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Loving Daniella now in cinema

By Eseoghene Laba
17 February 2019   |   4:10 am
Ike Nnaebue’s Loving Daniella is now in cinemas, after a media screening held at the Ozone Cinemas, last week. The movie tells the story of a lady (Theresa Edem) with mental illness...

Ike Nnaebue’s Loving Daniella is now in cinemas, after a media screening held at the Ozone Cinemas, last week. The movie tells the story of a lady (Theresa Edem) with mental illness, which makes her behave like a seven years old child. The lady falls in love with a young man (Blossom Chukwujekwu), whose love changes her life completely.

The movie, which stars act like, Alex Ekubo, Joseph Benjamin, Jide Kosoko, Rachel Oniga, was shot in Antigua and Barbuda, West Indies and Lagos, Nigeria. Uddy Udoh Bassey Essien and Dr. Akin Kolade who is a practicing psychiatrist in the United States of America produced it.

The director, Nnaebue, said his fascination with mental illness was the inspiration behind the movie.

“For a while now, I have always had an interest in mental illness and I just felt like doing something on it and the film just came to me. I went to bed and woke up with the synopsis behind Loving Daniella. Kolade, who is actually a psychiatrist in the United States of America, bought into the story. Every medical term and practice you see in the movie is actually real, because we had to do a lot of research. And we hope the Nigerian audience can connect with it the way the foreign audience did.

Nnaebue said it was a big encouragement, “when we entered the Las Vegas Black International Film Festival and the film was officially selected for screening. The movie was nominated in three categories. Edem, in fact, won the best actress diadem.”

Speaking on Being Daniella and why she will not want to take on that kind of role again, Edem said: “Playing Daniella was challenging. I had to learn how to act like a seven-year-old and think like one. I would like to thank the young girl on set; she was instrumental to my mannerisms.”

She said the movie took a-year-and-a-half to shoot, “which led to coming back again and again even while shooting other movies to come and play Daniella. That was a difficult part, as I had to dig deep to bring her back to life again. But in everything, we thank God.”

Edem continued, “although this character was very challenging, as an actress I can always do it again. But do I want to? I will say no. I do not want to be boxed into a corner; I will like to try something different.”

The movie, which was released on February 8, 2019 in several cinemas across the country, Ghana, Antigua and Barbuda and some select cities in the United States of America, is also targeted for release on DSTv’s Africa Magic.

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