Screen Naija Open Air Cinema Has Arrived!

Screen Naija Open Air Cinema is the new outdoor mobile community cinema project in partnership with the Projection Foundation to provide cinema in every conducive and receptive community in Nigeria.

The Projection Foundation is a network of film festivals and organizations working together to provide ‘offline’ and underrepresented communities with the tools and training necessary to exchange their stories through local cinema screenings and regional open air film festivals.

Screen Naija Open Air Cinema in partnership with Open Air Cinema Foundation, Projection Foundation, Mobile Cinema Foundation and Nigerians Report will be providing customized outdoor cinema services to different communities in Nigeria for public entertainment and enlightenment, including boutique cinemas for the following special occasions:

• Anniversaries of Clubs, Organizations and Families.
• Birthday Parties
• Wedding Anniversaries and
• Festive Seasons like Christmas, Easter and other special seasons.

Screen Naija will be launching this spring with the screening of three movies that have already been approved for public exhibition and screened at international film festivals. The following are the multiple international award winning movies.

1. Project Happiness



With the unspoken epidemic of stress and depression infiltrating every community, how can kids (of all ages) learn to generate their own happiness regardless of the situations they face?

Follow three groups of high school students from three continents on a quest to understand the nature of lasting happiness.
What they discover uncovers the potential for happiness that is in us all.
The film focuses on four teens from Santa Cruz, California. Each faces personal obstacles to happiness: loss, alienation and the everyday challenges of being a teenager passing into adulthood. An innovative project that asks the question “How do we achieve lasting happiness?” introduces them by internet and video diaries to their peers in Nigeria and India and quickly leaves lectures and books behind. The teens also engage in conversations with cultural icons George Lucas, Richard Gere and groundbreaking neuroscientist Richard Davidson. The three international groups ultimately meet face to face in India for the first time to prepare for a rare private audience with the Dalai Lama.
Project Happiness, is a feature length documentary film which follows a senior high school class from Mount Madonna School near Watsonville, California, on a journey to discover the true nature of human happiness. Joining them on this quest are students from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, and students from the Dominion Heritage Academy in Jos, Nigeria.

Using email, blogs and video cameras, the participants from three continents exchanged their cultural perspectives. Over seven months, they shared personal stories, opinions and challenges, which created the foundation for life-long friendships.

Following many months of reflection and cross-cultural conversation, the American students traveled by plane, train and 4WD to India to connect for the first time face-to-face with their counterparts. As a community, they continued to test their theories, ask hard questions and prepare for the meeting of a lifetime… a private interview with the 14th Dalai Lama. Culminating on graduation day, this is an experience they will never forget. It is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us to see through the eyes of our youth what is most important in the universal quest for lasting happiness.

2. Cultures of Resistance by Iara Lee



Cultures of Resistance is a documentary on peaceful conflict resolution of social and political issues through Arts and Culture using music, public dialogue and non-violent public marches, featuring the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the legendary Afro beat king, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Dr. Ola Balogun and other human rights activists from Nigeria, Middle East where musicians and poets use music and rap to address their political rights, the Amazon Jungle and Latin America.

3. The Minority by Dwayne Buckle



The Minority won an Executive Director's Choice Award - Honorable Mention at the 15th Annual Pan African Film Festival in February, 2007.

The Minority was an Official Selection of the Buffalo International Film Festival in 2009.

The Minority is an ambitious and courageous social commentary that questions the current state of race relations in the early 21st century. Passionately produced with strong camera work and a real New York film, this film dares to ask the question that many are afraid to answer”.

~ Ben Lyons, “The Daily Ten” on E.

The Minority is an excellent perspective on what the African-American experience is like in modern day America. Cloaked in humor, this film is masterful in its depiction of true racism. "The Minority has a layered effect. As you watch the film there is a lot to laugh about at the beginning.

The Minority, has many layers, but as the layers peel off, the raw reality
Of what the movie is truly about begins to sink in and the unsettling voice of consciousness sneaks up on you. "Is this really how it is?" Halfway through the movie, the subject matter at hand suddenly is no longer comical; as a matter of fact it becomes down right painful. Dwayne Buckle does an excellent job creating his first feature length film, and the promise of a great future awaits his arrival.

~Moe Dinero, Urban Mogul Magazine.

For Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities, Contact:

The Festival Manager
Screen Naija Open Air Cinema
E-mail: publisher@nigeriansreport.com.
Tel: 234 706 637 9246

See http://projectionfoundation.org/ and http://www.screennaija.projectionfoundation.org/ for more details.

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