ARTSVILLETHE highlife musician Fatai Rolling Dollar is the oldest of the group of media and culture enthusiasts, artists and scholars who will be honoured at the Freedom Park on Broad Street in Lagos on November 19. And he will be performing with his band. November 19 is the second day of the 2011 edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival. As a rule, the Committee For Relevant Art(CORA), organizers of the Festival, uses this day to celebrate those culture producers who have had a landmark birthday or the other in the course of the year. 'Those who make the list are not just anybody', says Deji Toye, chairman of the jury that decided on the honorees. 'These are people who, in the course of the lives they've so far lived, have made significant contributions to the media and arts'. The party, this year is for Fatai Rolling Dollar at 85, the novelist Chukwuemeka Ike at 80, the music critic Benson Idonije at 75; the actress Taiwo Ajai-Lycett at 70; the culture scholar Ebun Clark at 70; the singer/entertainer Charly Boy at 60; the actor Richard Mofe-Damijo at 50; the dancer/choreographer Yeni Kuti at 50 the actress Joke Silva at 50; the music critic and publisher Femi Akintunde-Johnson at 50; and the culture scholars Tunde Babawale, Sola Olorunyomi and Remi Raji at 50. 'We are having a big feast for them and their families', Toye explains, 'under a massive tent'. The Lagos Book and Art Festival is a comprehensive, three day programme of events featuring readings, conversations around books, art and craft displays, kiddies' art workshops and reading sessions, book exhibitions, live music and dance. It's a festival of the arts with a high book content.Joseph Benjamin Is Different In Kiss And TellAsked why the Nollywood romantic comedy Kiss and Tell did not run for long at the Silverbird Galleria in Lagos, one famous filmmaker derisively suggested it was because the movie was 'an imitation of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days', the Hollywood flick featuring Kate Hudson and Matthew Mc Conaughey. That explanation throws up a question: Do people stay away from a movie because they find it's imitating another movie' Seriously' Nigerian audiences' Kiss and Tell continued screening in Abuja weeks after it was pulled from Cinemas in Lagos and it didn't exactly struggle for a crowd. It may have been an imitation but it's fun, well acted, full of laughs, sometimes even charming. Iyke(Joseph Benjamin), a rake who gets into bed with women for the sheer fun of it, runs into a stonewall in Delphine (Monalisa Chinda), a lawyer and divorcee who has sworn off men. Still, he agrees to a career gambling bet that he'd lay the woman in 10 days. The tall, good looking Mr Benjamin got his break playing opposite Genevieve Nnaji in Tango With Me, Mahmood Balogun's carefully produced film about the trials of matrimony. Kiss and Tell is his second major movie credit. In Tango, Benjamin's role is to express pain in silence. He pulls it off. In this new movie, he is allowed to be outwardly expressive, even exceedingly so. He delivers. Ms Chinda's diction is better in this flick than in most of her earlier works. Actress Nse Ikpe Etim, who plays the buddy and confidant to Chinda's character, comes across as effortlessly playful. But Uche Jumbo, as executive assistant in the company run by Iyke and his friend seems undecided as to whether she is acting or offscreen. Her character is undeveloped. What Kiss and Tell lacks in terms of production quality, photography, even access to compelling scenery, it has in abundant acting talent. This is an actors' movie.Publishing In The Age Of MicrochipDigital technology and its use in enhancing the business of publishing is the focus of the second annual Publishers Forum, scheduled for November 17 at the Goethe Institut-the German culture centre- in Lagos. 'The Forum provides a concentrated space for key publishers in Nigeria to gain critical insight into their current operations within the context of the challenges facing their industry', explains Ayo Arigbabu, the Forum's director. 'It is also for them to brainstorm on their findings and identify key steps that can be taken as individual businesses to improve their bottom line'. Arigbabu, a trained architect who is himself a publisher (Dada Books) expects 'participants to add value to their businesses through the intervention of key facilitators, critical feedback on their processes, input on the most challenging areas they have to deal with, all in the space of the four hours earmarked for this instructive business forum'. The event kicks off at 10am, and will be followed from 5pm to 6.30pm by a conversation (open to the public) tagged: 'WOOING THE MASS MARKET' where two publishers will share from their current work and their future plans, by discussing a selection from their publishing lists. 'This year, we will have two publishers discuss their efforts at publishing online literary journals and what mileage the internet afforded them in their efforts. A digital display of past editions of their journals will be presented. The discussions will be brought to a close with a cocktail'. Mr Arigbabu describes the Publishers' Forum as a 'focus group' or a strategy session with key facilitators as guide. 'The forum is targeted at principals of publishing houses who seek to grow their market and are willing to engage in creative thinking towards identifying strategies that can make this possible for them whether within a collective or through their individual operations'. Mr Arigbabu could be reached on 08033000499 or arigbs@gmail.com'Compiled by staff of Festac News Agency
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