I recently had the pleasure of viewing a few films at the 52nd Annual International Film Festival this year. The first one was 93 Days, a Nigerian docudrama film directed and co-produced by Steve Gukas. It stars Bimbo Akintola,  Bimbo Manuel, Charles Okafor, Danny Glover, Gideon Okeke, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Somkhele Idhalama, Tim Reid, Sola Oyebade, Charles Etubiebi, and Seun Kentebewith. It’s a joint-production through Native FilmWorks, Michel Angelo Production and Bolanle Austen-Peters Production.

Steve Gukas & Danny Glover

The film 93 Days is based on the true story of men and women who risked their lives and made sacrifices to save the world from the consequences of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria.  It is a compelling drama of both sacrifice and courage.  It starts off when Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American ambassador collapses in a hospital in Lagos and gives little or no information to assist the team in his diagnosis and refuses early on to acknowledge he could possibly have the deadly Ebola disease. Suddenly, this staff is in a race against time to contain the deadly disease from breaking out and spreading in a mega city with a population of over 20 million people which would be the deadliest disease outbreak the world has ever known.

As the story goes on, we not only see the pain that the staff endures as they fight through this disease, but we also bear witness to their loved ones’ ordeal as they bid farewell not knowing whether or not they will survive. This film is definitely worth seeing.

Danny Glover accepting award

While at the US premier of this film, I was honored to see the Founder and Artistic Director Michael Kutza present Danny Glover with the Festival’s Visionary Award.  We were treated to a brief tribute showing all of Danny Glover’s film and production contributions.  It was great to be reminded of how much he has contributed to this field; and might I also add that Mr. Glover looks amazing to have just turned 70 earlier this summer!