The very first beneficiary of the Derwin First Shot initiative has emerged in the person of the talented female filmmaker, Alexandra Hul. The University of Abuja graduate of economics has since completed work on her first-ever feature-length film titled, Mrs. & Mrs. Johnson.
According to the founder of the initiative, Grace Edwin-Okon, young and aspiring filmmakers across Africa, find it very difficult to raise funds to produce their own feature films.
“They are also hardly given opportunities by existing film production companies to work as directors or producers, as they are often seen as greenhorns that need more years of experience before they can be given the opportunity to work on film projects. Many of them suffer in their creative cocoons as their parents and society prefer they go after regular nine to five jobs, they usually feel like fish out of water in other industries and sometimes end up frustrated,” she explained.
She went on to say that Derwin First Shot was set up to give young men and women their first shot at shooting their first feature film, by providing the needed funding, professional guidance and support that is required for them to shoot their feature films.
Alexandra, who spoke to TheNiche about the project, said she recently met Grace Edwin-Okon at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) where they got talking.
“After the meeting she gave me a call that she was about to start a beneficiary programme and would like me to be involved in it. There are other young directors I don’t know that she also approached to pitch a feature story. I did and got a call back. With the help of the one-shot initiative by her I was able to shoot my first feature-length film,” she said.
She explained that the medium gave her the room to experiment and it has been very inspiring.
Mrs & Mrs Johnson is a tale of two women who find out that they are married to one and the same man after a chance meeting at the hospital. The film goes through their journey from betrayal to accepting their fate and the power to move on.
Kiki Omeili, Beverly Osu, Kunle Oluwaremi, Lord Frank, Tunbosun Aiyedehin, Layole Oyatogun and Mariam Lecky all feature in Mrs.& Mrs. Johnson. The associate producers are Gbemiga Oladele and Akua Asiedua Boateng, while the film is produced by Grace Edwin-Okon.