Challenges of Directing in Nollywood (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

Okay, you made a strong point about mentorship which is quite key. I wonder, how many mentors do we have within the Nollywood industry, or are you talking about external mentorship and taking some courses? What do you mean by mentorship?

I think the beginning of our problem is this localization of Nollywood, right? That’s really where our problems start, you know? Whereby we’ve become an industry by default because of the sheer scale of numbers, and in terms of developing into that space where we matter in the grand scheme of things, we missed that step. So people are forced to play and act as directors instead of really being directors. We have to earn that space of being a director. And it’s not really about, ‘Oh, I need to find an American director or a Nollywood director to mentor me’. No. Because a storyteller is essentially a storyteller, regardless of the context he or she occupies.

You can find a Mexican director telling a Nigerian story and make it basically one of the best stories to ever grace our screens. You can find an American director telling an Asian story, etc. So, directors per se can cut across the boundaries of contexts. They should be able to operate anywhere, everywhere.

You mentioned that as a good director, you need to have a good listening ear to wherever advice comes from. Is this a key asset that directors should have? This flexibility?

Absolutely! Listen, a director is only as good as the story that he’s telling. Films should be able to speak for themselves. People should be able to say, Oh my God! The person behind this film…My! And that’s why in most parts of the world, directors with a track record of making successful films work with the same team. They have the same DoP (Director of Photography), for example… Steven Spielberg has worked with the same DoP, same art director, same costume designer for a very long time because together they have had success.

Being a collaborative process, the quality of the team also matters. So if your team is coming up with ideas that you are accepting and screening, it makes your life easier. Your knowledge as a director is finite. You can’t know it all. Your quality as a human being and the quality of your team are important. The larger pool of people you can call upon to assist you with creative choices, the better ultimately the product you’re working on will be.

Another area I think Nollywood may be lacking is in the area of good studios. Hollywood and Bollywood have a lot of good studios with set designers, whole town sets, the works. We see the likes of Kunle Afolayan creating a film village to address such challenges. Granted, there’s a lot of green screen and CGI these days to make up for that but…

So, that’s the thing. I don’t think it matters at all. It is not about the studio. It has never been about the studio. Never been about the availability of something that looks real or not. Don’t forget that when we are talking about film-making and creating a world, it has a lot to do with how the director presents it. For example, if you are doing a period piece on Herbert Macaulay and you don’t have all of the right props to pull it off, you have the creative license and eye to improvise. To present the film in a way that suggests this period. How successfully this is achieved depends on your directorial skills.

For instance, you can have a gunshot murder scene without actually showing the gun being fired. You get me? It can be handled in creative ways. It’s about interpretation- about how you can tell a story with what you have. Being creative with your limitations.

On a final note, what do you think we need to do to win major film awards like the Academy Awards or the Cannes Film Festival?

All over the world, for Oscar foreign language film entries, usually the film corporations of countries pick the films they believe best represent their national identity or a context that they believe will win, just like the Olympics. Likewise, with Cannes, you enter a film and if the film satisfies the criteria, it is accepted to compete. Then there’s also a filtering process. If your film is considered good enough to go past the first tier of films, then it’s in consideration for competition.

That’s when you get the list of 5 or 10 films up for Oscar grabs. No Nigerian film has gone beyond the first tier. It hasn’t happened yet. And there’s something to be said about that. You shouldn’t be making films with competition in mind. It’s not about that. Tell the best story that you can based on an issue that is authentic to you and your context.  Is there enough substance and meaning to what you’ve put together? What does it conjure in the global space in terms of thoughts and imagery, and questions? If you do that, chances are it will speak for itself.

So that’s the problem with Nollywood. It was first and foremost an industry before it became an institution, and that is why there have been many failures to launch. Because we basically began at the top. We did not grow, we did not learn the lessons, and we put aside the fundamentals and principles of best practice. So that’s why we are where we are, and unfortunately, it’s hard to reverse. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks if you get my meaning. The argument will be that we’ve been doing it this way for 30 years. So we remain a big fish in a small pond. But that’s the reality of what we’re going through- not just in Nigeria, but in Africa.

Having said that, I think the North Africans, and even South Africa, have come the closest to winning in this category. South Africans have had 2 or 3 films already as Oscar contenders. For Nollywood to get there, it involves taking a step back and putting the story first, and the vision for the film second. It’s not about aiming for the Oscar first.

Nigerian cinematography is very good. Everywhere you put a camera in Nigeria, there’s production value. You don’t need a studio. As in, things look otherworldly. It’s enriching. A tapestry of delightful imagery- so hard to resist. But that’s not enough to give an Oscar-winning film. That’s why you see Ajegunle, Mushin, or Makoko scenes look great in drone shots. Great drone shots here and there, but it’s not about drone shots. That’s the problem. This guy doesn’t know where the story is. Great photography, but where’s the story? The director needs to be able to see that.

Directing is not an exact science. You can make a good film today only because you were fortunate to make the right choices. Maybe something happened to align your choices. But there are also times when you think your film is going to be great and when it’s made, it sucks! And people tell you it’s not working, and you’re arguing. Stay humble. That’s why someone like Ridley Scott can make Gladiator and then he makes Napoleon or even Gladiator II (where he even had more resources) and it’s considered bland and soulless by many. You don’t go away with the same feeling as the original. So it’s not by default that the end result of every project will be glorious. It really is about luck sometimes or grace.

So like I said, it’s about making the choices that align. Your job as a director is to, first and foremost, interrogate every choice, even while you are reading the script, to decide how the story is meant to be told. What is the best way to communicate the meaning of this film? And that is what I feel, more than anything, that Nollywood is missing. It’s missing those voices that question: What are we doing? What kind of film are we making? Who are we making it with? Why are we making it this way? You know, those sorts of questions, before you even get on set. That is the ecosystem that is missing for now and if it can be addressed, just watch how many Nollywood movies will be punching above their weight and winning those awards.

It requires a degree of self-awareness that I think we don’t have yet or don’t want to admit to. It requires a degree of transparency or vulnerability which, I don’t think, many like to associate themselves with.

Hmm. Indeed. This interview has been quite enlightening and candid, as usual. Always great to chat with you and I hope it challenges the industry. Thanks a lot for your insights.

My pleasure.