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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.