Quick Facts
Biography
Femi Odugbemi (born 1963) is a Nigerian documentary filmmaker, Screenwriter, cinematographer, director, producer and photographer.
Career
Odugbemi was born in Lagos State, south western Nigeria.
He attended Montana State University where he studied film and television production. After graduating, he worked briefly at the Nigeria Television Authority and later as film and radio producer at Lintas Advertising and McCann-Erickson.
He has scripted, directed and produced documentaries, short films and drama. He produced Tinsel, a Nigerian soap opera that began airing in August 2008 acclaimed "the most successful television drama on Nigerian television in recent times" in 2013. He has cemented his reputation as one of the top TV drama Producers in Africa with his year 2018 TV series BATTLEGROUND which drew massive viewership across the continent with over 400 episodes.
Odugbemi scripted, directed and produced Bariga Boys, a multiple award-winningNigeriandocumentary about street performers in Bariga, Lagos.
In 2013, he scripted, produced and directed a documentary titled, Literature, Language and Literalism about the late Nigerian writer, Daniel O. Fagunwa, the author of Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀.
In 2002, he became the President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria, a tenure that ended in 2006. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Media and Communications, Pan-African University, a postgraduate training university.
In 2008, he produced Abobaku, a short film directed by Niji Akanni. The film won the Most Outstanding Short Film at the Zuma Film Festival held in 2010 and Best Costume at the 6th Africa Movie Academy Awards as held on 10 April 2010 at the Gloryland Cultural Center in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
In March 2010 he Co-founded the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos which has pursued with vigour its theme of “Africa in self-conversation” by championing films and stories from Africa, about Africa and by Africans.
On June 26, 2018, he received a formal invitation to become a voting member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States.
The Nigeria Film Corporation in November 2018 also awarded Femi Odugbemi the prestigious ROCK OF FAME Lifetime Achievement award.