Chico Ejiro
The Nigeria movie industry lost an iconic filmmaker, Chico Ejiro in the early hours of Christmas.
The Punch highlights eight things to know about the popular movie maker.
1. – Nicknamed Mr Prolific, Chico Ejiro, was the younger brother of legendary filmmaker, Zeb Ejiro, who taught him the rudiments of the job.
2. – He attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he obtained a Diploma in Agriculture after two years, then moved to the Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike to complete his course in Agriculture.
3. – He owned a production company called Grand Touch Pictures and he directed over 80 movies within a five-year period — each one shot in as little as three days. It is often said that he held the record of the Nollywood director with the highest number of released movies.
4. – Born in Isoko, Delta, Nigeria, he was drawn into video production because Nigerians would not buy blank video cassettes. He became a director by accident. He developed an interest in being a director when he worked in NTA for a while.
5. – The most challenging movies he directed were Full Moon, Festival of Fire and Slave.
6. – During the production of Slave, was shot in the jungle of Abakaliki, he lost one of the actors.
7. – Most of his friends referred to him as the chairman of Arsenal football club because he was a die-hard fan.
8. – He was married to Joy Ejiro and had two children.