By Benjamin Njoku

Emotion ran high during the week, when the trailer of a movie for children with neuro developmental disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy among others was unveiled at the just concluded Nigeria Diaspora Investment summit, which was held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

Titled, “Not A Burden’, the trailer had over 2000 participants and eminent Nigerians in attendance, including the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima spellbound. For minutes, silence enveloped the venue of the summit as Ambassador Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, producer and director of the advocacy movie got everyone on their feet, shedding tears ceaselessly as the movie trailer was pitched in anticipation of raising awareness and possible sponsorship for the world premieres and screenings of the movie to target audiences.

An initiative of Royal School of Educational Therapy Foundation in collaboration with Lancelot Imasuen’s Media Network Limited, ‘Not a burden’ is another masterpiece from Africa’s most consistent filmmaker in his quest in continuing to give back to society. The movie elicited a lot of lessons and emotion. ‘Not a burden’ brought these children together and made them to tell their stories and indeed they featured in this film alongside notable Nollywood star actors including Ali Nuhu, Francis Duru, Empress Njama, Fiona Garba, Adaku Dike, Demola Ogunsi and several other actors. A compelling story of how society has neglected and reduced these children to a position of nothing, the film was able to prove that there’s something in everything even from those we considered as useless.

According to Lancelot, “The experience was massive. As far as I’m concerned, this remains one of the best films I’ve produced because of the circumstances that surround this production and the fact that it’s the kind of the movie that is going to open our eyes to the realities that these things we think do not count, do count and the people we think are nothing are much more than we can always imagine.”

“You will see how through this movie, people are going to realize that we have been unfair to them, underestimated them and that God doesn’t make mistakes. They may be challenged in one area or the other, but in several other areas they are much more than we can imagine. You are going to see these children metamorphose into different things in life. This movie remains an experience I will take to my grave and I feel very proud and humbled that I’m able to raise the team that produced the film.”

The Executive Producer, Princess Dr. Badewa T. Adejugbe-Williams, is an accomplished Educational Specialist, Educational Therapist, director, producer, actress and model.