Today in #TheLagosReview

300,000 free books to Africans during COVID-19 lockdown, courtesy Ficool.

To cushion the effects of COVID-19 on economic and social life, the premier E-reading platform, Ficool has announced the Ficool Free Reading Campaign to help Africa in fighting COVID-19 with access to good books. Ficool offers access to 300,000 titles in different categories and formats to Africans free of charge during this campaign which started in March.

The titles on the platform spread over 20 genres which include romance, mystery, history, video games and magical realism which are available at no cost to help Africans put this moment to good use. Enjoy books by just clicking here: https://dynamic.ficool.com/ficoolcares?from=media for more details.

Ficool is dedicated to push the continent’s reading culture one step further into beneficial contributions and progression. The CEO of Ficool, Sandra Chen says.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is one ugly enemy being fought by the world to restore the norm and sanity. Even as the world makes deliberate efforts in this regard, Ficool helps to keep Africans positively engaged”

We are targeting everyone who enjoys reading, just as we encourage those that are not so connected to reading to embrace it and build some interest. We have committed some investments to this, because our goal is to deliver as well as we can.

By providing access to fun and soothing entertainment with books, Ficool is connecting Africans to pleasant moments in the midst of what is happening whilst offering relief all the way. The campaign also equips Africans with motivation for the current reality, suggesting that this will pass too. With Ficool offering this form of support, everyone gets to grow and pursue self-development despite the challenges.

To enjoy full access to all of the titles on offer, simply download Ficool on Google Play.

Cannes’ Marché du Film 2020: Online from Monday 22 to Friday 26 June

The Festival de Cannes will launch the Marché du Film online on Monday 22 June to support film industry professionals.

In these trying times for the whole world, and in view of the fragile prospects for the world of cinema, the Festival has announced that it does not wish to abandon the field.

“No one knows what the second half of the year may bring and whether it will be possible to organize major film events again in 2020, including the Festival de Cannes” said Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival. “Cannes has therefore decided to adapt its format for this peculiar year. Here’s a first initiative: a Marché du Film Online, launched by Jérôme Paillard, Executive Director of the Marché. This brand new kind of market is organized in consultation and with the participation of many professionals from all over the world.”

The Festival de Cannes is therefore announcing the launch of the Marché du Film Online, a standalone online market created to support the international film industry and help professionals. It will be held from Monday 22 to Friday 26 June.

The online market is intended to mimic the market experience in Cannes, with live and real-time meetings. It will offer creative alternatives to facilitate business and networking for film industry professionals from all over the world. The Marché du Film Online will take the shape of a closed industry space including:

Virtual booths for Sales agents : sales companies will be able to connect with buyers and to display their new films and projects-in-progress in an online dedicated space serving as a digital equivalent to their booths in Cannes.

Virtual pavilions for Institutions : Institutions from all over the world will present their national cinematography, film commissions and film locations, support their producers and organize meetings in a virtual space as they are used to doing in their pavilion in the Village International.

Video Meetings: participants can request and organize meetings via the Marché du Film networking app Match and Meet, which now integrates video calls.

Online Screenings: films completed or in post-production and project presentations will be programmed according to set schedules in about fifteen virtual cinemas, to maintain the market momentum and allow time for viewing and negotiation. Reruns will be organized for buyers in different time zones. The platform will be based on Cinando’s technology and on strict security measures – incl. DRM, individual watermark and real-time management and monitoring of admissions to screenings (Cinando is the platform launched by the Marché du Film in 2003, which has become the first network to navigate the film industry: contacts, films, projects in development, screeners…).

Programs & Conferences: programs and conferences will for the most part be transported to the digital space: Cannes Docs, Cannes Next, Producers Network, Goes to Cannes, Frontières or Fantastic 7 will be reshaped to offer these communities – creators, producers, sales agents – the same opportunities to network and present their projects. The Marché du Film Online will also offer Speed meetings around composers, book publishers or producers. Cannes XR, our program fully dedicated to immersive entertainment, will present its projects in an environment where films can be viewed with a VR headset.
Jérôme Paillard said: “In this challenging situation, the film industry is expressing a need for a spring rendez-vous before the summer. A survey we conducted last week among distributors around the world reveals that 80% of them are interested in an online market and 66% have the capacity to make acquisitions (mainly of completed films but also of films in post-production and writing). We won’t replace the Cannes experience with the Marché du Film Online, but we are recreating part of its essence online by offering professionals an efficient and cutting-edge platform to screen films, buy them, finance projects and meet partners. We’re also experimenting a new market model that will allow professionals who didn’t have the means or the time to come to Cannes to participate”.

Accreditations for the Marché du Film Online will soon be available for industry professionals at an early bird rate of €95 until May 29 and €195 normal rate after that – incl. a one-year subscription to Cinando.

Instagram Is Developing a Feature to Memorialize Deceased Users

Instagram is working on a new memorialization feature, adding a “Remembering” banner under a username to signal that a person has passed.

According to Instagram, family members can ask that a deceased’s Instagram account be memorialized through a form on the Instagram site. This will preserve the account so it doesn’t get deleted or altered and will prevent people from logging into it, even with the password.

Here’s how memorializing of an account works:

We’ll memorialize the Instagram account of a deceased person when we receive a valid request. We try to prevent references to memorialized accounts from appearing on Instagram in ways that may be upsetting to the person’s friends and family, and we also take measures to protect the privacy of the deceased person by securing the account.

To report an account to be memorialized, please contact us. We require proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or news article, to memorialize an account.

Please keep in mind that we can’t provide login information for a memorialized account. It’s always against our policies for someone to log into another person’s account.

Ways such accounts can be removed:

Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from Instagram. When you submit a request for removal, we require proof that you’re an immediate family member of the deceased person, such as:

The deceased person’s birth certificate.

The deceased person’s death certificate.

Proof of authority under local law that you are the lawful representative of the deceased person, or his/her estate.

Here’s how it looks:

Instagram continues working on account memorialization

adds this sheet of “Remembering ”

The link in this sheet brings us to Instagram’s Help Center page on this topic: https://t.co/0Ztal3Vxh5 pic.twitter.com/3xHvmGH9MW

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 21, 2020

Yes, we’re making changes to help people identify if an Instagram account belongs to someone who has passed away. We’ll have more to share on this at a later time.

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) April 22, 2020

Steve Conrad to Pen Film About 8-Year-Old Nigerian Chess Prodigy

Paramount Pictures has tapped Steve Conrad to pen a film about the Adewumi family, who fled Nigeria after being threatened by Boko Haram, sources tell Variety.

Trevor Noah will produce through his Day Zero Productions banner, with State Street Pictures’ George Tillman Jr. and Bob Teitel.

The drama will tell the story of a Nigerian family that escaped terrorism in their home country, sought and received asylum in America, and — against all odds — found a welcoming new home in New York. Living in a homeless center on religious asylum, their 8-year-old son, Tani, won the 2019 New York State chess championship, despite only being introduced to the game two years prior. The drama will be culled from three books about the family that will be published this spring by the HarperCollins imprint W Publishing.

Conrad is a veteran scribe whose films include “The Weather Man,” “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” He most recently wrote “Wonder,” starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay.

Noah — best known for hosting “The Daily Show” — is also currently adapting his bestselling memoir, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood.” The movie, set at Paramount Players, will star Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO REMAKES MIRIAM MAKEBA’S ‘PATA PATA’

World’s most defiantly joyful song re-released by UNICEF.

Once called the “world’s most defiantly joyful song”, Miriam Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata’ has been re-recorded by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo, to spread information and hope in a time of Coronavirus.

Without any alteration to chords or syllables, though with several changes to the lyrics, ‘Pata Pata’ will be re-released by UNICEF across the globe this Thursday, more than 50 years since the international smash hit first took the world by storm. It does so with full copyright approval.

Nicknamed ‘Mama Africa’, Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and songwriter. She was a United Nations goodwill ambassador who worked on hunger, HIV and domestic violence, as well as a civil rights activist. Makeba was among the first African musicians to receive worldwide recognition, winning a Grammy in 1965, performing from Johanesburg to New York; Lagos to London. She was both a friend and a mentor to Kidjo.

‘Pata Pata’ literally means ‘touch touch’ in Xhosa. The modified version sung by Kidjo includes lines such as: It’s a time to “Sit it out!” This is ‘no-pata-pata… Stay at home and wait it out …..We need to keep our hands clean ….So ‘no-pata pata’…Don’t touch your face, keep distance please.

This new version of ‘Pata Pata’ will be free to use (link below). The public is encouraged to submit videos of themselves dancing to ‘Pata-Pata’ by tagging @1unicefafrica on TikTok or @unicefafrica on Instagram with #nopatapata and #healthyathome. The best dance clips will be included in a music video to be released in mid May.

The song has particular resonance for Kidjo whose friend, Afro-Jazz icon Manu Dibango, died earlier this month from Coronavirus. “Manu inspired me. Miriam inspired me. And Pata Pata gave me hope,” said Kidjo. “We all know what needs to be done, but we also know how much communities are suffering. Pata Pata has always been there for people at a time of struggle. I hope it helps once more. And I hope from our confined spaces we can dance once more.”

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