Oni Diri Celebrates African Artistry

Vanessa Obioha

Having an eye for spotting talents, Olubukola Bolarinde has helped visual artists like Patrick Isiekwene and Nelson Okoh extend the reach of their artwork to a larger audience.

With time, she realised the good she could serve by providing a strategic platform to showcase the often neglected upcoming talents to Africa and the rest of the world.

After many years of working as project manager in firms like Zenon and Standard Chartered Bank, the Ekiti native assumed the role of chief executive officer for the newly incorporated content creation and talent management company Yellow Dot, where she strives to promote arty expressions of all forms that relay the African tale through visual arts and cinematography. The outfit also leans towards promoting sports talents and contents.

For the official launch of Yellow Dot, the screening of ‘Oni Diri’ served as a centrepiece for the evening. The event which hosted guests to an evening of merriment at the Filmhouse Cinema Signature Lounge saw an impressive turnout from industry players.

Whilst set to give off a relaxed ambience, the atmosphere later became charged with electric to the metal clangs and drumbeats from the royal entourage of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi who graced the event in an all white, immaculate regalia; thus, adding a touch of African essence that amplified the goals of Yellow Dot – to properly promote African artistry.

Its debut film production solely written by Bolarinde and produced by her 17man team is a timely story of true African essence. The short film elaborately details the childhood of a lady recollecting her peculiar one-to-one interaction with a local hairdresser mama Jeneba. The story is not just about hair, it transcends in its plot to reflect the life of the hairstylist and her clan on a larger scale; highlighting certain sociocultural nuances only an insider could perceive.