Ekene Som Mekwunye
Ekene Som Mekwunye is a Filmmaker but also with interest in TV production and Photography. His film titled LASGIDI VICE was selected to feature at the biggest film festival in the world, Cannes International Film Festival in May 2018. His short film titled OBLIVIOUS won at Africa’s biggest film awards, The African Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA 2015) for the best short film and screened for days at the Metro in New York in April 2018. His film THE ENCOUNTER, which is set during the Biafran war on an encounter with Gen. Ojukwu, also won best Jury selected film at the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in November 2015 and AMVCA earlier 2017 as well as got a review on the Newsweek magazine in Europe. He also produced a feature film late 2016 titled SYLVIA (official selection, Nollywood Week Paris 2018) and Directed the feature film in May 2017 titled 'LIGHT IN THE DARK' which starred Rita Dominic, Joke Silva, Saidi Balogun, Ngozi Nwosu, Kiki Omeli, Kalu Ikeagwu etc. He has worked for Mnet (producer, 53Extra and Jara) and MTV (Project Coordinator, Shuga 3) in the past before starting Riverside Productions (www. riversideproductions.net), which is responsible for creating shows like My Big Nigerian Wedding which is presently one of the biggest wedding TV show in Africa and has the rights to biggest Disk Jockey competition in the World, DMC world DJ championship. He recently started a free training workshop called The Imagery Program that teaches young people the art of screenwriting, acting and filmmaking from the best filmmakers in Africa. He was also a member of a 6 week internship program organized by the Centre for Global Enterprise in New York, with a 21 man multicultural team selected from over 400 applicants to develop a framework for the business expansion of a Tanzania based technology company to new markets across Africa and the rest of the world. As well as a member of the inaugural African Platform Management, Strategy & Innovation course organized by the Center for Global Enterprise. He has a degree in Insurance from the University of Lagos and also studied filmmaking at NYFA, Universal studios in Los Angeles. He is part of the Executive MBA program at the Lagos Business School and an adjunct faculty member at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos as well as a Mentor at the Fate Foundation Mentorship program.