Half of a Yellow Sun, the
highly-anticipated film, had its world premiere at the 38th
annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) yesterday, Sunday 8th
September 2013, at the Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto, Canada.
Half of a Yellow Sun’s premiere at the
prestigious TIFF, is a particularly momentous occasion for Nigeria's booming
film industry. Yesterday's event is the first ever red-carpet screening of a Nigerian
film at a leading international film festival, and is a befitting debut for the
sensational,
one-of-a-kind, iconic production.
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The British-born Nigerian actor, Chiwetel
Ejiofor (star of Inside Man, American Gangster, 12 Years a Slave), and Thandie
Newton (star of Crash, For Colored Girls, The Pursuit of Happyness), led
the cast of Nigerian and international actors to the festival. Anika Noni Rose
(Dreamgirls, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency), John Boyega (Attack the Block) and
top Nollywood actors Genevieve Nnaji and Onyeka Onwenu were also scheduled to
attend the premiere.
Based on the
award-winning novel by Nigerian author, Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun is directed by prolific UK-based Nigerian
playwright, Biyi Bandele, and produced by Andrea Calderwood (HBO’s Generation
Kill, The Last King of Scotland: winner of three BAFTAs and an Oscar). The British/Nigerian co-production was
shot at the Tinapa Film Studios in Calabar and in London.
Set
in 1960s Nigeria, Half of a Yellow Sun
is an epic love-story weaving together the lives of four people swept up in the
turbulence of the Nigerian civil war. The
sweeping romantic drama chronicles the lives of Olanna (Thandie Newton) and
Kainene (Anika Noni Rose), two glamorous twins from a wealthy Nigerian family.
Returning
to a privileged city life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria, after their
English education, the two sisters make starkly different choices back at home.
Olanna shocks her family by going to live with her lover, the “revolutionary
professor”, Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his devoted houseboy Ugwu (John
Boyega) in the dusty university town of Nsukka; while Kainene, once the
rebellious tomboy, turns to business, and proves fiercely successful at
it. Kainene surprises herself and the
family even more by falling in love with Richard (Joseph Mawle), an English
writer.
Preoccupied
by their romantic entanglements, each desperate to navigate the fractious
politics of the day, the relationship between the sisters turns sour as betrayal
tears them apart. The sisters become
victims of the civil war that threatened to divide Nigeria in two and pits the
world in polarised halves.
Half
of a Yellow Sun will take the audience on a beautiful journey through the war-time
lives of these beautiful women in a powerful, at times horrifying, and, as the
response of readers around the world has shown, intensely emotional experience.
Half Of A Yellow Sun won the prestigious
Orange Prize for Fiction in the UK (2007) and was a finalist for the National Book
Critics Circle Award. The novel has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, and
has been translated into 30 languages.
To follow the journey of Half Of a Yellow
Sun, like the official Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/HalfOfAYellowSunMovie
and follow @HOAYSMovie on twitter.
About TIFF
Established in 1976, the TIFF is the leading
public film festival in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+
countries every September. The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF) runs from September 5 to September 15, 2013.
I'm probably the only one who hasn't read the book. A short cut for me will be to watch the movie. Can't wait.
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