Saturday 16 May 2015

OMONI OBOLI: SAY NO TO PIRACY

Omoni Oboli who recently escape an auto crash is so engrossed in fighting piracy,  she wrote: I AM  omoni Oboli and I represent Naija! We have a come a long way as a people, and my prayer is that our wholesome expectations would be realized as we chart a new course in our country’s history.

I have been traveling a lot of late and this is to prepare for my next movie. It excites me to know that I would be on set for another production which would bring delight to many when it’s done. I hope to always raise the bar on what I’m involved in, whether it is my production or on the set of another person’s production. We have come a long way as a nation who is recognized for their movie industry, and I am proud to be a part of it. We all have to play our part in its growth, and that is why we must insist on buying only legitimate copies of our movies whenever we have the urge to watch them, and the opportunity to buy them.

The issue of piracy is an old one, but everyone seems to be detached from their responsibility in feeding its growth, and that’s why we encourage it. At the same time many people ask me with genuine concern how we can tackle it. It starts with our collective effort to say NO to pirated copies. How can we do this, you might ask? The first step would be for us, the practitioners, to educate the public on what they should be looking out for when they see our movies on the streets so that pirated copies are not purchased for lack of being able to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

The next step is for our viewing audience to seek the right ones even if it means not watching them for a while until the genuine copies come out. I know how it feels to be tantalized with the trailers of good movies and to miss the opportunity to have watched them at the cinemas till the desire to watch the much talked about movies dulls the conscience of the would-be buyer into patronizing the pirates. I know the urge, but I have also walked away from buying those movies that I wanted so badly till I could get the genuine copies that would get back to the producers, who would then be enumerated better to produce more movies for my delight. It’s a cycle that has been broken by piracy, which diminishes the further production of better quality movies.

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