Category Entertainment News

Award-winning Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan has entered a major international partnership with the Benin Republic government, signing a landmark Memorandum of Understanding.

The agreement with the Société de Productions Audiovisuelles (SOPA) was signed on Thursday in Lagos, positioning Afolayan and Kunle Afolayan Productions as strategic partners in Benin’s efforts to develop a globally competitive film ecosystem.

Central to the partnership is the planned co-production of a large-scale Orisha/Vodun-themed television series.

The project will merge Nigerian and Beninese cultural narratives, drawing from shared spiritual traditions to create a story designed for international audiences.

Producers say the series will employ advanced production techniques, including the innovative use of artificial intelligence for pre-visualisation, virtual environments, visual effects, and story development.

The collaboration highlights Afolayan’s expanding influence beyond Nigeria, building on the global reception of projects such as Aníkúlápó.

Kunle Afolayan

Born in 1974, Afolayan is widely credited with elevating production standards in Nollywood through technically refined and culturally grounded storytelling.

He is the son of late filmmaker Adeyemi Josiah Afolayan, also known as Ade Love, and studied Economics at the University of Lagos before obtaining a diploma in digital filmmaking from the New York Film Academy.

READ ALSO: Acting Was My Calling, Not Just Family Legacy – Gabriel Afolayan

In recent years, the filmmaker has expanded his creative reach with projects distributed on Netflix and films such as Recall.

His extended creative enterprise, KAP Group, oversees key industry infrastructure, including the KAP Film & Television Academy and the KAP Film Village & Resort, both designed to train talent and support large-scale productions.

Afolayan is also recognised as a leading figure of the “New Nollywood” movement, noted for high-budget films that prioritise strong narratives and technical excellence.

His breakthrough feature, The Figurine (Araromire), is widely regarded as a landmark production and won multiple honours, including Best Picture at the Africa Movie Academy Awards.

He later achieved commercial and global success with October 1, a historical psychological thriller that performed strongly at the box office and received major award nominations.



Other notable titles in his filmography include the romantic comedy Phone Swap, the socially conscious drama Citation, and the coming-of-age story Mokalik, all of which elevated his reputation for harmonising entertainment with social commentary.

Warner Bros. Discovery said Tuesday it is reopened talks with Paramount Skydance on its buyout offer, giving the company a week to beat out a rival Netflix bid.

These discussions scheduled to end February 23 are designed to give Paramount Skydance a chance to make its “best and final offer,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement that stressed it prefers the Netflix merger offer and has scheduled a special shareholders meeting to vote on it on March 20.

Television and film titan WBD, which owns CNN, put out word in late October that it was open to acquisition offers.

READ ALSO: Again, Warner Bros Rejects Paramount Takeover Bid, Backs Netflix Deal

WBD’s board subsequently accepted an offer from Netflix to buy only its streaming and studio business.

Paramount Skydance is seeking to buy all of WBD for $108 billion. Netflix is offering $83 billion for its more limited merger.

The Netflix offer does not include buying WBD television properties such as CNN and Discovery. These would belong to a newly created and publicly traded company called Global Networks if the deal is sealed.

Paramount Skydance accuses the WBD board of failing to present shareholders with details needed to properly compare its offer to the Netflix bid.

During the talks that opened Tuesday WBD said it will discuss “deficiencies that remain unresolved and clarify certain terms of PSKY’s proposed merger agreement.”

His death Sunday was confirmed by his wife Luciana Duvall.

“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home,” she wrote.

Blunt-talking, prolific and glitz-averse, Duvall won an Oscar for best actor and was nominated six other times. Over his six decades-long career, he shone in both lead and supporting roles, and eventually became a director.

“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall said. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court.”

Duvall won his Academy Award in 1983 for playing a washed-up country singer in “Tender Mercies.”

READ ALSO: Trump Announces 100% Tariff Threat On Movies Made Outside US

But his most memorable characters also included the soft-spoken, loyal mob consigliere Tom Hagen in the first two installments of “The Godfather” and the maniacal Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now.”

The latter, which earned Duvall an Oscar nomination and made him a bona fide star after years playing lesser roles, sees him utter what is now one of cinema’s most famous lines.

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” his war-loving character — bare chested, cocky and sporting a big black cowboy hat — muses as low-flying US warplanes bomb a beachfront tree line where he wants to go surfing.

That character was originally created to be even more over the top — his name was at first supposed to be Colonel Carnage — but Duvall had it toned down, demonstrating his meticulous approach to acting.

“I did my homework,” Duvall told veteran talk show host Larry King in 2015. “I did my research.”

Duvall was sort of a late bloomer in Hollywood — he was already 31 when he delivered his breakout performance as the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in the 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

He would go on to play myriad roles — a bullying corporate executive in “Network” (1976), a Marine officer who treats his family like soldiers in “The Great Santini” (1979), and then his star turn in “Tender Mercies.”

Duvall often said his favorite role, however, was one he played in a 1989 TV mini-series — the grizzled, wise-cracking Texas Ranger-turned-cowboy Augustus McCrae in “Lonesome Dove,” based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.

Austrian prosecutors have filed terror charges against a 21-year-old over a plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, they said on Monday, which had led the US megastar’s shows in 2024 in the Alpine nation to be scrapped.

Three dates in Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour were cancelled in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the plot.

The main suspect, who has been in detention since his arrest in August 2024, is facing terror offenses and other charges, prosecutors said.

The Austrian is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from May 2023 “by planning and preparing a terrorist attack on the concert of singer Taylor Swift,” they said in a statement.

By sharing IS propaganda through various messaging services and other offenses, he participated and “openly aligned himself” with IS, they added.

READ ALSO: Taylor Swift Breaks Down In Eras Documentary Over Southport Attack

Planning the attack on the concert, he allegedly tried to get weapons and worked on making a shrapnel bomb “specific to IS attacks” and received instructions from other IS members on handling explosives, according to prosecutors.

He is also alleged to have been involved in other attack plans abroad, including in Dubai and Istanbul, though those attacks never materialised.

If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert.

The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

The plot was thwarted with the help of US intelligence.

Period drama “Train Dreams” took home the Spirit Awards win for best feature on Sunday, as both it and “The Secret Agent” gathered momentum ahead of the Academy Awards.

“The Secret Agent” notched best international film as its team hopes to win in the same category at the Oscars next month.

The annual Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony only celebrates movies made for less than $30 million.

“Train Dreams,” director Clint Bentley’s adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella, follows a railroad worker and the transformation of the American Northwest across the 20th century.

The film won three of its four categories, also grabbing wins for best director and best cinematography. The movie’s lead, Joel Edgerton, however, did not take home best actor, which went to Rose Byrne for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

“Train Dreams” producer Teddy Schwarzman told AFP the film “is a singular journey, but it hopefully helps bring people together to understand all that life entails: love, friendship, loss, grief, healing and hope.”

“Train Dreams” will compete for best picture at the Oscars, among other honours.

After “The Secret Agent” nabbed best international film, director Kleber Mendonca Filho hailed the win as one that hopefully “gives more visibility to Brazilian cinema.”

The film follows a former academic pursued by hitmen amid the political turmoil of Brazil under military rule.

It prevailed Sunday over contenders including rave-themed road trip movie “Sirat,” which will compete alongside “The Secret Agent” for best international feature film at the Oscars, capping Hollywood’s awards season.

“The Secret Agent” will also be up for best picture, best actor and best casting.

Brazil’s “I’m Still Here” won best international feature at the Oscars last year.

Other Spirit winners on Sunday included “Lurker,” for best first screenplay and best first feature film.

“Sorry, Honey” nabbed best screenplay and “The Perfect Neighbor” scored best documentary.

Nigerian singer Joeboy has said the Afrobeats genre is experiencing what he described as a “purge,” noting that the sound is moving away from what he termed “gimmicking “and returning to its essence.

The singer made the remarks midway through his performance at his sold-out Valentine’s Day concert in Lagos, where he told fans that the genre is shifting back to “real music.”

“Afrobeats right now is going through a purge. We are getting back to the times where real music is going to stay – no more gimmicking and all of that.

“I can feel it already, and I am happy that we are getting back to those zones where the music speaks. I thank God for that.”

“Afrobeats is going through a purge” — Joeboy speaks at his special Couples-only Valentine event ️ pic.twitter.com/MO95KN7WxX

Afrobeats, Through The Years 

The global rise of Afrobeats traces its lineage to the ‘Afrobeat’ movement pioneered by Fela Kuti, whose politically charged fusion of jazz and highlife laid the cultural foundation for today’s modern pop sound.

Over the years, the genre has evolved into a global export championed by acts such as D’banj, Timaya, Wizkid, Davido and Tiwa Savage.

READ ALSO: If Davido, Wizkid, Others Collaborated More, Afrobeats Would Be Bigger Today — Asa Asika

A newer generation, including Tems, Burna Boy, Rema, Asake and Ayra Starr has further expanded its reach under the “Afrobeats to the World” movement, earning international recognition and major award wins.

Despite its growth, debates persist over whether Afrobeats commands the same global dominance as genres such as pop, rap or Latin music, as well as concerns about limited collaborations among leading Nigerian stars.

At the start of the 2020s, Afrobeats saw significant experimentation, with many artistes blending the sound with South Africa’s amapiano as well as American hip-hop and R&B.

For example, stars like Davido and Wizkid have sampled the amapiano genre on some of their hit tracks.

While the fusion helped expand the genre’s global reach, some critics argued that excessive cross-genre influences diluted its original identity.

By 2024, however, several Nigerian artistes began steering back towards a more traditional Afrobeats sound, reducing the heavy amapiano influence that had dominated previous releases.

Grammys, African Sounds

The global conversation around African music began more when the Recording Academy introduced the ‘Best African Music Performance’ category to recognise the influence and sound.

It was further amplified at the 2026 Grammy Awards, where South African pop star Tyla won the Best African Music Performance prize with her song Push 2 Start.

The track, taken from her self-titled debut album Tyla, blends amapiano with pop, Afrobeats and R&B influences and has gained traction globally through streaming platforms and social media. Tems, however, won the 2025 edition.

Meanwhile, this year’s category saw top Nigerian acts dominate with several hits sound. Stars like Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Ayra Starr and Omah Lay were listed on the category.

The ceremony also honoured Fela Kuti posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award, which was widely celebrated.

In November 2025, veteran Nigerian rapper Ruggedman suggested the “Afrobeats” label itself could eventually fade, even as he acknowledged the strong global position of Nigerian music.