Mo Abudu, CEO of Nigeria’s EbonyLife Group, will be honoured with the Women in Series award at the Series Mania drama festival, which is being held in Lille, France, from March 18 to 25.
In collaboration with the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and advocacy group Pour Les Femmes Dans Les Médias, the prize is given to a remarkable woman from the audiovisual industry to honour her vision and leadership. The awards ceremony will take place on March 22.
Last year’s winner was Christina Sulebakk, general manager of HBO Max EMEA.
Announcing the award on Instagram, Abudu said: “I am deeply pleased to be fulfilling a dream where EbonyLife Studios is working with a variety of international partners in amplifying the awareness of the black experience in storytelling and bringing fresh new African stories to a world audience.
“I would really like to encourage our industry to make positive change with inclusive representation of women, African and black creative talent.”
Abudu started Ebonylife TV in 2006 and the network now airs in more than 49 countries across Africa, as well as in the UK and the Caribbean. She established EbonyLife Films in 2014 and her first film as an executive producer was Fifty. Teaming up with The Elfike Collective in 2016, she produced The Wedding Party and other films. She has also exec produced or coproduced movies including The Wedding Party 2, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Chief Daddy, Your Excellency and Òlòtūré.
Abudu has also formed partnerships with Sony Pictures Television to coproduce The Dahomey Warriors, a series about the Amazons who took on French colonialists in a 19th century West African kingdom; with AMC Networks to produce Nigeria 2099, a crime drama created by EbonyLife; with Netflix to create two original series as well as multiple Netflix-branded films; and with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios to produce a slate of film and TV projects connected to the African continent.
Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, said: “I am honoured to be making this wonderful announcement alongside the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and Pour Les Femmes Dans Les Médias. Mo Abudu is truly a remarkable leader and visionary and was the perfect choice for Series Mania and to complement the 2022 International Women’s Day campaign theme of #BreakTheBias.”
tagged in: EbonyLife Group, Mo Abudu, Series Mania