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Mo Abudu invited to be one of 29 Academy producers

Saturday July 10 2021
 Nigerian producer and media owner

Mo Abudu, Nigerian producer and media owner and personality. PHOTO | COURTESY

By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

Mo Abudu, Nigerian filmmaker, broadcaster, entrepreneur and philanthropist has been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, (Oscars), as one of 29 producers and the only Nigerian and African in this category.

Best known to African viewers for her Dstv show Moments with Mo, since 2006, Abudu is CEO and chairwoman of EbonyLife Media which runs EbonyLife TV, EbonyLife Studios, EbonyLife Films, EbonyLife Place, EbonyLife Creative Academy, a free film school in Lagos.

She has been described by Forbes as “Africa’s Most Successful Woman,” listed by the US magazine Business Insider among the top 100 business visionaries creating value for the world, and rated as one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television” by The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking from Lagos, Nigeria, Abudu, said: “My passion has always been about telling our own true African stories, and this includes how African people and our stories are represented on the continent and globally.

"This international recognition, for which I am truly grateful, is also a sign of a shift that has begun, an acknowledgement that Africa has a robust, progressive, and burgeoning industry, filled with universal stories, with global reach.

"I am deeply appreciative of this invitation to join the Academy, and in line with my vision to support and develop African content, I will use the opportunity to network for our filmmakers, and raise awareness of the incredible value the continent’s filmmakers add to the remarkable world of motion pictures,” Abudu says.

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EbonyLife Studios has signed co-production deals with AMC Networks (USA) to produce Nigeria 2099, an Afrofuturistic crime-drama, a three-scripted deal with Sony Pictures Television, and in late 2020 the company made history as the first African and first Nigerian company to sign a multi-deal with Netflix in Africa.

Earlier this year, they teamed up with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios to co-produce at least two series and one film, all connected to Africa.

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