By Eniola Daniel
29 December 2023 |
2:49 pm
Filmmaker and Media Broadcaster, Norman Busigu is set to take latest Docu-Film on Nigeria’s Bright Future to the United State of America (USA), expanding his global reach by tapping into the buzzing international market, particularly, of American media platforms, creative hubs and academic institutions to amplify his work from Africa and to help spark bigger…
Norman Busigu
Filmmaker and Media Broadcaster, Norman Busigu is set to take latest Docu-Film on Nigeria’s Bright Future to the United State of America (USA), expanding his global reach by tapping into the buzzing international market, particularly, of American media platforms, creative hubs and academic institutions to amplify his work from Africa and to help spark bigger conversations of progression and change.
Norman hopes that his Docu-Films will enable everyone to truly see the magic that exists in the Motherland, create a community of enthusiasts on these topics, and ultimately, encourage them to visit Africa.
A key reason behind this specific motivation, Norman explains, is through having identified a unique opportunity and deep desire to engage the African-American community at large and other demographics who take interest to showcase his work on Nigeria and foster important conversations and action around nation building, to address Africa’s critical issues while empowering the youth to take more central positions in shaping the future. Norman is keen to engage this large community in through his films.
The last time Norman was in America was in July 2013, on a life changing scholarship programme, the Windsor Fellowship UK-US Youth Dialogue Programme, where he spent time in Chicago, Vermont and New York, a decade later, Norman strongly feels that he is long overdue a trip back to the United States to promoto Africa.
In 2023, Norman enjoyed a remarkable wave of success with his sophomore Docu-Film “Nigeria: Can Its Youth Shape Its Future?, this being the second in his portfolio of films focussed on Africa. The first film in 2022 “Ghana: Africa’s Exciting Entry Point?, was met with critical acclaim, having been shortlisted as a Semi-Finalist at the Paris International Short Festival (IMDB qualified), and also aired on British Television. Neither documentary has been publicly released as yet.
Impressively, Norman was recognised by GQ South Africa during an exclusive interview in December 2023 as “Africa’s Modern Storyteller”, for his seminal works in film and media on the African continent with his pioneering portfolio of films. This marked his first feature on a mainstream media platform; Norman now hopes to build on this milestone with further mainstream coverage globally.
More widely, Norman has received support from many of Africa’s leading media platforms, most notably Channels TV (Nigeria), Pulse (Nigeria), The Guardian (Nigeria)b, Starr103.5 FM (Ghana), GhOne TV (Ghana) and Metro TV (Ghana).
Norman has also held high profile screening events across the UK and Europe, attracting the likes of Deborah Ababio, the Global Entertainment Director for Vogue to attend and participate as a panellist at the prestigious venues including Cambridge University and Soho House.
Throughout October which coincided with Black History Month in the UK and November 2023, Norman successfully executed five spectacular screening events for his Docu-Film on Nigeria, labelled collectively by Norman as “Screening Season”.
High on Norman’s ambition list is to secure a feature/collaborate with New York Times. He also hopes to hold screening events in New York, LA, Toronto and others as he believes his Docu-Film on Nigeria will be well received in these spaces and provide a launchpad for him to grow as an artist through developing new relationships and experiencesin these exciting creative hubs.
In the long term, Norman has ambitions of travelling across Africa, and creating a series of high-value documentaries which highlight and showcase the beauty, stories, and truths within the continent. Norman has long felt that western media tends not to portray Africa in the most favourable way. To combat this, Norman is creating entertaining, educational, and inspiring documentaries from a fresh, youthful and authentic perspective to help debunk and challenge existing negative stereotypes and preconceptions of Africa.
The Nigeria Docu-Film was produced by Nigeria-based production company, The MiladeFilms, with Post-Production headed by DJ Reckyy/Lamarr Campbell (founder of Playback). This Docu-Film also has an official partnership with Jendaya (a luxury E-commerce Platform for the global consumer), and boasts an original soundtrack supplied by British-Nigerian Artist, Kvngs.
