Bedford student takes the movie business by storm

A student from Bedford College is about to unveil his new production after making it through the ups and downs of the movie business - including Storm Dennis.

Matthew Jolaosho had travelled to Nigeria in February to make the full length film - Battle Within - focussing on mental health challenges faced by men, but his return to the UK was thwarted by the intense European windstorm which grounded flights.

The film is about how men hide their mental health challenges, a specialist subject for Matthew who counsels and cares for those with mental health and learning challenges within private and NHS settings.

Matthew, who is a 40-something Media Production student at Bedford College, said: “No sooner than I was back in the UK than Covid hit, which put all our plans out of sync.

“But, I had been lucky to get all the filming completed and post-production I will be considering our launch options with distributors.”

Matthew who lives with his family in Milton Keynes is Nigerian and British, has great hopes for the overseas market via Nollywood, as the Nigerian film industry is called.

He directed the film, it was produced by multiple-award winning Imoh Umoren who has credits with Netflix and Prime Videos, and the cast included: Nollywood Veteran actor Jide Kosoko, Joseph Momodu, Babaseun Faseru and Valerie Dish.

Matthew joined Bedford College’s South Bank Arts Centre to study Media Production, not just because he 'loves Bedford' and was a regular visitor to the town before signing on for a Foundation Course.

From September he goes on the top up year of his degree - and he has plans for two more films during that period, world crises permitting.

Matthew added: “Bedford College is good environment and I am looking forward to my final year in this lovely location.”

He also produces music videos, to find out more about Matthew's work visit: 27thgeneration.com.