Nigeria Content Online

Tunde Kelani’s
film, ‘Arugba’ is to go on general release later this month. The
filmmaker made the announcement at a press conference held at his
Mainframe production company offices in Oshodi, Lagos, on Tuesday, June
1. Also in attendance were Nollywood insiders including ‘Jenifa’
actress, Funke Akindele (who stars in Kelani’s next film, ‘Maami’);
veteran Yoruba genre actor, Charles Olumo (a.k.a Agbako); Biodun
Kupoluyi, publisher of E24-7 magazine; production designer Bola Bello
and Bukola Awoyemi (who plays the lead in ‘Arugba’).

The presence of
Olumo inspired some reminiscing on the part of Kelani, who praised ‘Oga
Charles’ as one of those who raised him up. Olumo, I-Sho [Pepper, a.k.a
Isola Ogunsola] and others used to come and stage plays at Abeokuta
Grammar School, where Kelani was a student. The young man saw the
famous actors and dreamt of joining them one day. Now the two men are
collaborators. Olumo soaked in Kelani’s praises and prayers with
humility, his bashfulness belying the fierceness of his onscreen
persona.

The good

“It has been quite
a while that we sat like this together to discuss issues, due to so
many factors; some bad, some good,” said Kelani. The good news is that,
after a successful run of major international film festivals including
Ouagadougou, New York and Rotterdam, ‘Arugba’ will finally be available
for purchase by the Nigerian public. Set against the backdrop of a
corrupt society seeking rebirth, ‘Arugba’ tells the story of romance
between a fictional votary maiden of Osun festival and the young dancer
who loves her. The film’s journey to general release has taken two
years, partly due to the festival run. It was also screened recently at
the Odeon Greenwich in London, in a show that reassured Mainframe of
“viable opportunities of breakthrough to mainstream distribution in
Europe and America.”

The bad

It has been far
from plain sailing, however. The good news quickly dovetailed into the
bad, as Kelani revealed that the release of ‘Arugba’ had to be
postponed three times because of the heavy piracy of his films by a
gang operating from the notorious Alaba Market in Lagos. Recalling
Moses Olaiya’s claim that his career was ruined by the piracy of just
one film, Kelani revealed the extent of his own ordeal: “What we have
suffered within the last nine months is that all our works were pirated
at the same time and distributed extensively.”

The director, who
has taken to buying pirated copies of his film as evidence, displayed
an array of the exhibits, to gasps of astonishment from those present.
Exclusively ‘Mainframe’ packages contain up to 16 pirated Kelani films
on a single disc, including ‘Agogo Eewo’, ‘Saworo Ide’, ‘Abeni’ and ‘O
Le Ku’. Kelani said, “Benefactors had to come to our rescue because the
business was destroyed. My career was threatened. There was no place to
turn. We couldn’t do any film. We couldn’t even pay our rent. I
couldn’t pay taxes because they just hijacked all of the Mainframe
films at the same time. We have no income of any sort.”

He left no one in
doubt of the siege laid on him by pirates. “I’m telling you, this
threatened us completely, to the roots. The company would have been
wiped off, because if you have 12 products and all of them are pirated
at the same time, you can imagine how devastating that would be.”

The ugly

The revelations
led to animated discussion, with many sharing their own observations
about the impunity of pirates. One journalist recalled a hair-raising
incident in the den of Alaba gangsters that shot at him and his
colleagues. Another person said the kingpin lives like a president, and
outsiders are scanned before entering his office. The picture was
painted of formidable organised crime against the movie industry, and
Malaysians are alleged to be involved in the racket, providing the
technology for piracy. The situation leads to a feelings of desperation
and helplessness in filmmakers. One Yoruba film producer apparently
bribes the police to raid pirates and keep the proceeds for themselves.
Others say bribes incentives for the police to raid criminal gangs will
not work; whatever the amount, the pirates can double it. In any case,
the police seem to work on the premise that piracy is a given. As for
the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), they are not averse to
demanding up to 1.7m naira from self-funded filmmakers to carry out
raids.

Bad for the industry

“The industry is
in the hands of the pirates, the rest of us only have distribution
licences,” said Kelani. He disclosed that piracy has made it difficult
to raise funds for Mainframe’s next film. Holding up the pirated
copies, the director said, “No investor, seeing this, is going to put
money in the industry. The success of Indian cinema is that it is
supported at home. Our own is exploited.” Nigerian films are just as
aggressively pirated for overseas markets. “You can imagine what is
going to happen in Europe, the UK once we release Arugba, what is going
to happen in America.” The filmmaker has alerted the authorities to
pirate attacks on his work and has provided samples to relevant
government agencies, including the British government.

Piracy, he
stressed, is the main challenge facing the Nigerian film industry. “How
can we continue? How can we get funding for the industry? With all this
(piracy) in a country like Nigeria, believe me, there is no hope for
the industry,” he declared. Biodun Kupoluyi suggested that marketers
compound the piracy situation by selling films for as low as N300. “If
you want to raise the standard, raise the price,” said Kupoluyi, who
also advocated more advertising by filmmakers as a way of sensitising
the public to recognise original copies. Kelani also reminded that
Mainframe films are always available: “You can walk in and buy.”

Risky business

To encourage the
viewing public to buy original copies of ‘Arugba’, Mainframe is paying
particular attention to the price. Special packs of the film will be
available for sale at the launch for N1,000. He is also taking his case
directly to the public. “I have no choice. I am going to go on TV and
other media and appeal to everybody to please buy the original copy and
ignore [fakes],” said Kelani. He maintained that piracy affects
everybody indirectly, as there is no value in the fake copy.

“We are going to
be pirated,” he said of the imminent release of Arugba, but he is going
ahead. “It’s a risk because we are already boxed in. We don’t have an
income. We have a project we invested 15, 20 million naira in;
everybody’s been waiting.” He also needs money to continue his next
project, ‘Maami’. The director said, “We have no choice but to comply
with what the law says as to releasing films, because we’ve worked with
all the agencies to make sure. But the point is: who is going to
protect us?”

‘Arugba’ will be
launched on Sunday, June 13 (2pm) at Etal Hall, Simbiat Abiola Road,
Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos. It goes on general release on January 14.

Shall we jazz June
like the Pool Players of the Golden Shovel*
and sing, tongue in cheek,

that hot is cool;
or set it loose (but quite unfree)
like a bird from fancy’s forest,

its nest aloud with hatching pains?

Shall we dance through
the streets of the mind
to a drum chastened

By History’s rain,
our feet quick with
the memory of the mud?

The sun sometimes rises
in a different sky
with a different colour,

A different voice/touch,
and a nickname of darkness
translucent in its urgent bearing

Can’t you hear June laughing
at its diurnal swagger
even as a slender month

Squeezes its juice and
reforms its mirth?
The sun breaks into a sweat

Called summer in other climes;
while here it is busy
rifling cornfields and ripening new yams

Stoking new hungers
and jazzing up the joy
of our restless swings

June holds the year by its slender waist.
Its favourite song
is the language of the flower.

*Reference to Gwendolyn Brooks’ famous poem ‘We Real Cool’.

Thirteen year old
John Cross Omeke sat quietly on the panel addressing the press at the
head office of Access Bank PLC in Victoria Island on June 2, 2010. As
his prize for emerging winner in ‘Mirror the Master’, a corporate
social responsibility initiative of the bank, he had just returned from
a six-day trip to Britain; and had during this time visited Buckingham
Palace and presented portraits to the Queen.

As his entry for
the competition, Omeke had produced a portrait of the Idia Mask, a
masterpiece which was used as the symbol for FESTAC 77, and his
portrait had won the regional competition in Nsukka as well as the
Lagos finals against entries from other regions, namely: Zaria,
Oshogbo, and Benin.

‘Mirror the
Master’, which was facilitated by Kambini Arts, is centered on
developing art training in schools. The competition’s just concluded
maiden edition spanned two years, and was modeled on the works of the
late artist, Ben Enwonwu. During the selection process, hundreds of
entries were received from the four regions, despite the fact that it
had been restricted to students between ages 9 and 16.

Present at the
press briefing, Chima Ezeilo, Director of Kambini Arts, revealed that
it was not an easy task deciding the winning entry as judges such as
Artist Nike Davies-Okundaye; Collector, Rasheed Gbadamosi; Oliver
Enwonwu, (director, Ben Enwonwu Foundation); Ken Okoli of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria; and Jimoh Buraimoh, among others, embarked on an
intense debate lasting almost an hour to discuss their decisions before
announcing the winner.

To inspire and motivate

Bolanle Babatunde,
Head, Corporate Social Responsibility for Access Bank PLC, expatiated
on the rationale behind the competition, saying, “The initiative was
designed to celebrate the established masters, and to inspire and
motivate the younger generation of artists, helping them recognise
their potentials and channel their skills appropriately.”

Ezeilo, who had
been a chaperone of sorts to Omeke during his UK trip, said, “John was
given celebrity status in the UK; he has done Nigeria, Access Bank PLC,
and Kambini Arts proud. He did two portraits, which he presented to the
Queen, and we were told that they’ll be framed and kept in the Queen’s
collection of about 7000 works, each of which is worth millions of
pounds.”

Omeke, accompanied
by his mother, narrated his experiences on his trip to the UK. In his
words, he “went to London to visit the Queen and some galleries such as
the British Museum, Tate Modern, and Brunei Gallery.” The best part of
his visit, however, was making friends with C.J., the three year-old
son of Ezeilo, and going to the cinemas to see the movie, ‘Prince of
Persia’. Omeke’s tour was not complete without a visit to the Nigeria
High Commission, and a meeting with the High Commissioner and the
Nigerian Ambassador to London.

A change of art

Victoria Omeke, who
had hitherto not supported her son’s art, remarked emphatically that
now she has “had a change of heart”. According to her, “John started
painting when he was very young. And I used to quarrel with him and ask
that he concentrate on his school work instead.” On the day of the
competition in Nsukka, Victoria was invited to the school but she
declined because she had other things to do. On hearing her refusal to
go with him for the event, John said to his mother, “The winner of the
competition is going to go to London. If you don’t go with me now, will
you want to go with me to London?”

Though Victoria did
not eventually accompany her son on the London trip, she was very proud
of his accomplishment and was full of thanks to the organisers and
facilitators of the programme. “I did not know that art can be a means
of livelihood. Now that I know my son can succeed in the arts, I will
support whatever decision he makes to pursue it professionally.”

And just as his
mother anticipates, John is determined to study Fine Art in university
and pursue the discipline professionally. He was greatly inspired by
Ben Enwonwu’s sculpture of the queen, which he saw in Buckingham
palace; and is hopeful that he would be able to produce works of such
brilliance in the future. When asked how he started painting, he said
simply “My father taught me.” His mother explained further, saying his
dad practised painting as a hobby but he never did it professionally,
which was why she did not think it could be a source of income.

Winning work

Austin Edoja
Peters, Head, Corporate Communications, Access Bank PLC, however,
seemed to have had an eye for discerning winning artworks, as before
John Omeke had been announced winner, he had chosen the
thirteen-year-old’s work as a cover for the ‘Mirror the Master’
brochure. According to him, Omeke’s work possessed “character,
precision and a maturity in execution.” Continuing, he said, “I also
thought the winning work should ‘mirror the master’ literally, and
seeing John’s detailed production of a masterpiece did it for me. The
judges’ decision only confirmed my opinions.”

In closing the
conference, Public Relations Consultant for Access Bank PLC, Prince
Obidike, revealed that 100 of the best paintings received during the
competition will be framed and distributed across the bank’s branches,
as a way of showing support and appreciation for the efforts of
Nigeria’s young generation of artists. He stressed that Access Bank PLC
will continue to partner with schools on the ‘Mirror the Master’
initiative in order to discover new, young talents nationwide and
beyond.

Before Omeke departed the conference, this reporter requested an
autograph from him; shyly, he penned his signature – the mark of a
‘Master’ in his own right.

Nothing could beat
the eloquence of a writer at the Farafina Trust Literary evening on May
29 at the Civic Centre. Marking the end of a 10-day Creative Writing
Workshop, the literary evening infused music into readings by the
workshop facilitators – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chika Unigwe, Niq
Mhlongo, and Binyavanga Wainaina. Foremost Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata
Aidoo, was the special guest of honour.

Welcoming the
audience, publisher of Farafina Books and trustee of Farafina Trust,
Muhtar Bakare, said the workshop was a way of ensuring that people take
control of their own stories. “Literature is very important,” he said.
“Ideas lead change in society (and) literature helps us to qualify
these ideas.”

Talent-spotting

CEO of Nigerian
Breweries Plc, Paul Hamers, said the event was a stimulating
experience. He said NB Plc were proud sponsors of the workshop which
empowers youth, especially as part of their aims is to spot and nurture
the diverse creative talent in Nigeria. Praising the award-winning
Adichie as “an icon of hope and a role model,” he asked her to set to
work on releasing another work, as he had read her first three.

Two of the authors
currently reigning on Nigeria’s literary scene opened the floor for
readings over the course of the evening. Both winners of the
Commonwealth Best First Book prize (Africa Region), Sade Adeniran and
Adaobi Nwaubani read from their debut novels, ‘Imagine This’ and ‘I Do
Not Come To You By Chance’, which won in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Next was the
presentation of certificates to the workshop’s 20 participants. Bakare
assisted Adichie with handing out the certificates to the aspiring
writers who were a mix of bankers, scientists, broadcasters, and
actors. What followed was a sign that these latest twenty had no mean
competition to contend with.

After the
presentation, each of the facilitators delivered a 10-minute reading.
Adichie read from an untitled work in progress. It was the voice of a
young girl, whose parents had turned a blind eye to the fact that her
liberal aunt was a general’s mistress, and not his protégé as they
chose to believe.

Unigwe, author of
the award-winning ‘The Phoenix’ read from ‘On Black Sisters’ Street’,
her most recent novel about Nigerian prostitutes in Belgium. She read
the part where one of the characters, Ama, had agreed to join Senghor
Dele’s prostitution ring in Antwerp’s red light districts.

Caine winner,
Wainaina, enlisted the help of Nigerian writer, Eghosa Imasuen, to read
from a play about Lagos titled, ‘Shine Your Eye.’ Wainaina had the
author of ‘To Saint Patrick’ read the excerpt because it was written in
Pidgin English and Wainaina, a Kenyan, “can not be seen speaking Pidgin
in public.” Wainaina then read an excerpt from his uncompleted memoir,
tentatively titled, ‘I Will One Day Write About This Place.’ South
African author of ‘Dog Eat Dog’, Niq Mhlongo, read the first chapter of
his second book, ‘After Tears’, but not before telling the audience how
pleased he was to be in Nigeria for the first time. The title of the
book, he explained, was drawn from the period following mourning when
South Africans drowned their sorrows in beer.

Ego-rubbing

It was then time
for the 30-minute session featuring special guest of honour and one of
Africa’s foremost female writers, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghanaian author of the
plays, ‘Anowa’ and ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost.’ Highlighting the “fiery
female” characters in Aidoo’s works as well as her “clear, lucid
sentences”, Adichie praised the author’s creativity as an inspiration.
“I occupy the space of a black African happy feminist because writers
like Ama Ata Aidoo came before me. Her storytelling nurtured mine,”
Adichie said, “I feel a deep gratitude to her for my writing.” The
author of ‘Purple Hibiscus’ hailed Aidoo’s prowess as short story
writer, poet, dramatist, essayist, and academic. She called her a
thinker, teacher, enabler, and inspirer.

Aidoo expressed
surprise at “the kind of ego-rubbing I have received here today.”
Reciprocating the honour given her in the citation read by Adichie,
Aidoo said before leaving Ghana for Lagos, she made sure to mention
during every conversation that she was coming to Lagos as a part of a
workshop organised by Adichie.

“We didn’t even
know that you knew her” or “Now you are claiming to know her too” were
some of the reactions she received when she made the ‘revelation.’
“These reactions from her fans in Accra describe a solid appreciation
of her works because they don’t know her personally. I was ordered to
let you know, Chimamanda, how much they appreciate you.”

Blame the hurricanes on Africa

Aidoo pointed out
that good writing is eternal, and is accepted the same way across time
and space. She thanked young writers and book lovers present for
showing their support and appreciation for writers, saying it was a
good way to rubbish the statement that if you do not want Africans to
see anything, put it in a book.

She then proceeded
to read from some of her works. Dispelling the notion that she
abandoned poetry for other forms, Aidoo said it was all a case of bad
marketing. “When I get a captive audience, ladies and gentlemen, I read
my poetry first,” she said, and read two pieces from ‘An Angry Letter
in January’, her second poetry collection.

The first was
‘Questions’ (a poem about leadership) dedicated to Chinua Achebe and
the second, ‘Speaking of Hurricanes’, was dedicated to female Kenyan
writer, Micere Mugo (who co-authored ‘The Trials of Dedan Kimathi’ with
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O), and all other African exiles.

The second poem was
conceived after Aidoo heard some strange information that hurricanes in
the Americas were due to heavy rains in West Africa.

Aidoo also read a
flash (short short story) fiction piece, ‘Recipe For A Stone Meal’ and
a short story titled ‘She Who Would Be King’ to the enthralled
audience, who applauded Aidoo’s interesting, humorous, and dramatic
reading.

A writer by chance

She was then joined on stage by Adichie, Unigwe, Mhlongo, and Wainaina in a Q&A session with the audience.

The ubiquitous
question of African writing and identity reared its head once more.
Some of the responses from the facilitators showed their displeasure at
always having to answer the query.

Most of them saw it
as unwarranted, saying the writing should speak for itself rather than
certain people trying to dictate that this is what African writing
prescribes. Adichie had an issue with those who felt she could not
discuss feminist themes in her books because according to them it “was
not African.” There were spirited views from the stage, with Unigwe
insisting that she had no issues with being known as an ‘African
writer’.

A question about
the reading culture also proved contentious, but the writers concluded
that Africans do read. Mhlongo, however, said that although Black
Africans in South Africa read a lot, they hardly buy books. Aidoo
pointed out that most of the books are marketed as school textbooks and
that once the school quota is satisfied, publishers hardly care for the
other existing reader-groups. For Adichie, the distribution framework
and affordability were probable causes of books not reaching as wide as
they should.

Responding to a
question on why she wrote ‘The Phoenix’ in the second person narrative,
Unigwe said any writer should use the most fitting voice for a
character’s psychological state. The second person voice was for her
the perfect choice in a character that was trying to distance herself
from her troubles.

“If people want to
make money they should go and work in banks,” was Adichie’s response
when a ‘talent scout’ asked what message to give to his young mentees
who were impatient about making money from their ‘gifts’. The evening
ended on a musical note with Lola Okusami, one of the workshop’s
participants, performing two songs, ‘Lonely Girl’ and ‘Move’ before
Seun Kuti and his Egypt 80 band took to the stage in an energetic
performance.

After the intellectual exchange of ideas, it was time to unwind and
see if the writers’ dance steps were as good as their words.

A tale of child
abuse and a boy’s life in the Lagos slums, ‘Small Boy’ premiered at the
Silverbird Cinemas in Lagos on May 27, with guests from across
Nigeria’s economic sphere in attendance.

Compere of the
event was TV host and emcee Soni Irabor. Praising Bello’s debut film as
a sign of things to come, Irabor said this showed that, “We have people
who can portray Nigeria in a more realistic sense than just
entertainment. We have Nigerians who are trained to give up their best,
who are conscientious, deep in thought and feel for Nigeria’s
progress.”

He went on to introduce stage and screen icon, Segun Olusola as special guest of honour.

“The beauty of this
occasion is that a very young lady who is in her 20s is inviting a man,
who is almost eighty to come and see her work. It means there is
continuity in life,” Irabor said.

Speaking at the
premiere, Olusola, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia and
producer of the classic ‘Village Headmaster’ TV series said, “I wanted
very much to be at this event because we really did not know that these
children would come close to doing what they are now doing.”

The foremost
broadcast media personality congratulated Bello’s parents, saying,
“Your daughter is making a foray into regions that we did not quite
succeed in doing and I’m looking forward to seeing not just this
particular event but also coming into corridors whenever you are
rehearsing your group. You’ll keep me alive much longer if you’ll
tolerate me in the rehearsal rooms to see how you people do things
nowadays.”

Raising levels

The former
ambassador said he was pleased at the occasion of events like these as
such show that “we didn’t go into the theatre, into the media, into
television for nothing.

“Your generation
will prove to us that although we did not quite succeed in raising
levels beyond Nigeria, you are going to take us – from what I’ve heard
about this film- beyond Nigeria, beyond Africa and in different parts
of the world.”

Proof of such
likelihood, he said, was because a former ambassador to Israel had
praised ‘Small Boy.’ The envoy to Israel also told Olusola that the
film has been widely embraced by the Nigerian community in Israel.

“There will be more to come from your direction,” Olusola concluded in praise of Bello.

Also supporting the
young filmmaker on this evening were acclaimed Nigerian poet and
playwright J.P. Clark, and Nollywood personalities Kate Henshaw-Nuttal,
Iretiola Doyle and Kunle Coker amongst other members of the diplomatic
community.

Professor of
Medicine Olu Akinyanju, Sandra Obiago of Communicating For Change
(CFC), filmmaker Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Marlies Allan and Ndidi Dike were
also in the audience with cast members Toyin Oshinaike, Richard and
Mary Chukwuma and Najite Dede, who was accompanied by her sister
Michelle, a former Big Brother Nigeria presenter.

For Children’s Day

Introducing Bello
to the audience, Irabor said, “What you will see soon after you hear
her talk is probably a reflection of what she thinks is going on right
now in our lives in Nigeria.”

He described her as “beautiful and purposeful, one of Nigeria’s very best even in her very young age.”

Bello, whose ‘Small
Boy’ received two AMAA awards in 2009 and two nominations at the 2008
American Black Film Festival, said, “This has been a long, three-year
journey since we shot the film and it has travelled to different
festivals and won different awards.”

Since the film was
premiering on Children’s Day, she asked that the audience join her in
applauding the film’s young cast and the children whose day it was.
“This film has taken me on a journey,” said the young filmmaker, who
has also forayed into shooting music videos with her work on TY Bello’s
popular ‘Greenland’ video.

“When I made this
film I never thought it would get this kind of response. I set out to
make a different kind of Nigerian film and that’s what you are going to
see (in) ‘Small Boy,” Bello said of the work released by her production
company Blu Star Entertainment.

At the end of the
film, when Irabor asked if the audience had enjoyed the show, it was
obvious that they had shared in the protagonist Sunny Agaga’s journey
of discovery after a series of scrapes and lucky escapes. It was a
resounding “Yes.”

‘Small Boy’ stars
Akin Lewis, Najite Dede, Justus Esiri, Norbert Young, Toyin Oshinaike
and Richard Chukwuma as Sunny Agaga. It follows the story of young
Sunny who runs away from home and discovers a life below the law’s
radar doing what young boys should not be doing given the right
circumstances. But what are the right circumstances?

Bello’s debut effort with ‘Small Boy’ is a pointer to the fact that positive change is possible in Nollywood only if we try.