‘The Man Died’ nominated for the Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, February 4-17

* To be screened February 12 and 14
* Wins awards at AFRIFF, ENIFF and LAFF
By Editor
THE Man Died, the feature film inspired by Wole Soyinka’s prison notes of same title, has been nominated for the award of Best Feature Narrative at the 33rd Pan African Film and Arts Festival, which holds February 4 – 17 in Los Angeles, US on the theme ‘Dream Beyond’. The good news was contained in a letter signed by Miki Goral, the festival’s Filmmaker Liaison and Research Director, on behalf of the PAFF directorate. Dated January 28, 2025, the letter reads in part: “I am happy to inform you that The Man Died has been nominated for the juried Best Feature Narrative at the Pan African Film Festival.”
An earlier letter from the directorate had hinted that the 105 minutes feature will be screened on February 12 and 14 at the Culver Theatre, Culver city, California. It is the film’s first appearance in the United States, having done London, UK twice, and North Africa twice, among others.
Established in 1992 by Hollywood veterans Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon), the late Ja’Net DuBois (Good Times), and Ayuko Babu, the Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) has, according to its website, remained “dedicated to the promotion of Black stories and images through the exhibition of film, visual art, and other creative expression. For over 30 years, PAFF has been the international beacon for the African diaspora film and arts communities. Every year, it showcases over 200 new high-quality Black films from the US, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, the South Pacific, Canada, and increasingly Asia.
The latest news is coming on the heels of recent accomplishments of the film, which has so far won three awards, including the latest at the 14th Luxor African Film Festival in Upper Egypt, earlier this month, where it won ‘Best African Film That Tackle An Important African Issue.’ Thirty-five of the hundreds of entries from 150 countries, competed in various categories of the final stage of the festival founded in 2010.
Before Luxor, the film had clinched Best Screenplay trophies at both the African International film Festival, AFRIFF, (November 3-9, Lagos), and at the 35th Carthage International Film Festival, held November 14-21 in Tunis. It had also won Best Audience Choice Award at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival (ENIFF), Enugu, November 27-30.
The film stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmund Enaibe as Commissioner as well as international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka) and Los Angeles, US-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.
Meanwhile in continuation of its global tour, The Man Died, has also been selected for the Jo’Burg Film Festival, holding March 11-16. It is being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Oxford University, UK, as well as at New York University, Harvard University, and at Ithaca College, all in the US, among others. This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms, and international distribution channels.

“As the critically acclaimed largest Black film and arts festival and Black History Month activation in the United States, PAFF brings together filmmakers, artists, and unique craftspeople from over 40 countries and six continents to Los Angeles annually, to showcase their pivotal work and talent. PAFF has become the quintessential global celebration of Pan-African cultures.
Though yet to be officially released to the market, The Man Died, written by UK-based Bode Asiyanbi, directed by New York-US and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based Awam Amkpa and produced by Lagos, Nigeria-based Femi Odugbemi for Zuri24 Media, since its “special-premiere” in July in Lagos to mark the Nobel laureate dramatist, poet, essayist and human/civil rights activist, Soyinka’s 90th birthday, has had a series of home runs including on October 5 at the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest 2024, Lagos, and the Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF) on November 14.
It began its global tour in London in July as part of the Wole Soyinka at 90 celebration jointly organized and hosted by the Africa Centre and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE). It returned to same London in October as part of the African Film Festival, and also had an educational screening at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. It was screened on October 11 on the ‘Accra Streamfest’ bill of the “Labone Dialogues”, hosted by New York University, NYU Accra.
Produced by Zuri 24 Media, The Man Died, according to the synopsis on its website — www.themandiedmovie.com — is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war. He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind. At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to himself by a thread. At other times, he pondered, listened, and watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can. Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.”
The director of the film, an actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003), Awam is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. He has also written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSqp6Z0XsuE&feature=youtu.be
The producer, an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar, Femi Odugbemi is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos, producers of the film. His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries. He was one of the founding producers of the daily soap opera Tinsel as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including Battleground, Brethren, Movement JAPA and Covenant, among others. Also, producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films, Odugbemi is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=