Filmmaker Leroy dies in Lagos-Ibadan road accident

Tragedy has hit the movie industry as a Nigeria-based Cameroonian filmmaker Edgard Leroy has died in auto accident on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The late filmmaker recently won the prestigious African Magic Viewer’s Choice Award as the Best Indigenous Movie in the Yoruba category for the production of ‘Alatise’

He was aged 26.

His colleague and a co-recipient of the award of the Best Indigenous Language Movie or Series (Yoruba) at the AMVCA, Demola Yusuf, confirmed that Leroy was involved in the accident on Saturday.

Yusuf said on his Facebook page that his friend was on his way to a movie location in Ibadan when the auto crash occurred.

He wrote, “It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved Director and co-producer @edgardleroy We lost him to a ghastly auto crash on the 11th of June along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“He was on his way to a movie location in Ibadan when the sad occurrence happened in Shagamu. Please join us in praying that God grants him one of the best spaces in heaven. His last wish would be for us to never stop giving our best, as he was a passionate creative. May God grant him eternal rest.”

The first of six children, Leroy was born in a small family based off the coastlines of the southwest region of Cameroon.

In an interview, the filmmaker made it known that as a child, he had always been passionate about anything within the media space. This passion soon blossomed into him starting off a career in journalism — on the radio at age 11, with the support of my parents.

Years later, he discovered the desire to tell stories through motion pictures; a passion that made him drop out of university to enrol in a film school.”