Meta-owned messaging app, Whatsapp has ventured into the world of entertainment as it is set to premiere an original short film ‘Naija Odyssey’ on YouTube and Amazon Prime Video on the 21st of September.
‘Naija Odyssey’ is a short film that features Greek-Nigerian professional basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo as he reconciles his roots, birthplace and two cross-cultural worlds.
The film also features his mother Veronica who narrates the different moments in her son’s life as a journey loosely based on the Greek epic poem ‘The Odyssey.’
“In Greece, my teachers told stories of travelers battling the sea, fighting to find their way home to find themselves. “I was on that same journey”, Antetokounmpo narrates in the trailer.
Speaking on the role WhatsApp plays in the short film, WhatsApp’s global head of marketing on the inspiration for the short film, Vivian Odior said ‘Naija Odyssey’ is a story that reinforces how WhatsApp helps us embrace our multifaceted lives.
“In navigating relationships, identity, and even adversity, WhatsApp is there, enabling you to embrace all sides of you by connecting you to those who matter most.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo signed an endorsement contract with the social messaging platform, he is the first brand ambassador of WhatsApp.
The short film ‘Naija Odyssey’ seems to be a strategic way Whatsapp seeks to not only promote its brand but also show the brand’s ethos of connecting people around the world.
Giannis has already taken to his social media accounts to post the trailer of the short film, as he is seen in places like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and several other places.
The tagline, “Across worlds, across cultures, across identities”, like the film tries to capture the duality of belonging to two different places, which tells the story of the basketball player.
‘Naija Odyssey’, was Directed by filmmakers, Nono Ayuso and Rodrigo Inad (2021 short film ‘Terra Cene’), edited by Mikkel E G Nielsen, who won the 2021 Oscar for film editing for Amazon Studios’ ‘Sound of Metal’.