Kunle Afolayan, the Award-winning Nigerian film maker who was recently in Ghana
for a press screening of his
latest film, ‘Phone Swap’ which premieres at the Silverbird cinema in Accra,
April 5, has described the movie as a comedy drama with elements of romance
with great production. He said, “If you look at the title it’s easy to
assume that they swap phone and that’s just it, but by the time you start watching it you wouldn’t be able to predict where the
story is going, which is something very unique about the film.”
The film maker, who also did a Ghanaian premiere
for his critically acclaimed thriller, ‘Figurine’ a couple of years ago said it
was a good experience because there seem to be an alliance between Ghana and Nigeria
and so Ghana feels like home to him whenever is in Ghana. He
commented that, “Industry-wise, Ghana and Nigeria have been doing a lot of
collaborations and I am glad that we are beginning to introduce new ideas, new
genres of film that has a lot of good production value and can go beyond the
shores of Africa to the international world.”
He agrees that the success of ‘Figurine’ put a
lot of pressure on him: “Once you have set a certain standard, all eyes are on
you and you can’t afford to let your fans and the people out here down. For me,
it’s not really about my immediate environment. I also want to do something
that can sell who we are as Africans, which is why all the elements in my film,
from script to costume to language, music, art direction and everything else
must reflect who we are as Africans.”
In spite of the dedication to good production
values, Kunle is aware that his kind of movies and the renaissance in African
cinema is not fully appreciated by the masses who have acquired a taste for
stereotypical Nollywood productions. He comments: “Every class of film
has got its market; in whatever you do you can set a standard for yourself and
restrain yourself to that. I can say that I am making a movie with a 10,000
dollar budget for this particular market and once I make my money and my statement then I am contented.
But for some of us who are looking beyond, looking
to take Africa to greater heights, we need to increase our scope.
We need to increase our budget because it cost a fortune to do the level of
film I do and I cannot come down on that, it can only get better.”
“Talking about budget, I would not want to
unnecessarily have a big budget for no reason. If there is a simpler story that
doesn’t require a big budget, then the better for me. But if you want to
maintain high production values in terms of sound, picture then you cannot go
below a certain budget even if you are getting your actors for free. Logistics and equipment cost a
fortune and for us it has to be so.”
The renowned film maker also remarked that his
reward for doing such movies has been contentment. “I am building a structure
that I believe a whole of people would follow once I see that I have done it
and I have been successful with it to at least recoup my investment.
And most importantly is the mileage
and recognition we get internationally with such productions. We need to sell
what we have more, it is difficult for an independent film maker from Africa to
get on the mainstream international stage but if we follow the standard that a
few Africans are beginning to do then very soon we will be there.”
