OMOWUNMI Dada has said that it is imperative that Africans do not wait for foreigners to tell their original stories and history.
The actress made this known in a chat with The Nation on the sidelines of the 11th Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos, Nigeria saying ‘it is very important for filmmakers to produce more African original stories.’
“I believe that it’s about time we told our own African stories to the world by ourselves. When you watch ‘Elesin Oba: King’s Horseman,’ you will get to appreciate and see the Yoruba culture, tradition, music, dance, food, wedding ceremony, death ceremony, beliefs and so many things like that,” said Dada.
“We cannot give what we do not have if we do not appreciate ourselves from here, how would the people out there appreciate us? So, it is important that that story was told and I am humbled that I am part of it.”
Speaking about her role in the Netflix original, the AMVCA Award winner revealed that she performed the play several times on stage before the role came calling.
She said: “It’s really beautiful, it is a play that I read in secondary school and performed many times on stage at the university because I studied creative art and I have also played Iyaloja many times on stage. So, now that it’s a cinematic adaptation of it, it is something that is really interesting and humbling to me. Also, because this is not just a regular kind of film, this is a classical piece, it’s non fictional, it is something that happened when the Alaafin of Oyo died many years ago
and it was written into play by Professor Wole Soyinka.”