The Supreme Price 

Sunday 14 June,   2pm to 5.30pm  

Phoenix Cinema, 52 High Road, London N2 9PJ

0208 444 6789. One min from East Finchley tube.

The legendary African Odysseys programme now in its eighth year @BFISouthbank  expands to North London with this fantastically empowering film about Black women, history and politics. 

African Cinema: Top Five Political Films - The Supreme Price...combines daring reporting with behind the scenes access and dramatic archive footage through some of the country's most unstable periods. A fascinating history lesson of a nation still struggling to emerge from military rule." - The Guardian

"...Nigeria's history is fleshed out in a new documentary called The Supreme Price. It's a fascinating history lesson about the country and gives a compelling account of how Moshood Abiola's senior wife, Kudirat Abiola, and their daughter, Hafsat Abiola, risked their live s to reinstate Abiola and fight for the pro-democracy movement in modern-day Nigeria." - The Root

The Supreme Price is a feature length documentary film that traces the evolution of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria and efforts to increase the participation of women in leadership roles. Following the annulment of her father's victory in Nigeria's Presidential Election and her mother's assassination by agents of the military dictatorship, Hafsat Abiola faces the challenge of transforming a corrupt culture of governance into a democracy capable of serving Nigeria's most marginalized population: women.

*WINNER: Gucci Tribeca Spotlighting Women Documentary Award

*WINNER: Best Documentary - Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF)

*SPECIAL MENTION - Luxor African Film Festival

"Taking a long historical view of a troubled country struggling to emerge from a military dictatorship is Joanna Lipper's documentary "The Supreme Price," about Nigeria's female-directed democracy movement. After a military coup in 1993, M. K.O Abiola, a pro-democracy leader who was considered the victor in aborted presidential elections that year but never took office, was imprisoned in 1994. Four years later he died under suspicious circumstances. After his imprisonment, his fearless, eloquent wife, Kudirat, took over the movement's leadership, but she was assassinated in 1996. The history is told through the eyes of their daughter Hafsat Abiola, a Harvard-educated crusader for human rights and democracy who now leads a movement to dismantle the country's patriarchal structure." - The New York Times

"I knew I had to honour my mother by being part of the pro-democracy movement. But I wanted to do more. So I founded Kudrat Intiative for Democracy.  We've been doing leadership training in order to achieve our objectives of increasing the proportion of women in government at the local government level and bringing women into the political pipeline in preparation for the 2015 elections" Hafsat Abiola

"Ms Lipper has used previously unseen archive footage to great effect with the story moving effortlessly between past and present, talking heads and footage from the campaign trail, personal moments and public opinions. There are moments of terrible sadness... But Ms Lipper just as deftly includes moments of surreal comic horror... The themes are heavy: murder and injustice, in a country ravaged by oil money and military rule. It hardly sounds like a recipe for an uplifting film, but Ms Lipper has been careful to ensure that the story is more about going forward than dwelling on the tragedy of the past... it is surely a good thing that a film like this now exists, touching on the issues the kidnappings brought to life and showing how important women are to a country like Nigeria and why it is in everyone's interest to listen to them." - The Economist

 "The Supreme Price may sound like a metaphorical title, but after seeing this strong, forthright documentary, you'll understand it's the literal truth." -Los Angeles Times

"Excellent... Lean, lucid... No hashtag activist, Lipper does an excellent job of using her film as a vehicle for the voices and concerns of Nigerians, and especially of Nigerian women, who are traditionally expected to stay at home while men operate in the public sphere." -Village Voice & LA Weekly Critics Pick

"In her latest film, Joanna Lipper dives into the crucial fight to educate women on a local and global scale.... Lipper presents a comprehensive look at a complex history and masterfully weaves an evocative story of politics, justice and women's rights that will undoubtedly resonate with viewers worldwide just as the April 2014 schoolgirls abduction has." - BET

"The Supreme Price is a deeply profound and beautiful experience, and an integral film to watch." - Indiewire

"A critically acclaimed new documentary, The Supreme Price, tells the story of the Abiola family, which battled for gender equality and democracy in a nation where both have been repressed for decades." -The Independent


The Huffington Post cites Joanna Lipper as one of the "finest and noblest" documentary filmmakers this year for her work on The Supreme Price. She "certainly succeeds with this one, catching a crucial moment in that explosive country where 200 girls have been lost, at best."

"Some of the best documentaries tell inspiring stories of people overcoming the unthinkable... With an uptick in kidnappings and killings, the situation in Nigeria is looking bleak. How exactly did the country get to such a state? Joanna Lipper's film looks at the pro-democracy movement in the corrupt African nation but also gives a helpful tutorial on Nigerian politics." - The Washington Post

 "The Supreme Price is one of ten films all human rights activists should see." - Huffington Post

Tickets £9.50 from  Phoenix cinema website please book in advance

How  Positive Black Films get Blocked, Messed up and Messed around

Cinemas said this poster was 'unsuitable' refused to display it or 'lost it' .

Mr Shabbbaz is an an award-winning filmmaker who was never privileged and patronised in the same way that white directors of less stature have been. Lovers  Rock is his first film for fifteen years. It was refused funding by all of the major arts and culture funding bodies who came up with a list of excuses ; not relevant, no market, too niche, not really history, etc etc. Mr Shabbaz and his team went to the community and repeatedly asked for investors. Despite getting full houses and rapturous applause at several preview screenings at the BFI and the Coronet, people were long on talk but short on pulling their pockets. Fifty thousand pounds was the amount in question. Mr Shabbaz persevered, completed the film despite several last minute obstacles and amazingly managed to secure a distribution deal which meant that a company would assist in placing the film in cinemas across the country. This in itself is unusual as many black films never get distributed and are shown once or twice if at all before disappearing. The result is that people never get to enjoy, learn or benefit from the those films and there is no box office results to prove such films sell. This then puts off distributors from distributing such films and producers/studios from making such films in the first place.

Mr Shabbaz and his team got the Story of Lovers Rock on a number of screens across the country. This is what happened next..

• Cinemas did not display the Lovers Rock poster in advance or on the day
• Cinemas did not have the film listed on their own website or on their printed programme
• Cinema staff did not know that the film was on in their cinema
• Cinemas did not include the film in their weekly  mail out to their regular customers 
• Cinemas did not play the trailer for Lovers Rock before the main feature in advance of the film opening as normally happens 
• Cinemas that were showing the film did not take delivery of the film or if the film failed to arrive at the stated time did not chase up the distributors they just cancelled the show even though  people had booked in advance to see it
• Cinemas agreed to one or two screenings at weird times like 1.30pm on a Monday

All of the above happened before and even after the screenings began to sell out.

Lovers Rock had been selling out 400 seat cinemas at 11.30pm 7.30pm on weekdays and weekends. Lovers Rock attendance and box office takings have beaten Hollywood blockbusters on at the same venue such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy. This is incredible as Tinker had heavy TV, Radio, billboard  and newspaper advertising whereas Lovers Rock has none of that. Lovers Rock  had people being turned away at the door and dancing in the aisles. Cinemas were approached to screen the film or extend the run. This is what happened next.. 

• Cinemas said no
• That they could'nt see the point
• That they were'nt sure if the film was 'right'
• That it was'nt worth the risk
• That they were'nt sure if there was any interest 
• That they could'nt put up posters as the directors name was spelt incorrectly
• That they might give it one more day maybe
• That they would definitely show it.. at 1.30pm on a Monday and Tuesday 

This is the treatment that a successful independent Black film that is making money is getting. Does this happen to Big Mommas House ? What is the problem ? Why would you refuse to screen a film that is making money ? Is it that the film shows Black people in an accurate and positive light ? Why would a film that is making money at 7.30pm on a Thursday be given a follow up  slot at 1.30pm on a Monday afternoon when most people are at work or school ?

Heroic Black Soldiers as shown in Miracle at Santa Anna were effectively banned from European cinemas.

Oprah Winfreys and Denzel Washingtons' Great Debaters, about black academic success, which made a profit of 15 million dollars in the USA was never even released here. Jumping the Broom an African American romantic comedy shows loving black families getting married. It made 31 million US dollars and got to number 3 in the US charts but was not  released in this country. Shirley Chisholm the amazing and inspirational story about the first black woman to run for President was never released here. Perhaps it was because these fims have an all black cast and the majority white population is not interested in seeing black people on the big screen. In which case how is it that 50 Cents Get Rich  or Die Trying got released nationwide ? It was the story of drug dealing/prostitute mum who gets murdered and her son and his drug dealing  criminal associates who get killed before he becomes a rapper.  Precious a film about a homeless, illiterate, overweight black teenager who is the victim of rape and pregnancy twice by her father and physical/emotional abuse by her mother; which has a scene where black  women are compared to dogs.. was on 447 screens across the country.

Black Academic excellence with Denzel Washington starring not wanted on UK cinema screens but Denzel Washington as drug dealing American Gangster was on hundreds of screens across the country and was on TV just last week