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Photos of me on recent Nollywood Conference panel

Hey folks, Wireimage.com (they shoot all the big Hollywood events) took photos of me speaking on the Film Finance panel that took place at the recent Nollywood Conference here in Los Angeles. The photos all appear on one sheet, their big enough to see, but you can't click them to get bigger without a subscription:

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=SRH&logsrch=1&str=dibinga&sfld=C Below are two photographs that a friend of mine took of me.. . Enjoy, Said

I attended the Nollywood Conference this past Friday and Saturday

Hello all!

How you doing?

This past Saturday I was a panelist at the Nollywood Foundation Conference that took place in Los Angeles. For those that don’t know what "Nollywood" is, it’s the Nigerian Film Industry and it’s the third biggest film production center in the world. Nollywood grosses about $200 – $300 million US dollars a year (the Nigerian currency is called as the “Naira”.

There were great panels, and I met many fellow media people, the majority Nigerians who are based in Hollywood, and they’re doing things, producing, writing, acting, and directing.

Unlike many other film festivals which tend to be filled by the lost and the desperate and the big-headed who have know money acting like they do; this was strictly a conference where ideas were shared, and relationships were either developed, or strengthened. What I noticed was that there were many people in attendence that are active in the industries both here and in Nigeria / Continental Africa. Many people from Nigeria and across the US came to LA to participate. Many didn’t come looking for handouts or begging to be in someone’s film like I see at other film festivals. Folks came to network and to acquire new strategies.

Panels were varied. I sat on an informative (for the audience and for myself) panel on Friday that talked about “Film Financing”. The Saturday panel was about reaching out and engaging the Diaspora. This was the first time I saw a panel that talked about reaching out to the African global community actually had Africans sitting on the panel.

There was a panel about women in film and Nollywood. This panel at times got heated, and the women made sure to get their point across!!!

Okay, that’s all for now, when I get my photos developed, I’ll be sure to post them here!

Later on,

Said

Thoughts from actress Carrie Fisher

"Acting engenders and harbours qualities that are best left way behind in adolesence. People-pleasing, going on those interviews and jamming your whole personality into getting the job, ingratiating yourself to people you wouldn't f***ing spit on if they were on fire." Carrie Fisher (Actress, best known as Princess Leia in STAR WARS series)

Words of Support For Your Dreams

Photograph of me on movie set.

(This picture was taken towards the end of the night, and trust me I am exhausted!)

Scene #77, reverse shoot.

This is the reverse shot of SCENE #77. The actor standing to the right is good. Actually, Liney (standing to the right) is studying to be a Computer Engineer. He was awesome; he and Trey (the man in the previous photo lying in the bed with a bandage on his head) (also a great actor) shot a powerful scene earlier in the day. The gentleman holding the camera is the cinematographer, his name is Francisco and he's from Costa Rica. It was hot on this location, HOT!!! A great team.

Scene #77 from movie I'm working on

This is Scene # 77 from my friends’ feature-length film that we started filming this past weekend. I'm not going to say to much since the director didn't say we could talk about it but I will tell you that it was a fun shoot. I served as Script Supervisor, which means that I am responsible for continuity, issues (repeating dialogue correctly, matching wardrobe. In this sceen they are setting up the scene to eb filled. The guy in the bed is one of the lead actors and he's having make-up applied to him. The guy to the left holding the camera is the Cinematographer for the film (his job is to make sure the film looks good. To the far right, you can see the feet of the writer/director. The whole team was professional. I became a part of this project after I met the producer on the set of a film I worked on earlier in the weekend.

The Untitled New Orleans Project

When a mutant come callin'. 'Nuf said.