Chioma Onyenwe first made a foray into the Nollywood industry as an Economics undergraduate in The University of Lagos when she wrote her thesis ‘The Economic Impact of the Nigerian Film Industry’.
“This exposed me to the scale of Nollywood on a macroeconomic level. While I worked in consulting and during my master’s degree, I started to learn part time through short film courses and making my own web series and other short form content ways to tell stories through film.”
She would continue to work in corporate Nigeria while also studying at the London Film Academy and the MET Film School in London.
Her first project was the controversial web series ‘Goddammit It’s Monday’. The series was shot in 6 episodes.
For the first time, a Nigerian video story took a no-holds-barred angle on storytelling; the video series was ridden with expletives and the perspectives from the warped mind of its leading actor Womilee. The online audience sat up and paid attention, torn between their love for the honesty of the actor and hate of his cynical views of life in Lagos.
In 2013, she joined Nigeria’s progressive Africa International Film Festival(AFRIFF) first as a volunteer before becoming a Programme Coordinator for the festival, a position that took her into the inner workings of Nollywood and inspired her decision to take up a full time career in the industry.
She delved into full time into film making in 2013. Soon after she started shooting her first feature film ‘8 Bars and A Clef’ which took her two years to finish.
The movie premiered at AFRIFF in December 2015 and is in cinemas in June.8 Bars and a Clef is a story about a young man who has to overcome a learning defect (dyslexia) a dysfunctional family and an overbearing record label executive in order to achieve his dream of becoming a music superstar.
Chioma Onyenwe’s ‘8 Bars and a Clef’ opens at the cinemas at a pivotal time in Nigeria’s music industry by telling the story of one out of thousands of Nigerian acts who finally achieve recognition and relative success.
“I wanted to tell a story of what truly defines success and happiness and the music industry is known for seemingly quick success because a lot of the time people confuse wealth for success and to me success lies in becoming the best version of yourself with an appetite for growth,” Onyenwe said.
The movie boasts of a cast of known Nollywood faces including Bimbo Akintola, Wale Ojo, Kehinde Bankole, Ade Bantu, Kunle Bello, Blink, Jude Idada and starlet Linda Ejiofor. However, for the leading role of rapper Victor,
Onyenwe took another route casting a little known alternative musician best known as IBK SpaceshipBoi.
“I saw him perform at Freedom Hall when I was casting and I was completely transfixed.”She explains. “He was exactly how the character Victor-E looked in my head and I wanted the performance to be as natural as possible. It also helped as I had decided on who will play the younger version of the character and he was a match.”
On her biggest project yet, the movie ‘8 Bars’ Chioma Onyenwe explains the challenges it took to bring her project to light. “It took me over 2 years to release the film, my challenges ranged from sourcing financing to dealing with skill shortage and lack of professionalism as the project came together. Making the movie was a real learning curve for me and I look forward to applying this knowledge in future projects.”
Like majority of Nigerian businesses, funds for the movie were personally sourced. Despite the challenges, Onyenwe admits that she is one of few film makers to have accessed grants from the ‘Project Act Nollywood’(Project ACT-Nollywood is managed by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with around 3 billion naira/9 million dollar grant funds for Nollywood film makers).
She explains that her background in finance gave her the opportunity to gain access to the funding. “It is important that new filmmakers develop business skills or hire someone who can bring that to the table. It is important to always have your paperwork in order, simple things like incorporation and tax clearance.”
For publicise the film, Onyenwe is kicking off activities very close to the release date. She explains that her focus is three pronged. – The music, the message and the entertainment with the goal of building a viral fan-base for the movie.
“What we did was build up a targeted offline and online strategy that will transcend the cinema and grow a cult following. Our goal is to get as many people as possible to watch it wherever they are.”
The filmmaker explains that her company Raconteur productions is already involved in other productions. Raconteur means storyteller and that’s exactly who we are. Over the next few years Raconteur Productions will continue to tell stories across different media right now, we’re working on other people’s projects, exploring television and stage productions. There is also AFRIFF which runs from the 13th – 20 November 2016. Call for entries are currently open.”8 Bars and A Clef opens in cinemas in June.
According to Onyenwe, film makers have also begun to gain financially from their trade; “The multiple streams of income also presented by online streaming and international cable and television stations has further grown the audience for Nollywood internationally.”
IFEOMA OKEKE
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