World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
Nollywood mourns the loss of its “Lion of Lufodo” Olu Jacobs; Malayalam cinema crowns a new box office king; Nordisk Panorama opens in Malmö; TIFF’s People’s Choice vote stays genuinely undecided; and Happy Birthday to Paul Feig and Ella Purnell.
Morning all — a properly sad one to lead with today, followed by a genuinely global spread taking in India, the Middle East and Scandinavia. Here’s what happened in the world of movies during the last 24 hours.
Nollywood loses its “Lion of Lufodo,” Olu Jacobs: Legendary Nigerian actor Olu Jacobs has died aged 84, his family confirming the news through his son Olusoji and wife Joke Silva, who described him as “the lion of Lufodo” and said his life was “well lived and fought.” Trained at RADA in London, Jacobs built a career spanning more than five decades — British television and international film first, before returning to Nigeria to become one of the true founding figures of Nollywood, alongside Pete Edochie. He was conferred Member of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2011 and, together with Silva, founded the Lufodo Group and its Academy of Performing Arts, an institution built to outlast his own career. Jacobs had lived with declining health in recent years, and false rumours of his death circulated more than once over the past several years — this time, sadly, it’s genuinely true. A defining figure of Nigerian cinema, gone.
Malayalam cinema gets a new box office king: On a rather more upbeat note, Bethlehem Kudumba Unit — starring Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju — has crossed ₹300 crore (about $31m) to become the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, dethroning Lokah: Chapter 1 after just a couple of months at the top. A striking achievement for an industry that’s traditionally operated on a fraction of Bollywood or Tollywood’s budgets.
Nordisk Panorama opens its 37th edition in Malmö: Also today, the Nordisk Panorama short and documentary festival kicks off in Malmö, running through to the 22nd. Finland leads this year’s Best Nordic Documentary competition, involved in six of the twelve entries, with the festival’s Town Hall summit on the 20th tackling “Where is the Nordic Documentary Market Heading?”.
TIFF’s People’s Choice ballot remains genuinely undecided: Back in Toronto, with four days left of this year’s festival, voting among TIFF’s 2,600 accredited badge holders is still ongoing ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, with no clear consensus frontrunner yet. 22 past winners have gone on to Best Picture nominations, seven converting into wins, including Nomadland, Green Book and 12 Years a Slave — last year’s winner, Hamnet, rode that bellwether status to eight Oscar nominations and a Best Actress win for Jessie Buckley.
Happy Birthday to Paul Feig and Ella Purnell: Rounding things off, Happy Birthday today to Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters and The Housemaid director Paul Feig, who turns 64, alongside Army of the Dead, Yellowjackets and Fallout actress Ella Purnell, turning 30.
That’s your lot for today — until next time.
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