While the Nigerian film industry is constantly pushing the envelope, there are a few stakeholders who are on their toes to ensure improvements on the quality of production, storyline, technical areas, cast among other aspects of the film business.
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Femi Odugbemi, ace filmmaker, copywriter, director, and producer, is one of such truly concerned stakeholders. He has displayed his ingenuity in the television space where he was a founding producer of Tinsel, one of the longest running TV series in Africa and ‘Battleground’, one of the most watched TV series on Africa Magic channel, attracting millions of viewers to its compelling narrative of love, betrayal and revenge.
But Odugbemi seems to express his creative ingenuity most through documentaries. While studying Film and Television Production at Montana State University in the United States of America in the early 80s, he discovered that there was a prevailing derogatory depiction of Africa and its culture in the US press, films, and media. Then, he became determined to counter the ugly development, and when he returned home, he resolved to produce documentaries that would change the narratives.
Since then, he has written, directed and produced awardwinning documentaries all focused on changing the negative perception of Africa across the world.
Odugbemi established his pedigree as a documentarist of international repute with documentary titles like ‘Bariga Boy’, the AMAA-BEST Documentary film and many others.
The general focus of his documentary work has been to preserve African culture, as well as, use film as an advocacy tool to bring to fore burning issues in the society, as a way of keeping the leaders in check. His most celebrated documentary is the award-winning ‘Makoko’, a story on poor primary school education in Makoko, a slum nestled in the Yaba area of Lagos. Makoko brought to light the impoverished state of the community, which attracted well meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the residents.
Oui Voodoo, a short documentary, highlights Odugbemi’s enduring interest in a wide range of African cultures and communities. In the documentary, a non-spiritual Beninese man is told he must appease the gods of his ancestors, embodying the spiritual dilemma faced by many Africans.
In ‘Gidi Blues’, his most recent feature; a buoyant romantic comedy set against the diverse metropolis of Lagos, he deftly weaves class difference into the film, fulfilling his mission to entertain within a context.
What really stands Odugbemi out among his peers is his quest for excellence, and yet not forgetting to pass on the message to his audience; Africa is rising.
Speaking on the rationale for his love for documentary, he says, “It is good to show all the glitz and glamour but if the essence of your story is lost, then you have not done a job. We need to find that untold story that reflects our history and the magic of the African culture more, not cloning stories informed only by pecuniary gains. Our stories should not only entertain but also inform and inspire. Film making is a powerful tool, which most of us are yet to fully grasp. Nollywood can and should be the most powerful voice of the black race”.
Beyond writing, directing and producing documentaries, Odugbemi also mentors aspiring and young documentary producers across Africa using IREP (International Documentary Film Festival), a veritable platform, which has gathered filmmakers from across the globe to Lagos in the last eight years.
IREP has provided training and workshop opportunities free of charge to many emerging filmmakers, especially those focused on the less glamorous documentary film genre. Odugbemi, a co founder and executive director of IREP, has through the platform convened academics, intellectuals, historians and filmmakers under one umbrella to integrate their artistic vision, with thematic explorations of archiving, post-colonial narratives, cultural renaissance, impact of new media and technology on storytelling and many other salient interdisciplinary approaches to film engagement.
IREP’S conceptual theme of “Africa in self-conversation” drives its mission to use documentary film as a tool to foster socio-cultural education and encourage participatory democracy in Nigeria and other African societies, he explains.
Again, Odugbemi, who is also the West Africa director, MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy, a digital hub conceived as the premier destination for connecting Africa’s creative industries, is already latching onto the portal to discover, groom and connect creative minds across Africa for more productive engagement and business.
According to him, African creatives and filmmakers are fighting instead of collaborating with each other.
The fighting for him is because in Africa, most filmmakers are focused on escaping poverty, hence equating someone’s rising with their diminishing, whereas the sky is so big that they can all rise, create and offer the audience value.
“So, the Multichoice Talent Factory platform is a place where collaboration offers itself as a prime alternative to our individual successes. I also hope that it does something for Africa. It projects us as a people who are able to create our own economy and who are able to see and recognize our own opportunities”, he says.
However, the biggest challenge of making documentary movies is lack of funding, as well, Nigeria does not have any coproduction treaty and bank interest rates are not favourable to movie entrepreneurs.
Odugbemi suggests that documentary filmmakers should collaborate to raise funds.
“Filmmaker to filmmaker collaborations do not need an Act of Parliament. If you are in Rwanda and I am in Nigeria, we like same story and decide to work together, nothing stops us”, he says.
He also suggests that filmmakers should engage in more commercial oriented activities such as TV commercials to raise money to fund their documentaries, take advantage of platforms such as Multichoice Talent Factory Academy, movie residences, among others.
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