The press cycle for BB Sasore’s God Calling is in full swing. It went from Sasore announcing back in July that he was in need of a second unit director, to our report of The Royal Hibiscus Hotel star Zainab Balogun playing a lead role. In the just-released trailer, Balogun shines in her role as a drug addict, and as a mother in a married, Christian home. According to the sketchy plot details, she plays Sade who suffers personal tragedy and is taken on a personal journey of self-discovery and faith which transforms the lives of those around her.
The trailer opens with Balogun falling off a bridge and into a lagoon. For some reason, I held my breath, anxious. Subsequently, the underwater scene is shown again with Balogun plunging down and it looked sublime. It’s a beautiful shot. Also, a major takeaway from the trailer is Balogun being called by God through a smartphone, which she ignores and allows the phone’s screen to get smashed.
Asked about the inspiration of God Calling, Sasore responded, “As a filmmaker, I considered how the world is looking to our continent for original stories and how the Bible is filled with the most original stories that we each experience in our own way. It led me to think of how religion would adapt to time and geography, and thus is what birthed God Calling.
“I think our film industry has so much potential but lacks the infrastructure and resources to compete globally. I believe the faith-based genre could do for Nollywood what martial arts did for Oriental Asia, or romance did for India.”
God Calling stars Karibi Fubara, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Onyeka Onwenu, Nkem Owoh, Tina Mba, Patrick Diabuah, and Chidinma Okebalama. The movie hits select theatres December 21 and here’s the trailer below.
When Bernard Dayo isn’t writing about pop culture, he’s watching horror movies and reading comics and trying to pretend his addiction to Netflix isn’t a serious condition.
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