI in France, ”Oui Voodoo”(2005), ”Bar Beach Blues”(2004), a short drama which won best short film at the Zuma Film festival, ”Metamorphosis” (2006), and “Maroko” (2006), a full-length feature.
He has also produced ”Mama Put” a New Direction short film and also a documentary titled ”Ibadan – Cradle of Literati.” Femi was Content Producer of the first-ever Soap-opera commissioned by MNET in sub-Saharan Africa titled ”TINSEL.” Following Tinsel, has produced a series of television soaps for Africa Magic Showcase, including Battleground, Brethren and Movement JAPA. His latest offering for the Showcase is Covenant, which debuted on October 3.
From 2003 to 2006, when Femi served as the President of ITPAN, he worked assiduously to create international platforms of collaborations and cooperation amongst motion picture practitioners within the African continent. Persuaded that many professionals in Africa face the same professional and environmental challenges of technology, budgeting, audience development, and distribution, he has demonstrated commitment to nurturing corporate access into the entertainment industry as a way of addressing global imbalances in skills and resources.
Femi also chaired the Lagos International Forum on Cinema, Motion Picture and Video in Africa, an annual film event in the 2000s, designed to invite international attention to the opportunities and potentials of the motion picture industry in Africa. The last such Forum, held at the Lagos Business School, Lekki, Lagos in July 2006, attracted participants from France, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and all the countries in the West African Sub-region.
In 2005 Femi Odugbemi was a featured speaker at both the Africa Business Conference of the Harvard Business School, Boston, and the World Cinema Festival/ Sithengi Market in Capetown South Africa. His work as a Producer/Director aspires to be challenging, innovative, and different. His goal is to explore to its fullest, the vast potentials of this creative craft to thrive, enrich, educate and entertain.
- Adapted from https://www.cluborangeng.com
Avid filmmaker, storyteller and media content producer, Femi Odugbemi, has been elected a member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, organisers of the New York-based International Emmy® Awards and the International Emmy® Kids Awards @ Mip. He becomes one of few on the Africans continent to vote in both Oscars and Emmy academies.
A congratulatory letter, dated Thursday, September 29, which also bears the announcement of the good news reads:
“Dear Femi,
“Congratulations! It gives us great pleasure to inform you that you have been officially elected by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In the coming weeks you will receive a letter from our President & CEO, Bruce Paisner, along with your Membership Card and International Emmy® Pin.”
The appointment is yet another international recognition for contribution of the ace documentary filmmaker, photographer, and Co-Founder/Executive Director of the 13-year-old IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum/Festival.
Odugbemi, since 2018, has been a Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – of the OSCARS; a status he shares with very few highly revered members of the Nigerian motion picture family.
The election into the prestigious Emmy Membership makes him one of the rare professionals in the continental media family elected to both international Academies of Film and of TV. It means he is privileged to vote both in the Oscars and the Emmys. This is indeed no mean honour for the former President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria, ITPAN, and the film industry in Nigeria and Africa.
As an elected member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Odugbemi has stepped further in his global credit as a leading African media practitioner.
His membership of the Academy comes with a lot of privileges, even as it bears greater responsibility, as enunciated in the letter:
”…you now have full access to the Members-Only section of the website…”. And with the privilege to log onto the “Member-Only section of the Academy’s portal, you will be able ”to RSVP to Events, watch videos of Academy Panels, view full episodes of International Emmy® Nominated Programs, search the Membership Directory, and track your International Emmy® Competition Entries.”
The letter, issued by the Membership Department of the Academy, concludes, ”We look forward to seeing you at upcoming Academy events and will be in-touch to schedule a Zoom meeting to personally welcome you to the Academy”.
With its motto being “Bringing Together the World’s Leading Media and Entertainment Professionals”, the Academy was founded in 1969 as a non-profit, membership organisation. Based in New York City, the Academy comprised of leading entertainment figures across all sectors of the television industry, from over fifty countries.
It was chartered with a mission to recognise excellence in television programming produced outside of the United States, and it presents the International Emmy® Award to programs in seventeen categories (including Non-English Language U.S. Primetime Program).
The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the International Emmy® Awards held in New York, The International Emmy® Kids Awards @ Mip, and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival, and Panels on substantive industry topics.
Board & Members Meetings take place three to four times a year and offer members the opportunity to network with their international peers from the world’s leading production/distribution companies and television channels.
A fortuitous season for the avid storyteller
The appointment, yet an addition to the garland-replete crown of Odugbemi, comes at a most fortuitous time, as the ace documentary film producer and media culture intellectual, is about to birth yet one more product from his television drama arsenal.
Covenant, a new TV series, debuted on October 3 on the pan-African screen, Africa Magic Showcase.
According to its synopsis, Covenant is the story of three seeming strangers on a perilous journey that will change them in ways they cannot imagine.
“Their journey takes us through their lives as they discover truths that unite them, rock their worlds, and ultimately lead them to take vows and make the greatest sacrifice possible through a covenant. Their stories reveal lives fraught with fatal desires for survival, rage, and ambition.”
Starring in the lead such popular actors as Antar Laniyan, Clarion Chukwurah, Funsho Adeolu, Shaffy Bello, Nonso Bassey, Linda Ejiofor, and others, Covenant joins his past works such as Battleground, Brethren and Movement Japa. Odugbemi is also a co-producer of the Tinsel, reputed as the longest-running TV soap on television on the continent, with over 1000 episodes already.
Speaking on the new series, Odugbemi stated: “As to #COVENANT, we are super excited to hit the airwaves! Over 77 crew and cast members have been working for the past 5months to get here. It is hard work but exciting too.
“The series hopefully takes off on a high note. The performances have been really good and I am hopeful that the mix of veterans and young thespians will once again deliver magic to our audiences.
Multichoice gave us every support we could imagine to birth this amazing story too. So all of us are counting down to presenting it tomorrow.”
Also commenting on his works generally as a filmmaker, storyteller, content creator and producer, he said: “I seek to create visually powerful stories in traditional and digital spaces that are not only different but make a difference.
“I am passionate about the power of stories, well-told, to persuade, provoke and mediate human experiences. Stories sustain cultures. Stories inspire change. Stories impact governance, development, business, commerce, education, technology and innovation.
“That conviction motivates my quest for excellence and effectiveness as a storyteller, filmmaker and content producer across the spectrum of development and corporate communications, general entertainment, documentaries, and feature films. I seek to create visually powerful stories in traditional and digital spaces that are not only different but make a difference.”
Profile
Femi Odugbemi is currently Managing Director/CEO of ZURI24 Media, a content production and management company.
He is a co-founder/Executive Director of the Foundation of the Promotion of documentary Film in Africa, otherwise known as the iREPRSENT Documentary Film Forum, organisers of the 13-year-old West Africa leading annual International documentary film Festival, iREP.
Femi is also a past Academy Director of Multichoice Talent Factory as well as a past President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN).
Trained in Film & TV Production at Montana State University, Bozeman, United States, Femi is an award-winning writer, producer/director and photographer, who is widely respected for his creativity and professionalism.
After graduation, he worked for a couple of years as a Producer at KUSM Channel 9 TV station in Bozeman, Montana. Since he returned home in the mid-80s, he has worked for decades in the Nigerian motion picture industry; creating and producing several critically-acclaimed entertainment programmes for television and radio.
A renowned name in advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria having directed memorable television advertising for many of Nigeria’s blue-chip multi-national companies, he worked as Film & Radio Producer at Lintas Advertising, Associate Creative Director at STB-McCann and later as Managing Director, Audio Visual First (AVF), Lagos. In these places, he wrote, directed, and produced several notable documentaries, dramas and commercials for such multi-national concerns as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestle, Cadbury, Beecham, Rekkit-Benckister, MTN, CELTEL and manyother FMCG marketers.
Since 1999, Femi has worked as an Independent Producer/Director. His screen credits include ”Like father, like son” (a TV sitcom), ”Who do you Love?” (SFH talkshow), ”Who wants to be a Millionaire?” (Nigeria’s most popular gameshow), the recent ”Lagos Lottery TV Gameshow,” the international documentary ”Life in Lagos”(2002) for CFI in France, ”Oui Voodoo”(2005), ”Bar Beach Blues”(2004), a short drama which won best short film at the Zuma Film festival, ”Metamorphosis” (2006), and “Maroko” (2006), a full-length feature.
He has also produced ”Mama Put” a New Direction short film and also a documentary titled ”Ibadan – Cradle of Literati.” Femi was Content Producer of the first-ever Soap-opera commissioned by MNET in sub-Saharan Africa titled ”TINSEL.” Following Tinsel, has produced a series of television soaps for Africa Magic Showcase, including Battleground, Brethren and Movement JAPA. His latest offering for the Showcase is Covenant, which debuted on October 3.
From 2003 to 2006, when Femi served as the President of ITPAN, he worked assiduously to create international platforms of collaborations and cooperation amongst motion picture practitioners within the African continent. Persuaded that many professionals in Africa face the same professional and environmental challenges of technology, budgeting, audience development, and distribution, he has demonstrated commitment to nurturing corporate access into the entertainment industry as a way of addressing global imbalances in skills and resources.
Femi also chaired the Lagos International Forum on Cinema, Motion Picture and Video in Africa, an annual film event in the 2000s, designed to invite international attention to the opportunities and potentials of the motion picture industry in Africa. The last such Forum, held at the Lagos Business School, Lekki, Lagos in July 2006, attracted participants from France, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and all the countries in the West African Sub-region.
In 2005 Femi Odugbemi was a featured speaker at both the Africa Business Conference of the Harvard Business School, Boston, and the World Cinema Festival/ Sithengi Market in Capetown South Africa. His work as a Producer/Director aspires to be challenging, innovative, and different. His goal is to explore to its fullest, the vast potentials of this creative craft to thrive, enrich, educate and entertain.
- Adapted from https://www.cluborangeng.com
