Femi Odugbemi Invited To Join Voting Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

One of the most accomplished Nigerian filmmakers, Femi Odugbemi has been invited to become a Voting Member of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) of the United States of America.
Membership in the Academy is by invitation only. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors.

The Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, now officially known as "The Oscars".

In addition, the Academy holds the Governors Awards annually for lifetime achievement in film; presents Scientific and Technical Awards annually; gives Student Academy Awards annually to filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level; awards up to five Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting  annually; and operates the Margaret Herrick Library (at the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study) in Beverly Hills, California, and the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study  in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The Academy plans to open the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in 2019

In 2017, Femi Odugbemi was invited by the Illinois State University and Northwestern University, Chicago in a special focus on his films and the genre of Nollywood in the Nigerian film industry.

Femi Odugbemi, the Co-Founder/Executive Director iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival and Executive Producer of ZURI 24 MEDIA is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, photographer and a respected voice in the arts and culture circuits of Nigeria and around the world.

He is a graduate of Montana State University where he studied film and television production in the 1980s. Having completed his education in the university, he worked briefly as TV/film and radio producer at Lintas Advertising.
In 2002, he became the President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) until 2006. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Media and Communications, Pan-African University, a postgraduate training university.
He has been Head of Jury for the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (2012-2015), Head of the Jury of the Uganda Film Festival (2014-2016), Juror for the Emmy Awards in New York (2012 & 2016), and many others.

Odugbemi’s critically acclaimed film, "Bariga Boy" won the ‘Best Documentary’ prize at the 2010 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). He also received the 2010 Afro Pop Prize sponsored by the National Black Programming and Consortium in the United States and the Film Excellence award of the Society of the Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN) in 2014.
Other highlights of his career include "Bar Beach Blues" (Best Director, Zuma Film Festival 2006); "Mama Put" (Best Film, Abuja International Film Festival, 2009). His acclaimed documentaries include “Ibadan: Cradle of Literati “(2008); “Oriki “(2010); “And The Chain Was Not” (2011); "Fatai Rolling dollar: A legend Untold" (2014) and "D. O Fagunwa: Language, literature, and Literalism" (2015).
Femi was a founding Producer of "Tinsel", MNET Africa’s acclaimed soap opera and one of Africa’s longest- running TV shows.
He was President of the Independent Television Producers of Nigeria (ITPAN 2002-2006). .
Femi’s most recent works are the feature film “Gidi blues”, which has been touring festival circuits around the world, and the acclaimed “Makoko”, a documentary on the slum dwellers by the Lagos lagoon;
"Battleground"(TV drama, 2017); "The Eve"(Feature film, 2017) and "4th Estate"(Feature film, 2018).

Awards:
Fellow of Theatre Arts, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners(NANTAP) 2013 Excellence Award in Film by the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria(SPAN)