Friday 14 September 2018

THE CHILD RIGHTS FILM “HOME” GENERATES SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ

Home the movie poster

The social space was set agog weeks ago following  the online premiere of the child rights film “Home ” by Austine Lordlaz  This attracted the attention of top Nigerian  blogs like bellanaija, https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/08/austine-lordlaz-short-film-is-titled-home-addresses-the-theme-of-child-abuse/ , Nollywood Obsever  who joined the trend to review the film with great ratings. Home which was made public online via YouTube is part of the producers’ effort to make the film available to a wider audience free of charge. The first week of it screening generated over 15 thousand reactions across the social media and 9k likes on Facebook.

Child Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet a child's basic needs and is the most common form of child abuse. A child may be put in danger or not protected from physical or emotional harm. They may not get the love, care and attention they need from their parents. Many children today in Nigeria and the world at large suffer from parental neglect which mostly stem from misunderstanding, misconception, quarrel and fight between parents and relatives. When these conflicts remain open, unattended to and unresolved, they take toll on the children.

Calabar the capital city of Cross River state is among the cities in Nigeria with highest number of abandoned and neglected children in the streets. The effect of this cannot be over emphasized as they (abandoned Children) roam the streets and have constantly grown into nightmares for the society which they believe has been hostile to them.It is against this back drop that the director Austine Lordlaz and crew chose to make a the film.

The short film Home  tells the true life story of a six-year old Junior who is caught in the web of parental conflict. Junior struggles against the odds of parental neglect and marriage-long quarrel and fight leads to a tragedy that otherwise would have been avoided.
                                                                                                                 
The director and producer of the Home  , Austine Lordlaz uses the film to lend a voice against  the rising child neglect and abandonment in Calabar ,cross river state and the country at large.  The production crew has more plans of engaging in select community screening of the film to more Nigerian audience .This is aimed at furthering the campaign against child abandonment and neglect.
Greenwich Media Plus and Clay Torch productions partnered , Jaymoni  entertainment  to produce the film.

Crew members of the film include

Marvelous Eneji –Sound

Riyo david – Production Coordinator

Joshua Okemiri –Location Manager

Bencourage Odey – production Manager

Nancy Osima – Wardrobe

Immanuel Ikpeme  -Runner

Elai Okodiya – Gaffer

Jonathan Ogolo – Cinematographer/ Camera operator 

Jesam Ebri Okoi – Executive Producer

Austine Lordlaz - Director/ Writer/ Producer/ Editor





Tuesday 17 July 2018

FALLING STANDARD …MY WALLS HAVE EARS


Just this morning, the window to my apartment which always affords me privileged gossips from my neighbor’s did it again. This time, not the usual quarrel which always precedes or should I say ushers in moans and groans from his corner, often sickening and making me want to relocate. Today birthed something new, is it?, maybe I have been ignorant of? Well, which ever it is, this filtered in as soon as one of his “student customers" arrived.

GUY:  hey, what’s up you didn't come for the exams yesterday 
GIRL : hmmm, what's the need?  Is it not Dr. XYZ's course? What's the need of going for the exam and paying 15 thousand naira after writing?  
BOY :  oh yeah, na true sef , but you …

The conversation kicked more, and I was made a guest from a stone throw .The Proverbial walls with ears  exposed me to some of the tricks involved in the bizarre form of examination administered and abetted by ‘some’ Lecturers.(thanks to whoever  first imagined, walls have ears) 
Before another thing would start in the room, I got immersed in these puzzles:


Does the school authority know some lecturers administer exams to students in hotels where they write to make up for the money(ies) they are made to pay? 

Does the school Authority know that some department’s admin staff who they trust with examination papers transact same with students? 

How can vulnerable lecturers with little or no resistance to students' monetary inducement and sexual harassment be protected. ( ie ,If at all they need protection or are worthy of being teachers) 

Can students apply for a remark, should they get unjustly marked down? 

When did Class Deans and representatives become tax collectors who coordinate shady deals for "some" lecturers who appointed them? 

Do we really know these things we think do not matter, are responsible for many distinctions that can't be defended by their holders? 

Do we know they are responsible for the rejection/return of Corps members who can't even write a letter to their Zonal Inspectors, talk more of teaching primary school pupils ?

Do we know these students end up being the never do wells in who represent us at various levels in government?

Do we know, same students they transact marks with sometimes find their ways in our institutions of learning? And guess what? as your children's /ward’s lecturers and teachers. 
Certainly, what goes around comes around. 
The spiral effect can't be escaped, because Karma could be very patient man, always at the waiting lounge.
Well, a knock on my door brought me back. I have a film to shoot. And for the funny “ringtone” from my neighbor’s, I’m sure I won’t hear it today, because there’s work to do. And when I come back, I will have a talk with him… certainly. Austine Lordlaz (c)2018


Austine Lordlaz is a Professional Film,  TV and Theatre Director. A Writer,  Poet,Critic, producer, audio-visual editor and production manager with precision and passion. He holds  a master’s degree in directing for TV, film and theatre. He has a couple of  feature films, TV, radio, theatre and published works to his credit. contact  :austinelordlaz@yahoo.com :phone +2348067928977

Sunday 8 July 2018

Irrationality,Gullibility,Common Sense Vs Christianity

 Irrationality,Gullibility,Common Sense  Vs Christianity 

I made out time to attend a night of miracles and wonders in one of those trending churches (Name with held) .They sang, worshiped and prayed while we waited for  the Pastor's moment of anticipated wonder of the night. 
Suddenly, The spinning generator supplying power fizzled out. It was out of fuel. The official responsible for power (One brother Mathew) forgot to buy fuel for the night)  The time was 1.30am and certainly no fuel station was close and movement at such time? Risky. 
The Pastor appeared, and immediately everyone  began to bind, cast and accuse the devil whom to many appeared to be responsible for the drained fuel in the generator  and maybe brother Matthew's forgetfulness or oversight? 
Something must be done, and fast. The Pastor called on brother Matthew to keep two buckets in the male and female conveniences of the church. 
Immediately that was executed, the Pastor asked everyone to  individually into the convenience to pee into the buckets, after which he would pray and their collected urine would be converted into  fuel. 
I got perturbed and disturbed as the church members filed into the rest rooms, one after the other. I had read of the biblical miracle of water into wine, but though I believe in the wonders of Christ, my mind could not just water down or make good meaning off the on going urine ritual. So, I said to my friend who invited me : "Babe, I will not forgive myself if I participate in this. It's irrational to me. I detest gullibility of every kind. Let it not be said that I made the anticipated Urine to Fuel wonder of the night invalid. I ll go home right away. I will be expecting details of the night's exercise when you return ". So, I left,while she branded me "doubtful Thomas and Unbeliever" (her exact words) 
Sad enough the story went sour when we met later in the day. She began in a subdued tone. "... You see eeh, do you know people can frustrate someone's  effort? after 45 minutes of prayer, the urine remained the same".I knew it!  The truth is, the miracle didn't work. The pastor later accused some members of the church of participating in the urine abracadabra with low faith. So, his prayers could not be granted by God. I laughed. Another shocker came when I asked her why her phone line wasn't reachable. She responded : " Lordlaz , my pastor said we should sow a seed with what ever we had for the next miracle that was about coming, so I gave my phone. "
What! That phone is only a week old and it's a gift... !" I realized I was yelling. 
"Calm down  dear," she said. "God works in a mysterious way, better things will come. He said in his word : 'Give, and it shall be given unto you '. 
Only then, I realized that she and other members of the church (and in other folds alike) have been brainwashed. Are they not worse than the docile Boko Haram recruits with no mind of their own. 
I am a Christian,  I believe in God and Christ, his death, resurrection and second coming .i believe in God the father, son and Holy Spirit 
But.... 
Does common sense freeze when we become born again? 

#Takeaway 

Never spend time praying when you should be working. 

Practice the act of giving but don't be cajoled or get religiously blackmailed into dubious seed sowing. The church should cater for the members not the other way round. 

Being born again should never stop you from reasoning .

Not every jargon from your pastor is valid 

It is irrational and gullible to believe fortune will smile on you when you forward some composed messages to a given number of people. 

Christ and God are not on social media. Be not deceived. 

Christ cannot ,will not and shall never  threaten you to broadcast or circulate messages via WhatsApp or any other platform. 

From a concerned Christian : Austine Lordlaz (c) 2018.

Sunday 1 April 2018

DIRECTOR-PRODUCER SHOW REEL

Alright guys, Here is a fast peep into select film works of Director Austine Lordlaz. The show-reel below is a "collage" of his works as a Writer, Director, Producer, and Editor.Well, if you see some credits to him on Camera/Cinematography just smile, its one of those moments you would say "where there is no doctor" .Your comments and criticism will only make us get better. so, endeavor to drop some comments and hit us up for Film  and Theater production business :austinelordlaz@yahoo.com ,+2348067928977 .