As part of its BLACK STAR Season, the BFI will bring to the forefront Nigerian filmmakers who are revolutionising the industry with arthouse, documentary and experimental films. Nollywood has quickly made its mark among international audiences and new filmmakers have emerged, eager to tell new stories and push filmmaking boundaries.
The BFI’s Film Hub Scotland has partnered with the Africa in Motion Film Festival for its Nollywood Nights strand on Sunday, 6 November in Glasgow. The strand will showcase the latest work from three of Nigeria’s most popular bright new directors: The Champagne Room (dir. Olumide Fadeyibi, 2016), a Scottish/Nigerian co-production bringing together interrelated stories and real life experiences of domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking; The Road to Yesterday (dir. Ishaya Bako, 2015), which centres around a couple’s troubled relationship and intertwines moments of matrimonial bliss with episodes of profound heartache; and Kunle Afolayan’s The Ceo (2016), about five top-level employees who vie to out-do one another in a bid to be selected for the top job.
The Beyond Nollywood Weekender, curated by Nadia Denton, in association with the BFI’s popular African Odysseys strand, will take place from 18-20 November at the BFI Southbank in London. The Weekender will open with Green White Green: And All the Beautiful Colours in My Mosaic of Madness (dir. Abba T. Makama, 2016). A hilarious coming of age story, Green White Green is the first arthouse film of its kind from Nigeria and premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to much acclaim. The screening will be followed by an Afrobeats set with DJ Cuppy in the BFI Riverfront Bar.
One of Nigeria’s most sought-after actresses, “Screen Queen” Nse Ikpe-Etim (Reloaded, Journey to Self, Fifty) will discuss her career and the Nollywood star system in a special event taking place on Sunday 20, November. Ikpe-Etim has acted in over 20 films and was voted Best Actress at the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards in 2014.
Exploring the history of the music scene of Lagos from highlife to juju and Afrobeat is guerrilla-style music documentary Faaji Agba (dir. Remi Vaughan-Richards). The film features Fatai Rolling Dollar, Alaba Pedro, SF Olowookere and Ayinde Bakare.
UK premieres of 14 short films will be shown over the course of the weekend including; The Women of Nollywood: Amaka’s Kin, (dir. Tope Oshin, 2016) an intimate look at the careers of a handful of female directors referencing the late doyen filmmaker Amaka Igwe; I Believe in Pink (dir. Victoria Thomas, 2016) a documentary about men who tattoo their lips pink in Lagos; futuristic animation The Golden Chain (dir. Buki Bodunrin, 2016); and No Good Turn (dir. Udoka Oyeka, 2015) a thrilling glimpse into the ramification of a deadly Boko Haram attack.
“I am thrilled that Beyond Nollywood is taking place as one of the BFI’s most far reaching seasons to date. The selection of films reflect new trends emerging from the Nigerian film space which are destined to take the African narrative to new places.” – Nadia Denton, BFI Beyond Nollywood Programmer
7 filmmakers will be present throughout the Beyond Nollywood Weekender to participate in post-screening Q&A’s, including Tope Oshin, Ishaya Bako, Remi Vaughan-Richards, Victoria Thomas, Sade Adeniran, Andy Mundy-Castle and Cherish Oteka.
The full BLACK STAR Beyond Nollywood runs from the the 18th – 20th November 2016 across Glasgow and London.
Full details of the Beyond Nollywood programme can be found here.