The acclaimed film-maker and producer of popular movies and soap operas that include ‘Violated’, ‘Checkmate’ and ‘Fuji House of Commotion’ Amaka Igwe died in Enugu, Enugu State on Monday following an asthma attack.
Family sources said that the 51 year old prolific film-maker and her husband/business partner, Charles Igwe, were on a pre-production trip to the Coal City preparing for the production of a new Igbo soap when she had the attack.
Although she was said to have been rushed to the hospital when the incident happened, she eventually breathed her last at the clinic, thus throwing many of her associates and fans into grief.
A stickler for professionalism and mentor of several successful actors, Igwe is survived by her husband of 21 years, three children, an aged mother, siblings and a large extended family.
Meanwhile, tributes have continued to pour in for the producer, who was also the founder of BoBTV Expo,Top Radio 90.9FM, Amaka Igwe Studios, and the newly-inaugurated Q Entertainment Networks.
A former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, described her as the jewel of Nollywood, noting in a statement by his media office in Abuja that she had begun to make impact as far back as 1988, when her ‘Decrees of Fate’ won four awards at the National Festival of Television Programmes.
Founder of the African Movie Academy Awards, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, said the news of the death threw her off mental balance, saying the motion picture industry in Nigeria and Africa would sorely miss the ‘revolutionary’ who raised the bar of professionalism and artistic excellence early in Nollywood when it was not fashionable.
Anyiam-Osigwe said, “Amaka Igwe gave herself and applied herself to producing films and soaps that are pacesetters. She was a creative entrepreneur of outstanding qualities who came, saw and conquered in her 51 years of existence on earth.”
Similarly, the President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima; Nollywood stars such as Segun Arinze, Fidelis Duiker and Don Pedro, stressed that Igwe was one of the practitioners that gave the country’s contemporary film industry the respect it has globally.
Also reacting to news of the passage, producers of AfricaMagic said she was an iconic film and TV producer.
It noted in a statement that as a tribute to her, it would soon begin a special screening of her works.
The statement added, “The African creative arts industry has lost an admired and respected leader whose vast knowledge, proven business acumen and boundless imagination made an immeasurable contribution to the development and success of our community.”
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