Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje ‘Farming’ Director, on the movie’s success.

In this interview, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, British-Nigerian actor, and director of the movie, who was in Lagos recently for the Nigerian premiere of the movie, speaks to Obinna Emelike on his debut movie and other related issues. The movie, Farming has been trending globally and recently in Nigeria. Its authentic story on the untold British struggle has won it two awards at the Edinburgh International Film Festival this year alone.

Farming has been part of the British culture for so long, why do you think it has not been explored in film or any sort of narrative before now?

You know for various reasons, when some Nigerian parents came to Britain they would target working class families and force their children out to them. This is the reason working class families would be the rider.

Other reason is that the practice of farming is imposed because there was not the checks and balance; that was why the practice and parents neglected their children. Perhaps it was the practice that indicted the system, but it was not something the past governments wanted to expose.

What do you have in mind when you set out to make the film?

Growing up as a young Nigerian in Britain was very difficult in the 80s. So, I just want to tell a true story about my parents, and growing up as a young Nigerian child in the 80s in London. The movie shows an authentic perspective of a black person living in the United Kingdom then. Very few people were aware of the African journey, the contributions of the African struggle there, as well as, the tradition of the British society.

I am sharing my experience with the British society, especially growing up as a black person and also the experience of thousands of black children who went through this practice.

The movie gives me a platform to acknowledge the farming practice and also a history of the British society. It is the voice of a forgotten generation of thousands of Nigerians who went through the practice of farming. It gives a footnote for a British culture as a headline. In so doing, it gives some palliative therapy to those who went through practice.

Also, it was my intention as a Nigerian to create a dialogue and for us as Nigerian community to re-evaluate our children and ways.

When did you start working on the movie and how long did it take to finish?

I started writing the movie in 2003 and it took me 15 years to finish and make the film. As an actor and director, it took me that long because I have to learn the skills of writing and adapting screen play to my acting career. I have to direct, shoot and finance my film myself to prove to people that I have such capacities.

I think also that I was bringing awareness on a serious subject matter about Britain at a time in the industry when it was necessarily challenging to hear about those things. All these made it a challenge for me to tell my story.

Also, considering the budget for a first-time filmmaker, it took time. It is quite expensive and a very ambitious project. You know it is a film of three decades. So, it took a lot to achieve that.

In the modern day UK, does the culture of farming still exist?

No. There was a case in the year 2000 involving a victim of farming, where a Nigerian died in her first appearance. There was an investigation into the prevalence and checks and balance to be put in place. If the government did something and if checks and balances were in place, it would have effectively stopped it.

How did you get an assemblage of world class cast, and which of them impressed you most?

Yes, because it is about my life story and so I looked out for individual cast that would portray my story. The person who played the role of a Netherlands teacher played the role for my transformation.

What helped my casting process is that I played people that I knew. Secondly, as an actor, I listened to what I was looking from my cast. I looked for charisma and some other things.

How do you feel with your nominations and winning two festival awards with the movie?

You know it is hugely rewarding. You know it was such a long struggling and arduous to get the film produced.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival is a great festival. At the festival this year, Farming won the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film and Best Performance in the British film. It was hugely gratifying. It creatively validates me as a filmmaker to be reckoned with and the audience resonates with the material that they connected to through the Farming process. I was very gratified, and also as a first-time filmmaker to winning awards, I feel great.

Why did you cast Genevieve Nnaji in the movie?

It has always been my ambition to marry Hollywood/Nollywood to bridge experience in the movie industry. I wanted a platform that will give opportunity for some of our talented actors on the big stage.

I grew up watching Genevieve as a great actress. I wanted a Nigerian to play an authentic mother to me in the movie. I felt Genevieve was a perfect person to play the role and I am glad to feature her. But it is fantastic that Hollywood embraced Genevieve. I tried to marry Hollywood/Nollywood to bring in one of our stars. I was happy I was able to marry the two film industries.

Also, as a Nigerian star actress, Genevieve fitted in to be incorporated into the big stage.

What are the lessons to learn in the film?

The lessons to be learnt here are many. The first is that as parents, if you are going to engage into festering and adoption of a child, you should do the research and homework about the culture of that child because of issues in latter life like racism. If they do not educate themselves on the culture of the child, there will be a problem as the child grows up in the foreign land, the child will need to know his/her root.

The other lesson is that the Nigerian community needs to re-evaluate the value of child rearing process because the question that begs is; what are giving to a child? What we should give to a child in practice is love. There are so many Nigerian parents that festered children in the UK for adoption but they never returned to get them back. They abandoned their children as if they did not exist.

For me, the Nigerian community needs to give education, care and bond to their children. They need to show compassion and love to their children because when you have love you conquer everything.

On a broader note, Britain as a nation needs to re-evaluate her relationship with the migrant population so as to address racial discrimination and appreciate the contributions of the migrants.

So, the lesson is all about love, maternal and paternal care.

What is your experience as the director of film?

That was probably the most real experience throughout the whole movie because it was not my intention to play the role I played. Perhaps we were looking for an actor to play my part but my producers suggested that I play the part and for some reasons that my experience would contribute to the movie. It was the first time in the movie that I stepped into my father’s shoes and I was looking at myself from that perspective. So, I took on the role I played and it was real.

It was mind-blowing because there were things I saw about me and my father that I could play in that role and I realized how important I am to him. But it was pretty challenge to feature actors like Genevieve and still able to direct those emotions.

So, it was a lot to take on and I enjoyed it that I directed the movie where I multitasked.

What was the most challenging experience in the movie production?

Oh no. The whole process of the movie was emotional. I remembered my production designer; she recreated the house we grew up into perfection and I remember I woke up on the stage before we showed up.