28-year old Temilolu Tokosi and his crew recently won the Best Directing Award with his movie titled, Ashes, at the renowned Cannes Film Festival in France. He spoke to Medinat Zuberu-Kanabe on this accomplishment and sundry other issues.
For Temilolu Tokosi, otherwise known simply as Temi by his friends and colleagues, making an award winning film in two weeks was always going to be an uphill task, but having heard about the Creative Minds in Cannes competition for through a friend, he earnestly wanted to win, so he quickly put something together.
The Creative Minds in Cannes competition, by the way, is usually organised for a select few of filmmakers from around the world, and it is usually a keenly contested competition.
Tokosi explained that “I had to do things differently. The first thing was my focus. I went to Cannes knowing that this was without a doubt the biggest film festival in the world and somehow someway, I had to make a film in two weeks. I made sure my mind was right, and I couldn’t forget I was there for a reason, which was to make the best film possible within that spate of time. It was also an opportunity to make some major connections with people in the film industry, follow up on up-coming filmmakers, and learn as much as I could!
“When I met my film crew, I made sure we all were on the same page. I told them my expectations and they told me what they expected of me as a director. We were all strangers from different places, but we were all filmmakers. So we decided to make a legendary film and win an award. And in the end, our film won two awards.”
Temilolu discovered his passion for filmmaking after he did his thesis film for college, even though he admits that he wasn’t too happy with the way it turned out.
“I felt like it was not good enough to send to festivals or represent me. I was not prepared doing it. I rushed the script and I made some casting mistakes.”
Although he graduated with a film degree, he said he couldn’t call himself a filmmaker with that thesis film. “I could not show anyone the film. I loved the plot, but the script and story needed some more work. I then rewrote the whole script, made it a lot better. I kept two actors from the first film and re-casted every other role; then I studied more about filmmaking. When I began re-shooting the film, I literally smiled on the first day and said to myself, ‘I love this.’ That was when I figured out my passion for film.”
He revealed that he began his adventure into filmmaking in the most unconventional way back in 2009 in the middle of college years. Quite still undecided about his direction in life; he said “I worked a part time as a security guard. There I met a friend who was an independent filmmaker, who was shooting a film and asked if I could lend him a hand; in the process, he named me his Production Assistant and I was very excited.
“The next night I came out to his set and I was just blown away. I had thought he was making some bootleg fake movie with fake actors and cheap equipment etc; but this was a real movie! We worked on set through the night, I was nowhere near tired and my excitement level gave me so much energy. I had so much fun and I thought: Is this what people do for a living? Right there and then I saw it was possible, and my life changed from that night.”
Temilolu knew his team would win multiple awards during the competition because that was the goal of his team but instead of the six awards they had in mind, they won two in the Best Directing and Best Writing; and he says he is very grateful for this.
He confessed that all through the competition, “We were our own competitors, and we had to get along and work as one. We were six people from different backgrounds and cultures and we were together with each for days, and that can take a toll on a person. So as director, I tried to make sure everyone worked in cohesion.”
On the state of the Nigerian movies industry, the director of three films- ‘Last Call’, ‘The Will to Want” and “Ashes” said it is very hard to keep up with the fast changing pace of the film industry and that what might seem like being behind today may not be so a few months later.
In spite of everything, Tokosi says even America still loves Nigerian films and there are a whole new group of Nigerian filmmakers ready to make their mark in the Nollywood industry. What he however loves most about the Nigerian movie industry is the distribution. “I can be in Newark, NJ or London and see a whole list of Nigerian films from the past couple years. Bootleg or not, people are watching and that’s what counts at the end of the day.”
He also feels the Nigerian government can help fund films either through film competitions and funding to award winners or by building film studios around Nigeria. “We are the next crop of Nigerian filmmakers, our industry can be bigger than Hollywood and Bollywood one day, we just have to keep pushing the limits and helping each other.”
Tokosi remarked that his biggest encouragement was his late father. “In June 2010 my father passed away due to a heart attack; a couple months before he passed, I had changed my major for the fifth time, but this time to film. And this time, I felt like I really found what I loved to do. I remember going to my parents’ room to tell him that “Now I wanna be a filmmaker.” And his response surprised me. He was excited for me. He started telling me how if I take this seriously, I could one day get to Nollywood and make great films. I was blown away!
“At his funeral one of my uncles came up to me and asked how I was doing. He told me I have to be the man of the family now. He then said ‘Ya daddy was telling me you’re a director, he was sounding so proud of you, keep it up!’”
That made me feel so good, because I always thought he wanted me to be something like a doctor or lawyer, but he just wanted me to be successful! I will never forget those words.”