Before the pandemic wave hit earlier in the year, news broke that award-winning Nigeria filmmaker Kunle Afolayan was shooting his new movie Citation in Ile-Ife. The reveal of popular Nigerian Youtuber and social media sensation Temi Otedola as the lead character on her acting debut made the news even more exciting. She plays ‘Moremi Oluwa’ a postgraduate student facing the university’s disciplinary panel over allegation of sexual harassment from one of the most popular lecturers on campus, Prof. Lucien Nd’yara played by Jimmy-Jean Louis.
One of the biggest movements that have erupted from 2020 is the conversation around rape and sexual harassment, of women mostly, especially in educational institutions. Nigerian journalist Kiki Mordi put the spotlight on this dilemma in her Emmy nominated documentary for BBC Eye ‘Sex For Grades’ indicting two lecturers in University of Lagos and the University of Ghana who were predating on younger, female students in exchange for good grades.
It’s great to see Kunle Afolayan bring this scathing issue to the mainstream again with Citation, which has been described as a pending blockbuster focused on educating young people on ways they can tackle sexual-based crimes in universities.
Another highlight from the recently released trailer is the unveiling of Mrs Ibukun Awosika, a serial businesswoman and Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, cast as dean of one of the university’s faculties and head of the senate disciplinary committee. That really did take a lot of people by surprise.
The entire movie was shot in Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State and it also stars several Nollywood gems including Tunde Babalola, Joke Silva, Sadiq Daba, Gabriel Afolayan, Ini Edo, Adjetey Anang, Yomi Fash, Seun Kuti, amongst others.
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