My top 5 actresses of 2016

I am writing this with a lot of excitement. I saw some great performances this year.

1. Ireti Doyle.  Her performance in The Arbitration totally wowed me. She took the film from one level to another. I'd actually never watched her before so this was a very beautiful experience for me.

2. Sola Sobowale.  You simply cannot buy experience. Sola embodies drama, her performance in The Wedding Party made me forget I was watching a movie. It felt like we were at a very exciting wedding. She was so natural and believable. 

3. Rita Dominic. Rita gave a brilliant and memorable performance in 76. I could absolutely feel her pain as a young soldier's wife and cried with her in some of the very emotional scenes. Rita, of course, never disappoints. 

4. Theresa Edem. A breath of fresh air. Theresa's performance in Ayamma stands her out from the crowd. She reminds me of Nse Ikpe Etim in a manner that I cannot explain, perhaps in her gait and class. 

5. Bimbo Ademoye. There are not many actresses that have comedic timing, Bimbo's is nearly perfect. But that's not where the story ends, Ademoye gave a good performance in the comedy series: Desperate Housegirls and an even better performance in the dark short film: Best served Cold. She is definitely one to look out for. 

                                                

Ansa, my answer.

I still think it’s a bad dream, only problem is I can’t seem to wake up from it.  It’s very hard for me to accept that Ansa is no more. We had so many plans for the future.

Only last Saturday, the sub lead in my script died, her friend spoke about her being a ray of sunshine and one of the best things that’s ever happened to her.  The next day my friend Ansa dies, she was a ray of sunshine and one of the best things in my life.  

No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t remember how and when I met Ansa, I know it was in the course of our work  but the details won’t come to me. Perhaps because it feels like I had always known her.  She was there with me from my very first film; Okon Lagos and this year we worked together for six weeks on the set of Losing Control while my sister was away on maternity leave. It’s the longest I’ve ever filmed and many times I wanted to quit. It was Ansa’s strength that kept me and many of the others going.

There are not enough attributes to describe my friend. She was the most efficient, most dedicated, most hard working person I know.  Ansa hardly stayed in camp except when we filmed out of town but she was almost always the first person to arrive on set. In my seven years of working with Ansa, she was never late for a day.  But what really drew me to her was her contentment.  A very rare trait these days, even amongst Christians.  Ansa was very content with what she had, happy, always had a smile and a kind word for everyone.

Ansa stood for justice, for fairness. She insisted on better wages for the crew, and ensured they were not taken advantage of. 

Everything is a reminder; I ‘m eating dodo and remember how much Ansa loved the meal. I’m drinking water and remember how we always shared a bottle of water on set.  These reminders bring tears but I know that with time, I’ll smile at the memories. I’ll smile because it was a rare privilege to have known someone like her.  The time was short, way too short but it was better to have had her with us even for the little time than not to have at all.

As a young Christian, one of my favourite Bible passages was Genesis 5:24 ;

“And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him”

 I found it fascinating. It’s my only consolation about Ansa. For Ansa walked with God, and God took her.

As we begin the rites for your passing, we say thank you for being such a wonderful person. We know you’re in the bosom of the Lord. And we want you to know that you’ll forever live in our hearts.

Sleep well Ansa Bassey Kpokpogiri.

Shut up and Shoot.

The first question I ask Niyi is about family, how he is able to combine work and family. He’s thrown aback, he wasn’t expecting this; it’s not a question people ask men. I’ve been asked the question many times so I’m taking out my revenge on him.  But Niyi is gracious enough to answer. He tells me he and his wife are best friends, and that takes away 95% of the problems.  His wife keeps the family together and ensures he doesn’t break down. In return, he gives her a lot of loving. 

Akinmolayan initially wanted to be an inventor; to solve problems. He studied engineering but says the experience was a disaster.  ‘I didn’t learn anything then one day, I accidentally discovered that one could use computers to tell stories by putting images together’. That was the turning point for Niyi, he fell in love. It might not be invention but he figured he could still solve problems by making films that would inspire people.  

Nollywood is often seen as a platform for moral standing,  people expect films to have a clear message, hopefully some that will correct societal ills. Akinmolayan says he’s not here to preach to anyone. He doubts that films can correct any ills but says it can definitely create awareness, enable discussions and possibly influence culture.  ‘Some of our exaggerated mannerisms, we inherited from watching lots of Nollywood films over the years’ he explains.  ‘Films can create a sense of collective culture. Most people think once there’s crime in the United States of America, that the cops show up, they also think America will leave 99 sheep in search of the one lost one.  Almost all their films have the American flag swinging proudly. I personally think all Chinese people can fight’. For these reasons, he believes film can create an abstract representation of a people.

Akinmolayan’s films often break genre barriers; his movie can start out as drama, get comedic and end up dark.  Niyi explains that he doesn’t see genres; he just sees a means to tell a story. He is more interested in the essence of storytelling and advises young filmmakers ‘to inject the Nigerian essence into every story irrespective of genre.’  Being a bit of a trouble maker, he gets excited about scripts that have the potential to start discussions however controversial.  ‘If a film is about an answer that starts a new question, I’ll do it.’ Niyi adds.  This is why he directed The Arbitration and Falling, for the questions they raised.

This young filmmaker is particularly interested in training. He wants Nollywood to be a world player not a small circle where only a few people stand out.  ‘There’s no inspiration to be better if I know there’s little or no competition, but if I know I’m competing against 20 equally good  films, I have no choice but to rethink how I approach my work from the filming to the distribution.’  Niyi wants to share his knowledge and discovery with others in order to create something big. He wants an industry, not a bunch of popular filmmakers. ‘Imagine if Tim Berners –Lee had kept the internet to himself, many of us won’t even be able to make films as a some of us are self taught from YouTube videos’ he concludes.

Akinmolayan is also interested in Animation. His first film Kajola was quite popular albeit for the wrong reasons.  But this didn’t deter him, Niyi has heavily invested in an animated series, despite the lack of resources for animation in Nigeria but he’s determined to make it work, if only for the sake of Nigerian kids whom he says hardly have any Nigerian content to watch these days.  

The Arbitration is currently showing in cinemas and enjoying rave reviews. It is the director’s favourite out of all his works because it was the most challenging film for him. He needed to take a story very heavy on dialogue and turn it to something everyone would love and not be bored after the first twenty minutes.  And it worked.  ‘I’m very happy people love the film; it’s been a humbling experience’, he tells me.

Akinmolayan attributes his success to collaboration. ‘It’s the big difference between my first film and the ones I’m making now’. Niyi adds that he’s learnt to collaborate better with industry people, from writers to producers to distributors.  He advises people to open up and allow other people bring in their ideas into their work.  He believes this is what made his last three films successes.  

It is no surprise what Niyi’s advice to young filmmakers is; ‘ SHUT UP AND SHOOT’

The journey to prosperity.

I used to love writing. Now it's a struggle. Is this a sign that I will soon be a gbogbo bigz girlz? I hope so.

Have you people watched the Arbitration? A few weeks ago, I spoke about Nollywood taking over in cinemas as Nigerian music has in clubs and elsewhere. I mentioned The Arbitration as one of the films that will perform well, I wasn't wrong. It's enjoyed a sold out opening weekend. Hopefully I'm not wrong on all the others because the success of one Nollywood film, increases the chances of success for the next Nollywood film.

The cinema people, they do plenty shakara for us. Your film didn't have enough stars, it doesn't seem commercial enough etc. With little or no bargaining power, there's not much we can do. We're all in business to make money, filmmakers and producers alike. When Nollywood begins to outperform Hollywood in the cinemas, the conversation will automatically change. This won't happen by one film out a 100 films grossing 100 million but by several grossing at least 30 million. The bigger the pie, the bigger the slice we'll all get.  

This is something that I doubt many Nigerians understand. The more popular attitude is to desire to be the one and only. Everyone wants their film to be the number one grossing film. Nothing wrong with a little competition but the industry will grow bigger and faster if we competed as a group against Hollywood and Bollywood and not against one another. 

Niyi Akinmolayan is one of the people who understands this. He's just completed a workshop fully funded by him. His intention and ambition is to spread knowledge, to raise a new generation of filmmakers who'll make better films than him. 

Last year, we partnered on a workshop, The Afriville Empowerment Workshop, he bore most of the expenses. 

On Friday, I'll be interviewing him in an attempt to get into his head to understand what makes him different and what makes him tick. 

In the meantime, go watch The Arbitration, you'll like it. 

To Tithe Or Not To, This Is Not The Question.

And just like that, my blog has lost direction. I started out writing about film, then careers. Then I ventured into politics which I had specifically said I won’t. Now, guess what, I’m about to talk about tithing.

Tithing, like women doing dishes and Nigerian men cheating on their wives is a common topic on twitter.  Yesterday it reared its head again. Someone said instead of giving your ten percent in church, you should give it to children hawking on the streets.

Nigerians are very interesting.  We like to tell people what to do, with their time, money and even hearts. 

I personally do not give to children on the streets, if anything I’d like to follow them to their homes and sue their parents to court. I consider child labour inexcusable particularly when there are so many risked involved. So why you’d ask me to encourage it, I don’t know.

If a non believer says you should not tithe, I can understand it, I’d still wonder what’s their business and probably roll my eyes but when a Christian who goes to church, sits on a bench paid for by the tither, enjoys the electricity paid for the tither, then you decide no one should give money to the church, next time go with your own chair and probably sit outside.

It’d be nice if the church can run on water but it can’t.  Members of the church give to the church so it can run. If your church isn’t well run and your pastor uses the congregation’s money to tour the world in his jet, that’s your fault, and your pastor’s, no need to rope in the whole Kingdom of God. 

Members should hold their pastors responsible for their actions or inactions.

They are very many churches catering to the needs of the needy and destitute in the society.  I doubt there’s any church that doesn’t have a charity department where the poor, widows, the sick are taken care of. Many churches are involved in rehabilitation of drug addicts and area boys.  Some churches provide shelters for the abused.  These things cost money. There’s a limit to what we can individually do but as a group the church is able to achieve a lot more.

How about the things money cannot buy?  Do you know how many naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals that Pastors preside over? How’ll they be able to do this if they weren’t on a salary paid for by tithers and offering givers? A friend of mine had an accident in the States. She has few friends and no family there. It’s the church that provided the care and support till she healed.

Yes, the church should do more.  Christians should do more but to insinuate that all the church uses tithes and offerings for is private jets is to be ridiculous. 

The Rise And Rise Of Nollywood

Catch me If you can. This is probably how Nollywood feels.  Like, hi  there, think you can catch me? People have tried to gag it, tried to understand it, tried to bury it but the industry only seems to be soaring higher. I can almost see her making a face with her tongue out. 

Since Ay’s record breaking film; 30 days in Atlanta, Nollywood has seen a steady increase in sales at the cinemas.  This year promises to be even better with Omoni Oboli’s Wives on Strike already taking the lead position at over 60million naira box office. 

With the number of big names coming at the second quarter of the year, one can comfortably say that the tide is really about to change. 

Could this be the change Nigerians were expecting? Wink wink.

The CEO has already enjoyed a good opening week and if the ensuing word of mouth is good,  he’ll be home free.

Then there’s  93 days. 

Meet The In-laws

The Arbitration

Ayamma

Okafor’s Law

 A Trip To Jamiaca

Lions Of 76

The Wedding Party

About a  week ago, I tweeted that I look forward to a time when Nollywood will bring in more numbers than Hollywood in Nigerian cinemas. Some people agreed to keep the hope citing the music industry as an example. Others mocked me.  Time will tell I guess. 

PS.

Did you people think that I will not mention my own film? Duh. Lost In London might just break the record. Who knows?

Nigeria, Is that you?

There are many things I don’t do.  Using the F word is one of them but FUCK you Nigeria, FUCK YOU VERY MUCH!

I have watched with horror as a young girl is paraded by the Government. A young girl who was abducted, held hostage for two years (under heaven knows what kind of circumstances) is rescued or released with a baby and our first reaction is to parade her as a prize.  What happened to privacy, what happened to giving her time to heal? Do we care about this girl at all or just about scoring points?

Towards the end of the former president’s tenure, there had been reports about the Nigerian army rescuing hundreds of girls from different camps. I’ll confess that I wondered if this was true, or if it was exaggerated to score political points but I have recently, in the course of my work had to visit some IDP camps in Abuja.  The first thing I noticed was the absence of young women.  When I asked, they said most of them were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Apparently the terrorist group hardly if ever kills women, they ‘marry’ them instead.  In one of the camps, there were 697 young men to 26 young women. Yes, you read right. 26! Most of the girls were said to be in BH captivity. Reports say that about 2000 girls were abducted by the terrorist group, this figure may actually be under-reported.

One of the young women who spoke to us said she was pregnant when they raided her village so she was relatively safe. Her husband hid in the roof for days before he got a chance to escape but when she had her baby, they told her they were coming to marry her so she also had to escape with her few days old baby.  Another told us she’d been abducted but escaped after months but not before she was impregnated.

We heard horror story upon horror story. No family we met was complete, there was always a brother or a sister or a mother they had no idea of their whereabouts.  They have no Government support. There have been many visitors and pledges but as with many things Nigerian, that is where it ends.  They live on charity. Only able to feed when a Good Samaritan drops by.  This is Abuja , the seat of power is in Abuja, the big men are in Abuja yet people who through their own strong will and luck managed to cheat death are being ignored by the Government.  Able bodied men sit around playing cards all day, mothers go into labour unsupervised, there’s a health center not far off that charges NGN6,500 for delivery but most of them cannot afford the cab fare to the center how much more the delivery charge so they do it on their own. Those who survive, survive and those who die, die.

But this Government wants me to pat her on the back for rescuing one girl and parading her to the world.  Hey look, America , we did it. What makes her different? What about the many girls who escaped or who were previously rescued and have been completely abandoned; homeless and destitute, some of them with babies to feed.

To borrow a line from Sprite, Image isn’t everything. Conscience is. The IDP camps are in terrible conditions. The people have little or no hope. Help them! All Nigerian lives should matter whether they are from Chibok or UkanaIba!