8 Facts about Francis Oladele

princess abumere

July 3, 2015 11:45 AM

The legendary filmmaker who passed on Monday, 22 June, 2015 was a major contributor to the development of the Nigerian film industry. Here are some things you should know about him.

The film producer passed on a few days after Village Headmaster’s Femi Robinson.

The late

Here’s a list of some of his accomplishments.

1. Oladele worked as a photojournalist for the Daily Times of Nigeria and had two columns with the paper.

2. He studied photography at the New York Institute of Photography.

3. When he returned to Nigeria from his time abroad, he was appointed as the first African head of the film unit of Western Nigeria Television, Ibadan.

4. In September, 1965, he found the first private film production company in Nigeria called Calpenny-Nigeria Films Limited.

5. The Oyo born creative is know for his adaptation of novels into film.

ALSO READ: iREP to honour late legendary actor in July

6. He produced the first indigenous film in Nigeria in 1969/70. This film was an adaptation of Professor Wole Soyinka‘s play 'Kongi’s Harvest'.

7. He produced a screen adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ in 1971 with the title 'Bullfrog In The Sun’. He also did an adaptation of ‘No Longer at Ease’.

8. The motion picture maker produced documentaries for the United Nations. He did a feature for the organization about a story centred on the war in Congo. The UN also sponsored his documentary on the late General Murtala Mohammed.

The pioneer filmmaker would have been 83 on 30 August, 2015. May his soul rest in peace.

princess abumere