Ferdinand Ekechukwu
It was the exclusive screening of Joseph Okechukwu’s comeback movie, ‘Properties of the Gods’, at The Jewel Aeida in Lekki, Lagos, last Tuesday and the filmmaker took the evening a notch up with the array of beautiful guests from across business, corporate, and entertainment spheres. The guests had looked forward to having a good time, with the film taking them on a historical journey.
But something was up Okechukwu’s sleeves, one that got audience interested. He had hinted about something important to say at the end of the screening. Naturally, it aroused anticipation as he made it a highpoint of the evening. Not long after the credits roll, Okechukwu walked up the stage, welcomed with a rousing applause and compliments to the delight of his family, friends and colleagues.
Immediately acknowledging the cast and crew, including Enyinna Nwigwe, and reality TV star, Maria Chike, Okechukwu delivered his “big announcement”. He has suspended the planned premiere of the feature film, just so to dearly honour deceased cast members who contributed to the making of the project, including late Nigerian music icon Onyeka Onwenu, recognizing the presence of Onwenu’s son.
The well-researched historical drama which opens in cinemas on September 4, 2026, is distributed nationwide by Nile Entertainment. A decision that gladdens his heart, rather than a traditional red-carpet premiere, the production will take ‘Properties of the Gods’ to the palaces of different Igbo traditional rulers, with separate screenings planned across multiple states.
Beaming with smile, Okechukwu, during the private screening of the film revealed that the film will not have a conventional premiere, with the budget allocated for the event instead being redirected as support for the families of the late cast members Cynthia Okereke and Onwenu and the ongoing recovery of another veteran actor Zack Orji who recently underwent brain surgery twice. .
A welcome development, premieres could be way too expensive especially for movies that end up not doing so well in cinema. He said it would be morally inappropriate to organise a major celebratory premiere while some members of the cast and their families were grieving. “Two artists who featured in this movie are dead, and one more is still recuperating from double brain surgery,” Okechukwu said.
He explained that the planned grand premiere “would instead be replaced with a series of activities, including visits to traditional rulers in the South-East and condolence visits to the families of the deceased artists. According to him, the project will be dedicated to Onwenu, with September 4, the movie’s scheduled release date, designated as “Onyeka Onwenu Day.”
He said the activities would culminate in a night of tributes in honour of the late singer and actress on September 3. Okechukwu said ‘Properties of the Gods’ was inspired by his longstanding campaign against the Osu caste system in Igboland, which he described as a divisive practice that has subjected generations of people to discrimination and stigma.
He recalled that his activism culminated in an abolition exercise at the Agukwu Nri Palace in Anambra State in 2018, after which, according to him, more than 75 communities began taking steps to abolish the practice.