[Lauchenoiria]

Film Title: Margrethe and Olufemi
Nominating Nation: Zongongia

Nomination Category/Categories: Best Film, Best Lead Actor, Best Musical Score, Best Costume Design
Language: Mixed (Zongongian, Teyèan, English, Spanish, French, Mandarin)
Run Time: 129 mins
Director: Christina Ström
Producing Studio/Company: Flying High Films

Cast:
Lottie Vestergaard as Princess Margrethe/Margaret Robinson
Mawuli Abiodun as Olufemi Robinson (Best Lead Actor nominee)
Göstav Andersson as King Aleksander II
Agnethe Adamsen as Queen Beatrice
Birte Ness as Baby Margrethe
Embla Strand as Child Margrethe
Abidemi Kayode as Baby Olufemi
Olusegun Okorie as Child Olufemi
Kehinde Botha as Mosi Robinson
Thandeka Okafor as Nkiru Robinson
Kagiso Ihejirika as Priest
Malaika Abioye as Baby Dorothy
Kristiina Nørup as Edith Hart

Brief Summary:
Margrethe and Olufemi follows the love story of the former Zongongian princess, and later founder of Kerlile Princess Margrethe (Lottie Vestergaard); and Teyèan immigrant Olufemi Robinson (Mawuli Abiodun). The film covers the pair from birth until the founding of Kerlile, giving a Zongongian perspective to the life of one of the early 20th centuries most controversial female figures and her husband. The film starts in 1887 with the birth of Margrethe to Queen Beatrice (Agnethe Adamsen) on a stormy evening with the newly-installed electricity failing. The baby is born as a window flies open in the wind, blowing out candles as the flickering electric lights go out too, leaving the room in darkness until a servant closes the window and lights a candle. Ominous music plays. We also see the birth of Olufemi Robinson in Teyè.

The film quickly passes through Margrethe’s and Olufemi’s childhoods until Margrethe reaches the age of 20 where she bumps into Olufemi at the university where she is studying Zongongist religious texts. Olufemi is a Teyèan student who talks to Margrethe like a human being rather than a princess (overly deferential while still being misogynistically patronising). The two begin to meet up and fall in love. The King (Göstav Andersson) and Queen find out and forbid Margrethe from having anything to do with him. Despite this, Margrethe sneaks out and marries Olufemi in secret in a town with an ethnic Teyèan priest (Kagiso Ihejirika).

When the King and Queen find out, they disown Margrethe and send her and her new husband into exile, threatening that if either returns to Zongongia they will be killed. The couple moves to South Fleura and then onto Laeral, where the former Princess, now going by Margaret Robinson, begins to attend feminist conferences. She gives birth to a daughter, Dorothy (Malaika Abioye), after which Olufemi passes away. As a foreign widow, Margaret is now subjected to many rude comments from passing men, and becomes more and more radicalised at the feminist conferences. The film ends with attendees of the International Women’s Congress discussing a “thought experiment” about the creation of a feminist state led by Edith Hart (Kristiina Nørup).

What makes this film special? Why was it nominated for these categories?
While the life of Margaret Robinson has been covered from a Kerlian perspective many times, the early days and the marriage to Olufemi have been neglected. This film focuses more strongly on the racial discrimination elements of the relationship and the factors which led Princess Margrethe to become Margaret Robinson in the first place.

The film is entered into Best Musical Score due to the variety and strength of emotion in the music; including clear evocations of place and inclusion of different musical cultures in a film set in numerous countries and containing scenes in six languages. The multicultural elements were also well-represented and evoked in the costume design, hence the nomination for that category.

Additional Info:
All Teyèan characters were played by Teyèan actors.