I was inspired to share this thought with you when I saw a 2011 released film. In that movie, Funke Akindele looked every bit a teenager. I wondered how long that stuff had adorned the shelf of the filmmaker. I wondered also that the flick had lost so much relevance in what is obtainable today, or what one could call the reality of the current situation. I wondered further the limitation to such films that lack universal appeal; or some like it, that are too momentary to be a classic. Above all, I thought to myself that if Funke Akindele, aka Jenifa, like other cast in the work, had had to wait for that film to project her talent without exploring other avenues, she probably would not be where she is today.
In my years of service as a member of the screening committee and jury of some award schemes, I recall that one of the common recommendations is an appeal to filmmakers to submit their films for competition, if only for the sake of other members of the cast and crew of the project. Talents have been buried because works that are supposed to give an actor, cinematographer, screenplay writer, soundman, film editor, make-up artist, costumier, set artist, etc the leverage have been buried by film owners who are too busy with other things, but who are quick to call themselves, first and foremost, filmmakers. Apologies to others whom, for the sake of piracy, have been so scared to release their films into the market. But no film should, for this reason, be in the shelf for as long as 10 years.
I know of a collection of films in the shelf of a filmmaker who is now busy with another popular film initiative. I know a few actors in those films who had thought that that production outfit would be their stepping stone, but who have since found a window of opportunities in other people and institutions.
I know about an Izu Ojukwu’s film entitled Laviva tailored after the Liberian civil war, which stars the late JT Tom West and Francis Duru in an excruciating task of action. It can only be imagined how many more fans the guy could have wooed through his outing in that flick today, should it not still be in the closet.
I thought again about a Fred Amata’s film, Anini, a historical piece on the one-time armed robbery gang, which terrorised Benin, Ibadan and Lagos in the ’80s. A fantastic work, but it was disqualified at the AMAAs in 2006 because it did not follow the simple requirement of subtitling, especially since pidgin constitutes about 80 percent of the language spoken therein.
That film, Anini, is a cinema material. When I see the trash that some filmmakers bring to the cinemas in the name of a movie, my mind quickly runs to such films like Anini and Nosa Ehimwema, the guy who played lead in the film. It is a great disservice to Nosa, a fine actor that Anini is not out in the market.
Could the problem of Anini be similar to that of Ofinga, another classic and family value film by Remdel Optimum Communication, which is yet to leave the shelf? If they have a similar problem, perhaps Anini is guilty of staying this long on its owner’s shelf. Ofinga, directed by Tunji Bamisigbin, has not been able to make the cinema circle because the format on which it was shot is not compliant. To convert it will be so expensive as to shoot another movie entirely. This is the dilemma of the Remdel boss coupled with the fear that pirates will no doubt prey on the film when it is eventually released on home video. But I guess they have no choice, safe for a few neighbourhood cinema viewing like the type screened at LTV 8, before it is eventually thrown to the larger crowd. Ofinga, I hear, will be released before the end of this year. That sounds cool to me.
If every filmmaker were like Zeb Ejiro, his brother, Chico, and others like them who discovered some of the celebrated actors today, the dreams of a few couldn’t have been confined to the film owner’s shelf.
Recently, I got to know that the film Thongs of Roses by Emeka Ossai was the first to expose Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde. We hear more about Yinka Edwards as a cinematographer today, not necessarily because he studied at the National Film Institute, Jos; not just because his credits include Mak Kusare’s Ninety Degrees (winner, Best Feature Film, Zuma International Film Festival); not just because in 2007 he was hand-picked to work on the BBC’s acclaimed series, Wetin Dey, but also because he was the director of photography for Kunle Afolayan’s multi-award winning feature, The Figurine, through which he won the 2010 Africa Movie Academy Award (AMAA) for cinematography. Perhaps, if all he had done were not released by the film owners, or if they were not entered for awards, the young man’s profile couldn’t have risen to the international level that it has reached now. The young man, I hear, is among the 50 participants from18 different African countries selected for Talent Campus in the forthcoming Durban International Film Festival, South Africa.
Think, shelf filmmaker, think…
