The movie titled “The Lifting” was written and directed by Ayodele who was born in Nigeria but has lived in the US for most of her life.
A movie by a Nigerian-American filmmaker and attorney, Elizabeth Ayodele has been nominated for Best USA Film at the upcoming Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival scheduled to hold from October 23 to 30 in Toronto, Canada.
The movie titled “The Lifting” was written and directed by Ayodele who was born in Nigeria but has lived in the US for most of her life.
In the movie which is a drama feature, Ayodele mirrored some personal and career challenges an important scientist, political officials, and a reporter faced during a pandemic. The film looked at chasing the cure during a pandemic crisis.
The movie which incorporates Christian values of praying and relating to scriptures in some of the characters’ approach to managing their challenges, also made an official selection at the International Christian Film and Music Festival in Orlando, Florida in 2021.
Ms. Ayodele has been writing and directing narrative films for the last eight years and her previous feature length drama Orange Sky Grace was also a selection and finalist in the Toronto international Nollywood Film Festival in 2019.
The film also garnered award status at several festivals including the Gold Reel Award at Nevada International Film Festival, Award for Outstanding Scriptwriting at the Davis Greater Bay Area Film Festival, and several other awards.
Ayodele, who is a 2001 graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, completed her law degree at Pepperdine University in California, and joined politics in 2022 where she became one of the Nigerian presidential aspirants for the 2023 general elections on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP), but failed to secure the ticket in the party’s primary election.
Narrating part of her experience in Nigeria and why she wanted to become the next Nigerian president, Ayodele said, “Politics in Nigeria gets a rap for being particularly corrupt. The politicians are known for not caring about the people they purport to serve and just looking out for their political clan.
“This is all true but is mainly because third world country politics are extra vulnerable to corruption because the electorate consists of several millions of people half or more of whom are too poor and uneducated to stand up for themselves and keep the political class accountable.
“I contested in the presidential primaries for the SDP party which is a party that has been in the Nigerian political system for a few decades.
“In my short period of involvement in this process I made sure to visit the most affected part of the country in terms of security challenges which is northern Nigeria. I was driven along the road from Abuja to Kaduna where bandits often stop vehicles and abduct or kill the motorists. I noticed how much of the problem could be mitigated with a few effective measures.
“For one, the major roads need to be paved well enough so that the vehicles are not having to slow down at damaged portions of the road making it easier for armed thieves and kidnappers to approach the vehicles. Also, some signposts and warnings might help to alert unsuspecting motorists that this is an area where they need to be on extra alert.”
“Will I contend for political office in Nigeria again? Probably. At what time? That is still left to be determined,” she said.