19-year-old Lilian Ekenta has been chosen as the female IGBO AMBASSADOR and ADA IGBO of the Igbo Film Forum.
Speaking to The Newswriter, the Head of Igbo Film Forum, IFF, Port Harcourt Branch, Mr. Igwe Peter Ifeanyi, said ADA IGBO is a title given to any female Igbo Ambassador and that Lilian Ekenta was lucky to have been chosen among many others nominated for the ambassadorial position.
He said Lillian has been in the industry for long and has represented the Igbos very well.
“As a child, she has been well cultured and speaks Igbo fluently. She communicates as if she was born and brought up in Igbo land. But she is not and that is to tell you that her parents have inculcated that culture in her. This is why we considered her fit for the position for 2012/2013. She will feature in the Igbo Film Premier Festival coming up on November 2, 2012, in Lagos. She will be coronated in Port Harcourt during the inauguration of Igbo film festival,” Ifeanyi stated.
In her reaction, the Ada Igbo, Lilian Ekenta, said she was well qualified to take the title because she is a real Igbo girl and could speak the language fluently.
Lilian who finished her secondary education two years ago, said “I started acting when I was barely three months old. They used me as someones child. As I grew up, I continued. I have acted in 174 films as at now and they include “Crazy Millionaire,’ ‘Black Angel,” “Payback”, “Sin of the father, “Anointed” “Okosisi, “Not my Wealth, “Izaga”, “Odeshi”, and so many others. She said she had never found it difficult playing her roles.
“I don’t find it difficult acting, though I started early. I have time for everything in my school, time for reading and time to do other things. When it comes to shooting, I obtain permission and go”, she said.
Lilian who hails from Akwete, Ndoki, Ukwa East local government area of Abia State, said her mum who is a make-up artiste and a costumier, introduced her into acting, adding “acting has been good for me because it helps my parents to settle my school fees”.
Advising her fellow young ones, she said “I advise my fellow Igbos to choose Igbo language first before others and let them realize the importance of their speaking Igbo because if you cannot speak it and you are an Igbo, you cannot be identified. The Igbo language should not die. All should speak it.
“It is good for the young ones to be involved in acting because it makes them look smart and more brilliant and have sharp brains.
Her parents who actually supported her involvement in acting were very pleased that she emerged the “Ada Igbo” and Ambassador of Igbo Film Festival.
“I feel very great. When the call came, I did not know that it was something like this. Only God knows why she was chosen,” said her mother, Mrs. Charity Onyiyechi Ekenta.
She said she started acting from the days of ‘Things fall Apart’ when she was a kid and she is known as African Mother’s Concept, in the industry.
As a costumier and Make-up artist, she works mostly behind the cameras.
“What gave me the name, “African Mother’s concept” was the role I played in “King Jaja of Opobo”. I played the female lead role which is African Mother and Child. After the film, they started calling me “African Mother”. Late Sam Loco and Pete Odochie advised me to inherit that name and adopt it as my company’s name.
On sexual harassment, she said “they say the industry is not good for girls, but it depends on how the person was brought up in the family. I and my husband know how we train our children. We taught them the things they should know, so they can get along. I advise my fellow mothers to take good care of their children, more so during meal times, watching how they behave, how they talk.
Rita Chinecherem Ekenta is another daughter of hers that acts.
The father of Lillian, Mr. Michael Ekenta is a well-known Director of Photography, D.O.P, in the Nollywood Movie industry.
He agreed that up-bringing matters and that if you start early to teach a child the way the child should go, the child would not go astray.
“We do not decide for her which film to act in. We can look at one and when the script comes up and she says no, it goes like that. She decided that her parents should manage her and since then we have been managing her”.
As D.O.P, he has to his credit, “Christ in Me”, “The Unpredictable,” “The Drummer Boy”, “Deadly Sabotage,” “Woman’s Advice”, and so many others. ####
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