Black November

Black November: Struggle for the Niger Delta is a 2012 Nigerian-American action drama film starring an ensemble cast that includes Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Fred Amata, Sarah Wayne Callies, Nse Ikpe Etim, OC Ukeje, Vivica Fox, Anne Heche, Persia White, Akon, Wyclef Jean and Mbong Amata. It is directed and co-produced by Jeta Amata, and narrates the story of a Niger Delta community's struggle against their government and a multi-national oil corporation to save their environment which is being destroyed by excessive oil drilling. Black November, which derived its title from the month in which activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in 1995, is a reissued version of the 2011 film Black Gold. Approximately 60% of the scenes were reshot and additional scenes were added to make the film "more current". Black November is produced by Bernard Alexander, Ori Ayonmike, Marc Byers, Wilson Ebiye, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Dede Mabiaku; production and marketing costs of the film totalled at US$22 million, and was majorly funded by a Nigerian oil baron. The film, which is fiction based on actual events, premiered at the Kennedy Center on 8 May 2012, and was also screened on 26 September 2012, during the United Nations General Assembly; it was met with mixed to negative critical reviews. It, however, had significant impact after release; Amata and the film's associate producer, Lorenzo Omo-Aligbe, were invited to the White House regarding the film; Congressman Bobby Rush and his Republican colleague Jeff Fortenberry were also so affected by the film that they sponsored a joint resolution aimed at pressuring the Nigerian government and Western oil companies to clean up spills in the Niger Delta. Plot The film opens in a Warri prison in the Niger Delta where a noose is being set up to hang Ebiere (Mbong Amata). It switches to Los Angeles, California; Tom Hudson (Mickey Rourke), CEO of Western Oil is kidnapped on his way to the airport by a movement group tagged "United People's Front for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta People of Nigeria". The kidnap is carried out by Tamuno (Enyinna Nwigwe - the leader of the movement), Timi (Wyclef Jean), Opuwei (Akon), Timi (Razaaq Adoti) and Pere (Robert Peters) after orchestrating an accident near the second street tunnel. Also kidnapped is a reporter, Kristy (Kim Basinger), and her cameraman.