Adekunle Adejuyigbe is a Nigerian filmmaker whose love for the arts saw him sacrificing his degree as an Electrical Engineer. Simply known as Nodash, the video director says that he is starting 2015 on a sound footing. He speaks with OVWE MEDEME on the need for Nigerians to be politically conscious, amidst other issues.
HOW did you end up as a video director?
I have always been a storyteller. You know all those boys who would gather their friends and start telling them stories? I was one of them. From primary school, I always told stories. I started out as a poet and a songwriter. Along the line, I started directing stage plays in secondary school. Of course I used to read a lot. I am an Electrical Engineering graduate from the University of Ilorin. But even before I finished school, I realised I didn’t want to work as an engineer. I wanted to do something entertainment related.
As one who found himself around the arts, why did you still choose to study engineering?
I am a very technical person. I have the mind of a scientist. When I was young, everybody figured that I would be in science class because mathematics was easy for me and I liked sciences, I like putting things together. On the other hand, I had the artistic side, so my natural inclination was to go with the sciences and, then, it was cool to be in science class. Everything art-related that I did, I did them as hobbies. Science was supposed to be work and this was supposed to be a hobby but it is the other way round.
Your music video, Good People Dead, is currently trending. What is the concept behind it?
People keep asking me why I did the video and the answer is simple. What do we do every day? Most of us go to work, come back, collect our salaries at the end of the month and when we get back home, we look at the power situation and then complain about the government. When we are driving out of the house and the roads are bad, we complain about the government. If Nigeria is embarrassed internationally, we blame the government.
A friend of mine called me one day. He was in the north and he was almost involved in a bomb blast but then it made me think that it could have been me. So if it was me, what would have happened? If you get blown up by a bomb, as you are flying up to heaven, would you still be blaming the government? You don die, you don die. At some point, you have to tell yourself that you are responsible for your own life. I figured out that the little things that I can do in my power can fix something. Why am I complaining that the government is not doing anything? Are they not people like me? If I can’t do something, I don’t have the right to complain. I did Good People Dead so I can have the right to complain.
Think about it; what is the strongest force? The strongest force in the world, in any country, is the people. How many people are in government? We have over 160 million people yet we blame the less than one percent that make up government. Good People Dead is that video that illustrates the power of the voice.
The video appears to be gory. Don’t you think you are limiting your audience?
The truth is I would like to tell myself that the video is for everybody, but it is not. It is for adults. Because the people I was thinking about while making that video were not the 10 year olds. They are people like you and I; the young adults. We are the people who drive the nation and it is designed for those people.
How well has the video been received?
We just released it and if you check everywhere the video has been, I think it is about the only video that I have seen that has 100% positive reviews. I have not seen that before. The only other video I have seen like that was Kefee’s video that I shot. That is very encouraging because everybody underestimates Nigerians, especially fellow filmmakers. They try not to make things too intelligent but Nigerians are smart. If we are not creative, let us say that we are not creative. Don’t say that Nigerians are not smart.
What are you up to this year?
A lot. We have been shooting non-stop. But asides that, the Berlin Film Festival is coming up this month. Every year, they run this talent campus called the Berlinale Talent Campus where they choose 300 people to participate. They call them emerging filmmakers. They are supposed to be the next best thing in the world. I am one of those who were selected. To make it even more interesting, aside the 300 selected, they also run a cinematography master class. It is called The Camera Studio. It is strictly by invitation, very exclusive. They choose only 21 people out of the 300 to attend that class and I was one of the selected.
How were you able to pull that off?
Actually, I didn’t pull it off. Somebody sent me a link and I sent my works to them and that was all. I sent some short movies I had done and interestingly, it included Good People Dead which is a short musical. Once you send your works and your profile, that is all you can do. They respond if they think you are good enough.
What are you hoping to gain from the training?
The thing about Berlinale is that it is the biggest, most publicly attended film festival in the world. Everybody goes there. I understand that Idris Elba is even on his way to Berlin. He is driving from London to Berlin.
Everybody is there. So, asides the connections that would definitely be made, one of the arrangements of Berlinale is that they get people, filmmakers, experts from all over the world to sit with you. One of the classes I’m attending has just 11 of us and the person talking to us is a Hollywood cinematographer. These are people who have worked in movies like Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, True Lies, Minority Report and others. All these guys are coming to teach us. What am I hoping to get? Your guess is as good as mine. But one thing I can promise is that when I come back, the industry changes.
What exactly do you hope to bring back?
Anybody who has worked with me will tell you one thing. I’m always eager to answer questions. I was shooting commercials in the same studio with one of the biggest directors, so we got talking. I told him that you can’t build an industry out of a monopoly.
A lot of times, we forget that. People want to come to say they are the best. Yes, they can be the best. However, whatever amount you make by being the best, you make 10 times that amount if we are the best. If somebody comes to you from Hollywood and says he wants to shoot a movie, do you know that most producers will automatically pay whatever he asks for? Now imagine if it was just Steven Spielberg in Hollywood.
That brand won’t be there. So when I come back, the idea is to share that knowledge as fast as possible and to encourage other people to explore such avenues so that we can build the industry. That way, within the next few years, anywhere you go, when you say you are a Nigerian filmmaker, they will respect you. That is how we will get to where we want to get. Like I said, you can’t build an industry out of a monopoly. It never happens.
It is election time again. What would you say to those who shy away from politics?
It is very simple, really. Nobody shies away from politics. People just deceive themselves that they shy away from politics. Some people say it is not their business and I ask them; when there was Ebola, where they not forced to wash their hands at the banks? Now we have Boko Haram in the north.
Some people have businesses there. Can they go there now? You can’t say it is not your business. In the past, we used to walk about freely, now they stop to check you. It is your business. We just have to accept that whatever happens with the government affects us all. We truly have the power to decide, which is what Good People Dead video is saying. We can use our voices. At the moment, our voice is our vote. We should go and vote. If for some reasons you can’t vote, encourage everybody to vote. You don’t need to vote. Motivate everybody around you to vote. That is equal to voting.
