Nigerian Prince (film)

Nigerian Prince is a 2018 Nigerian-American bilingual suspense thriller drama film written and directed by New York based Nigerian-American Faraday Okoro in his feature film directorial debut.[1] The film is based on the Nigerian prince email scam, a term that is used for referring to type of advance-fee scam[2] or in general online scammers, and has been criticised for its racist labelling.[3] The film stars newcomers Antonio J. Bell and Chinaza Uche in the main lead roles while Tina Mba, Bimbo Manuel, Ebbe Bassey and Dean Cameron in the supportive roles. The film was made as a part of the inaugural AT&T Presents: Untold Stories program as it entered the competition with the intention of gaining financial assistance.[4]

Nigerian Prince
Directed byFaraday Okoro
Produced byFaraday Okoro
Written byFaraday Okoro
Andrew Long
StarringAntonio J Bell
Chinaza Uche
CinematographySheldon Chau
Production
company
Distributed byVertical Entertainment
Netflix
Release date
  • 24 April 2018 (2018-04-24) (Tribeca)
  • 19 October 2018 (2018-10-19) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryNigeria
United States
LanguageEnglish
Ibo

Cast

Plot

A stubborn Nigerian-American teenager Eze (Antonio J. Bell) is forced to go to Nigeria by his mother. He then joins his cousin Pius (Chinaza Uche) who runs an online scamming business. He joined the online scamming business to collect the required amount of money in order to return to the US.

Production

The film project was announced by debutant director Faraday Okoro who previously helmed few short films such as Full Windsor and Blitz which were also screened in film festivals. He penned the script along with Andrew Long which was also supported by the executive producer of the film Spike Lee. Lee also guided and mentored Okoro to write the screenplay of the film.[1]

In April 2017, Nigerian Prince was shortlisted as one of the five finalists of the inaugural edition of the AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, a project which was initiated in 2017 by AT&T in collaborative partnership with Tribeca, Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Film Institute to financially support the underrepresented film projects of underrated emerging upcoming male and female filmmakers in Hollywood.[5] Okoro was adjudged the winner of the inaugural edition on 20 April 2018 and was granted US$1 million for the production of the film.[6][7] The film eventually became a winning project of AT&T Presents and it is also the first feature film to have completed with a grant from the Untold Stories.[8]

The film was predominantly shot and set in Lagos, Nigeria and the principal photography of the film was wrapped up within 12 months. Soon after the completion of the film, it was slated for the worldwide premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.[9]

Distribution

The US theatrical distribution rights of the film was sold to the Vertical Entertainment.[10][11] The film was also distributed across AT&T's video platforms such as DirecTV, U-verse and DirecTV Now under a five-year license agreement.

Release

The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018 and opened to generally positive reviews from critics.[9][12][13] It had its theatrical release in US on 19 October 2018.[14] The film was also streamed via Netflix on 14 August 2020 and opened to positive reviews from the audience.[15]

References
  1. "Nigerian Prince | 2018 Tribeca Film Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  2. "'Nigerian Prince' proposed movie on email scammers wins $1 million grant | Premium Times Nigeria". 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  3. Yékú, James (2020-05-03). "Anti-Afropolitan ethics and the performative politics of online scambaiting". Social Dynamics. 46 (2): 240–258. doi:10.1080/02533952.2020.1813943. ISSN 0253-3952.
  4. Schager, Nick (2018-04-25). "The Nigerian Prince Scam Gets the $1 Million Movie Treatment". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  5. O'Falt, Chris (2018-04-25). "One Year and $1 Million: 'Nigerian Prince' Filmmaker Returns to Tribeca After a Bold Experiment". IndieWire. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  6. Cohn, Gabe (2018-04-19). "He Won $1 Million to Make a Movie. Then the Problems Set in". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  7. Spangler, Todd (2017-04-10). "AT&T Teams With Tribeca Film Festival to Grant $1 Million to One 'Underrepresented' Filmmaker". Variety. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  8. Obenson, Tambay (2018-10-19). "As Netflix and AT&T Take On Nigerian Cinema, the Country's Film Industry Is Searching to Define Itself". IndieWire. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  9. "Faraday Okoro's film to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival". Pulse Nigeria. 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  10. McNary, Dave (2018-06-27). "AT&T-Tribeca's 'Nigerian Prince' Bought by Vertical Entertainment". Variety. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  11. N'Duka, Amanda (2018-06-27). "Vertical Entertainment Nabs Rights To Tribeca Pic 'Nigerian Prince'". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  12. Verongos, Helen T. (2018-10-18). "Review: Bright Young Men Stoop to Scam in 'Nigerian Prince'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  13. Gleiberman, Owen (2018-10-18). "Film Review: 'Nigerian Prince'". Variety. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  14. "Movie starring Tina Mba, Bimbo Manuel will hit US cinemas on October 19". Pulse Nigeria. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  15. Bean, Travis. "Every New Movie Coming To Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, Disney+ And Apple TV+ This Weekend". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
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