Afolayan Begins Talks for Acquisition of Mokalik
Prolific filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan is known for his shrewd marketing skills when it comes to his productions. His ability to land a partnership deal with Air France which has continued to throw its weight behind some of his productions shows how business savvy the filmmaker is.
Therefore, for his latest movie ‘Mokalik’ (Mechanic), Afolayan is already talking to major investors to acquire the distribution rights of the film.
Top on the list of his prospective investors is the online streaming giant Netflix which recently acquired the distribution rights of Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’.
He recently disclosed that his company Golden Effects Pictures has already started a discussion with Netflix that will see the streaming platform also acquiring his other films such as ‘The Figurine- Araromire’; ‘Irapada’; ‘Phone Swap’; ‘October 1’; ‘The CEO’, ‘The Bridge’ and the yet-to-be- released ‘Tenants of the House’.
“We are excited about having our other films, including ‘Mokalik’ on Netflix, as that will assuage our fans who have been sending messages from all over the world, complaining of not having access to our films,” he said.
Apart from Netflix, Afolayan will also be leveraging on his partnership with Air France to have the film on French premium television channel, Canal+, which he said has showed interest in ‘Mokalik’ and ‘Odu’ (Capsule of Tales), a TV series in the works.
The filmmaker who last week was made an ambassador of the Pavillon Afriques which will be making its debut at the 2019 Marche du Film, Cannes Film Festival, will be using the opportunity to get his film listed in the official selection of Cannes, among other major film festivals around the world.
As an ambassador on Pavillon Afriques, Afolayan is expected to join other panelists in discussing issues such as content sourcing, distribution and storytelling among other roles.
Excited about the feats attained by the filmmaker, Commercial Director of Air France/KLM, Mr. Remco Bohre said: “Our partnership with Kunle Afolayan is another way of showing how excited we are, at Air France and KLM, about Nollywood and the Nigerian entertainment industry at large.”
Meanwhile, another partnership deal with Canon will see the imaging and optical products company organising a media screening of the film in Nigeria sometime in March.
The highly anticipated movie weaves the story of an 11-yearold boy, Jaiye, from the middleclass suburbs who spends the day as a lowly apprentice at a mechanic workshop in order to view life from the other side of the tracks. When his father arrives to take him home, Jaiye has to make up his mind if he wants to return to school or take on his apprenticeship full time.
The film stars awardswinning singer, Simi who will be making her acting debut; Femi Adebayo, Charles Okocha, Faithia Williams, Lateef Oladimeji and other prominent actors.
Teasing audience with two trailers, Afolayan who directed the movie is confident that the film will traverse commercial and artistic ends.