The Story of Belle

A beautiful young girl, who was loved and admired by everyone in the community, Belle. All her life she had live for her mother, who was selling her out for material things, she never spoke or talked to anyone about it until her friend found out and pleaded to help her out of the situation but in the course of doing so Belle never lived to see the end.

  • Johnpaul Ojobo
    Director
  • Raliat Salami
    Writer
  • Johnpaul Ojobo
    Producer
  • James Michael
    Producer
  • Haruna Abubakar
    Producer
  • Blessing Geria
    Key Cast
    "Belinda (Belle)"
  • Glory Heart
    Key Cast
    "Raliat Salami"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 24, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Nigeria
  • Country of Filming:
    Nigeria
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Youtube
    Distributor
    Country: Nigeria
    Rights: All Rights, Internet
Director Biography - Johnpaul Ojobo

Johnpaul Ojobo is a Nigerian graphics designer, aspiring filmmaker and visual communicator. Whose intent is to inspire young creatives like himself, and tell the true African story, from a place of strength.

Early life
Born and raised in Apo Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria on 12 November 1999. He is currently 20 years old. Johnpaul Ojobo is of Nsukka descent in Enugu state in the south-eastern part of Nigeria.

Johnpaul Ojobo started his journey into the media world as a young child, in his secondary school days, his curiosity to understand how the camera works and be able to communicate his thoughts visually in form of graphics design.

Career
Johnpaul started out professionally as a graphics designer in 2017 after completing his secondary education, where he then started a graphics design business named "Certified Graphics".

Johnpaul began to make a transition from being a graphics designer and motion graphics artist to being a producer and director and founded the company Rawwest Media in the year 2018. He started learning more about filmmaking online on YouTube and other platforms.

After months of successfully understanding the camera and how to visually communicate with motion pictures, Ojobo started, first as an editor and visual effects artist, and later produced and directed his first short film "The Story of Belle", which was produced on a zero budget with the little equipment that he could get.
He is set to change the narrative about Africa, and taking it to the next level, pushing Africa to the forefront of the next generation motion pictures.

Awards and nominations
Awards are yet to be won, but in just a matter of time his impact will be felt and he will become a pacesetter to his generation.

Filmography
The Story of Belle (December 2019)
Vendetta (Upcoming Project October 2020)

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Director Statement

At first, when I listened to the audio version of this story, I had nothing in mind but to tell it visually. I wanted to do a film so bad and show the world my skills, and this story was it for me.

Gender abuse and Suicide has become the order of the day, in this part of the world, and not just that, the people that are supposed to guide and protect us are the ones terrorizing us.
It is so sad for me because I have friends who had similar experience with the character Bellinda while growing up, and for their sake and for the whole world to understand the depth of this and for the victims to know they are not alone, that there are people out there who would care and help make their life worth living again.

For these reasons I told the story of Belle and hope to do more amazing and life-changing films like this in the future.

Thank you.