IMMORTALISING ADEYEMI AFOLAYAN (ADE LOVE) 20TH REMEMBRANCE ANNIVERSARY AS "ADE LOVE WEEK" BEGINS TODAY

The 20th remembrance ceremony of the filmmaker which held on December 15, 2016, at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, hosted distinguished guests, actors and industry practitioners including Afolabi Adesanya, Chioma Ude, Bolanle Austen-Peters, Dele Odule, Jide Kosoko, Yemi Sodimu, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Gbenga Adeyenki among others.


"Adelove film week! Kadara, Taxi driver 1&2 will be showing at National theatre, LTV 8 and Lagos airport hotel ikeja from 24th December till January 2nd 2017 and will show at Silverbird cinemas in lagos and Abuja,Genesis cinema in Palms and Maryland, Viva cinema in Ibadan and Ilorin from 29th December.

"Lets celebrating an icon and 4 decades of cinema in Nigeria. There will be 12noon, 3pm and 6pm showings daily. Gate fee: N1000," Kunle Afolayan, who took after his father in movie making announced.

Early Life
Born in Agbamu, Kwara State in 1940, the actor, dramatist, film director and producer obtained a Diploma in Secretarial Studies and Performing Arts from at the University of Ibadan. He was a force to reckon with among his contemporaries in the film industry, making newspaper headlines between 1976 and 1996 when he passed on. He is today, remembered for about eight films, some of them, classics, that earned him the celebrity toga. They include ‘Ajani Ogun’ (1976), ‘Ija Ominira’ (1978), ‘Taxi Driver’ (1983) ‘Eyin Oku’ (1992), ‘Kadara’ (1980).

Like King Sunny Ade (K.S.A), Ade Love had a stint with versatile entertainer, Moses Olaiya, during his early days as a stage performer.

A visionary entertainer, Ade Love first saw the opportunities in film making when he acted in Dr. Ola Balogun’s film, ‘Ajani Ogun’ in 1976, also featuring Duro Ladipo, as a lead actor. Two years after, he shot his first film, ‘Ija Ominira’, directed by Ola Balogun. Indeed, it was Ade Love’s incursion into filmmaking that inspired his former master, Baba Sala to up his act as a stage performer to a filmmaker.

Ade Love who started filmmaking before Hubert Ogunde and Baba Sala recorded the highest number of celluloid films in Yoruba. He was also the most travelled Yoruba filmmaker whose films represented Nigeria at major film festivals in the world.

A very busy filmmaker, Ade Love, at the peak of his career had embraced commercial film making and festival routing which kept him away from his family most of the times, traveling around Africa and beyond. Some of those festivals that featured his films include Rotterdam Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.

Apart from his great works, Ade Love’s legacy has also been kept aglow by some of his children who now embrace different genres of entertainment such as acting, music and film making. Among them is Kunle, an award-winning filmmaker, Gabriel, an actor and singer, Moji, a notable actress and Aremu, an actor and producer. The late Afolayan’s sister, Toyin has also been relevant on the scene.

Ade Love passed on December 30, 1996 as a Christian, after suffering stroke twice. He was 56.


FILMOGRAPHY

*Ajani Ogun (Ola Balogun)    -1976
*Ija Ominira                          -1978
*Kadara                                -1980
*Ija Orogun                           -
*Taxi Driver                          -1983
*Iya ni wura                          -
*Taxi Driver 2                       -1987
*Eyin Oku                             -1992