Last Flight To Abuja in UK cinemas next week

Last Flight To Abuja - the new high octane suspense thriller film which has now become the uncanny campaigning tool for improved air safety in Nigeria goes on general release in the UK on Friday 29 June. SPY readers will recall that Last Flight To Abuja lead actress Nollywood superstar Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and her fellow cast members were overwhelmed at the film's world premier in London a fortnight ago. For details of all the cinemas that will be showing this groundbreaking production by Obi Emelonye read a statement sent to us last night below. To view the trailer scroll to the bottom of this page....

PRESS RELEASE

Last Flight to Abuja – UK Cinema release

After a hugely successful world premiere at The Troxy Cinema in East London in front of over 1300 guests, Last Flight to Abuja, the new Nollywood, disaster themed suspense thriller by award winning UK based Nigerian director Obi Emelonye, is now set to be released across 14 London cinema screens from Friday 29th June. Two of Nigeria’s leading companies Diamond Bank PLC and Zinox Technologies came together to support the premiere and in a touching tribute, the audience observed a one-minute silence in honour of the Dana Airlines crash victims prior to the screening of the film and the producers replaced the closing credits with a list of the departed souls. The premiere audience included stars from the movie - Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Jim Iyke and Ali Nuhu, Ambassador O.K. Lawal, the Deputy High Commissioner to the Court of St. James and representative of the Nigerian Government amongst a host of others. The event was anchored by ace Nigerian comedian Okey Bakassi. Last Flight to Abuja starring some of Africa’s biggest screen acting talents - Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Jim Iyke - is the very first Nollywood film set on a plane and is a high octane suspense thriller inspired by real life events that unravels the twists, turns and leaps of fate that put a set of everyday Nigerian travelers on-board a stricken plane teetering on the brink of disaster at 30,000 feet. Caught up in a nightmare scenario all the passengers pray as the final moments of their lives approach. Will they survive…..the Last Flight to Abuja? Originally inspired by a series of airplane disasters that rocked Nigeria in 2006, Last Flight to Abuja has inadvertently become highly relevant and timely due to the uncanny similarities to the recent horrific Dana Airlines plane crash that happened in Lagos on 3rd June 2012 which resulted in the loss of over 160 lives. As a tribute the producers of the film have now dedicated the film to the memory of the victims of both the Dana Airlines and Allied Air disaster that happened on the same day. With the issue of air safety on African airlines high on the global news agenda, the producers believe that now is the most opportune time to release this important film in order to maintain pressure on the relevant agencies to tackle this serious issue. The producers, cast and a number of African media organisations are now coming together to create a campaign demanding improvements in air safety in Nigeria and hope that these actions in some small part will show support towards the families and friends of the victims and the nations of Nigeria and Ghana as they go through the pain of the healing process of these terrible national disasters. The film producers hope that Last Flight to Abuja will now be viewed as an advocacy tool to raise awareness of the need for increased aviation safety in Nigeria, and in Africa as a whole. Last Flight to Abuja is being released independently by The Nollywood Factory and Screen Nation Pictures with distribution consultancy and servicing by Talking Drum Entertainment and Evrit Distribution.

ODEON:

Greenwich: Fri - Mon (2 evening shows), Tue-Thu (1 show)

Lee Valley: Fri - Mon (2 evening shows), Tue-Thu (1 show)

Holloway: Fri - Mon (Main evening show)

Surrey Quays: Fri - Mon (Main evening show)

Streatham: Fri - Mon (Main evening show)

VUE: Croydon, Dagenham, Thurrock, Wood Green

CITY SCREENS: Hackney Picturehouse, Stratford Picturehouse, Ritzy Brixton

SHOWCASE Beckton (tbc) INDEPENDENT: Peckham Plex (tbc)

Preview screening for limited number of press; Please apply to the email below.

12pm, Mon 25th June, 20th Century Fox, 31-32 Soho Square, London W1D 3AP