By Shaibu Husseini
08 March 2025 |
3:08 am
Because the world marks Worldwide Girls’s Day, Moviedom shines the highlight on Bolanle Austen-Peters, an unstoppable power within the Nigerian movie and theatre sector, who embodies the spirit of creativity, innovation, and resilience.
Because the world marks Worldwide Girls’s Day, Moviedom shines the highlight on Bolanle Austen-Peters, an unstoppable power within the Nigerian movie and theatre sector, who embodies the spirit of creativity, innovation, and resilience. This trailblazing lawyer-turned filmmaker and theatre producer has been making waves within the Nigerian leisure business, and her current exploits have earned her the Moviedom Persona of the 2025 version of Worldwide Girls Day award.
Recent from the success of her newest theatrical providing, Expensive Kaffy, which obtained a wildly enthusiastic reception throughout its week-long presentation in South Africa, Bolanle’s filmic and theatrical achievement is a testomony to Bolanle’s dedication to selling Nigerian arts and tradition, in addition to her dedication to empowering ladies and ladies via her work. Her productions usually characteristic robust feminine leads and sort out themes that resonate with ladies, making her a real champion of feminine empowerment.
Those that noticed Expensive Kaffy, when it ran for a number of weekend in Lagos and throughout the run in Pretoria counseled the manufacturing for its wealthy Nigerian solid, vibrant storytelling and masterful route by Bolanle or BAP as she known as for brief.
Moreover, the South African viewers who thronged to see the play on the prestigious South African State Theatre in Pretoria had been in unison of their submissions that the play which explored themes of independence, id and social strain resonated deeply with them and it proved to be a must-watch for theatre lovers in South Africa most of whom had been wowed by Uzo Isimkpa’s highly effective portrayal of the lead position of Kaffi, a single lady navigating the reoccurring challenge of affection, life and societal expectations in metropolitan Lagos.
From stage to display, and from ‘93 Days to Collision Course, Funmilayo Ramsome-Kuti and to Fela and The Kalakuta, Bolanle whom a notable tradition journalist christened ‘The Yeye of the stage and display’ has confirmed to be dedicated to telling authentically Nigerian, culturally as nicely socially essential narratives. Certainly her capacity to inform tales that unpack a number of cultural, social and historical past classes has helped to cement her place as a number one gentle in Nigerian leisure.
The manufacturing and directing power behind the epic encounter, Home of Gaa and the critically acclaimed Funmilayo Ramsome Kuti, which starred a stellar solid together with the reliable Omowunmi Dada, Joke Silva, the AMVCA 2024 finest actress Kehinde Bankole, Adunni Ade, Iyimide Ayo-Olumoko, Ibrahim Suleiman, and Iremide Adeoye. BAP is founder and creative director of Bolanle Austen-Peters (BAP) Productions and the foremost and prestigious arts and tradition centre in Lagos –Terra Kulture, which BAP arrange in 2003 to advertise the richness and variety of Nigerian Languages, Arts and Tradition. With over 100 exhibitions, a number of performs and concert events and an applicable atmosphere, Terra Kulture has turn into a serious cultural hub in Nigeria for expatriates, college students, Hollywood and Nollywood stars, artists and members of the diplomatic corps.
Named one of the vital influential ladies in Africa by Forbes Afrique, BAP studied regulation on the College of Lagos and worldwide regulation on the London College of Economics and Political Science. She had beforehand labored as a Lawyer with United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, New York, Ethiopia and Namibia. She returned to Nigeria in 2001, served as Marketing consultant to UNDP, Lagos earlier than venturing into cultural entrepreneurship. She began with organising Terra Kulture in 2003 and ten years later, particularly in 2013, she established her personal manufacturing firm Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions (BAP Productions) with the purpose of fixing the narrative about Nigeria and Africa. To date, Bolanle has signed a few stage and display productions as Producer and far later as producer and director. In her manufacturing pouch are titles similar to, Fela and the Kalakuta queens, The Bling Lagosians, 93 Days, which tells the story of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, The Collision Course, Man of God and the latest ‘Funmilayo Ransome Kuti’..
On stage or within the Nigerian theatre business, BAP who was just lately admitted into the Physique of Fellows of the Nationwide Affiliation of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) is queen. The cultural entrepreneur who’s married to Dr. Oluwarotimi Austen-Peters and blessed with kids, has produced extra stage productions that any feminine unbiased theatre producer. In her pouch as a theatre producer and director are award profitable productions similar to Saro, The Musical, Wakaa, the Musical, Man Sufficient and Fela and The Kalakuta Queens, which chronicles the lifetime of the Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti and the ladies that had been an integral a part of his band. It was produced and created with the assist of Fela Kuti’s property and it was staged in Nigeria, Egypt, London and South Africa.
As moviedom celebrates Bolanle Austen-Peters on this Worldwide Girls’s Day, we honor her tireless efforts to push the boundaries of Nigerian leisure. Her ardour, creativity, and perseverance have impressed numerous younger ladies to pursue careers within the arts, and her legacy will undoubtedly proceed to encourage generations to come back.
