It was a homecoming experience for Adewale Akinnuoye- Agbaje, a British- Nigerian actor, at Filmhouse Cinemas Lekki, Lagos, on October 19, 2019. The actor was generously welcomed home and appreciated by movie lovers and select guests at the exclusive screening and premiere of Farming, the highly anticipated movie, written and directed by the actor. Farming tells the tale of his traumatic early life turned into a drama for his directorial debut. The movie premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Michael Powell Award at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival.
The movie had been in the works for nearly two decades and explores a real-life mystery. It is the incredible story of how Akinnuoye-agbaje, a young Nigerian boy raised by white foster parents in 1970s Tilbury, Essex, had forged an identity for himself in a violently racist local skinhead gang, and lived to tell the tale. It both dramatises a brutal and moving coming-of-age and shines a light on a little-known chapter in the story of race relations in Britain: the practice that led to thousands of Nigerian children like Akinnuoye-agbaje being ‘farmed out’ to British families in that period.
He was given away at birth to white parents, which were common practice in those times; tens of thousands of Nigerians would give away their children, this was some sort of social experience. It is a story of a young
displaced from his cultural heritage and trying to find his identity.
In directing the film Akinnuoye-agbaje had to go through all the nightmarish boyhood trauma and violence in details for a second time he said: “A production designer rebuilt the house to perfection and I was not prepared for the well of emotions that it would evoke as I was immediately reduced to the 8 years old boy that used to hide behind the sofa”. He also had to step into the shoes of his father by playing the role of his father and see himself through the eyes of his father.
“It is a project I could not live without telling and this is what really motivated me to tell it. It was surreal to stand in my father’s shoes and look at myself from his perspective, and that was both healing and painful and enlightening”, Akinnuoye- Agbaje said further.
Describing the movie earlier, Kate Beckinsale, who plays
Ingrid, the illiterate, emotionally abusive, and racially insensitive Essex foster mother of nine, said, “This is an incredibly fractured love story between mother and adopted son. It was very different from anything else I’ve ever done because you were always aware that this was Ade’s story and some of it was incredibly upsetting. You felt very privileged to be in this incredibly vulnerable space.”
The movie also stars Nigerian, Damson Idris who plays Enitan, a central character in the film, which hits on sensitive issues like racism, discrimination and touches slightly on modern-day slavery. A part of the cast is Genevieve Nnaji, Nollywood veteran, who plays Agbaje’s real-life mother.
The premiere had in attendance some celebrities including; Beverly Naya, Adunni Ade, Latasha Lagos, Eku Edewor, Ifan Micheals, Mimi Onlaja, Akah Nnani among others.
The premiere kicked off with an evening of drinks at the Filmhouse Signature Lounge, where guests were treated to cocktails and then moved to the cinema hall for the exclusive screening. Media and guests present were overwhelmed with emotions after the screening and an insightful question and answer session followed.
“There was this theme of abandonment in my life, and subsequently you make sure you reject before you get rejected, you put a wall up.”, Akinnuoye-agbaje said in answer to a question from a journalist at the premiere.
The movie will be out in cinemas across the country on October 25, 2019, and is a must-watch. It is a story about triumph over adversity, challenges and obstacles, finding a sense of belonging, finding self-worth, learning how to love one’s self and these are things everyone can relate to.
The premiere evening in Lagos was powered by Filmone, Filmhouse Cinemas, Accelerate TV, Access Bank and Stunt Group.
