Femi has brought to screen some of sun-Saharan Africa’s most successful television drama series.
He was founding Content producer of TINSEL in 2008. The soap-opera was Nigeria’s first studio multi camera daily series and also now one of the longest running ever with over 0ver 3,500 episodes and counting. He also produced the popular telenovella ‘BATTLEGROUND. Other popular drama series produced by ODUGBEMI include the crime series ‘BRETHREN,’ the migration story “MOVEMENT: JAPA.’, ‘THE EVE’ and his more recent work the political drama series “COVENANT.” He has also produced and directed feature films including MAROKO (2006), GIDI BLUES (2016), 4th ESTATE (2017) and CODE WILO (2018).
Femi Odugbemi is a renowned writer, filmmaker, television Producer and Founder/Executive Producer of Zuri24 Media, a content production company in Lagos. He studied film and television production at the Montana State University, Bozeman Montana, USA (Class of 1984) He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) and also a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) He is one of the few distinguished filmmakers in the continent who is elected to both the Film and TV international academies.
Femi is also leading voice in documentary films in Nigeria. He has written and produced many critically acclaimed documentary titles including ‘OUI VOODOO’ (2005), ‘IBADAN:Cradle of Literati’ (2006) ‘METAMOPHOSIS’ (2006), ‘ORIKI’ (2008) ‘BARIGA BOY’ (2009) ‘And the Chain was Not’ (2010) ‘FAGUNWA: Literature, Language and Literalism’(2013) ‘MAKOKO: Futures Afloat’, (2016) and the recent ‘UNMASKED: Leadership, Trust and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria’ (2021) .
He is a former President of the Independent Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), a Board member of the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) and a Fellow of Theatre Arts of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP).
He has also served as a five-time Head Judge of the prestigious Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCA), 3 times Head Jury of the Uganda Film Festival, Juror of the Johannesburg International Film Festival South Africa, and a Juror/Mentor of the NETFLIX/UNESCO African Folktales Reimagined project.
In 2010 Femi co-founded the iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival. It has attracted many global filmmakers and films to his home city Lagos. Screenings are held in several inner city suburbs and at the famous Freedom Park, a colonial prison converted to an art exhibition and performance space. The Festival has pursued with vigour its theme of “Africa in self-conversation” championing films and stories from Africa, about Africa and by Africans.
Deeply passionate about impacting the younger generation of African storytellers, Femi was the pioneer Academy Director of the Multichoice Talent Factory in West Africa (2018-2022) He currently facilitates trainings and film courses in for NYU Abi Dhabi and Pan-Atlantic University Lagos. In November 2013 Femi was honoured with the Excellence Award of the Society of the Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN) and in 2018 he received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award of the Nigeria Film Corporation.
