There is a new dawn in the creeks of the Niger Delta region of the country and it is being spearheaded by the film-maker, Jeta Amata.
The main cocern for the young film-maker is how his generation can be spoken about in the next 200 years by the people that are left behind.
Jeta Amata
“That is what we should look at. If you die this very minute, what would they say about you in the next 200 years? What impact would you have made? That is the vision that created the television show. It is just our own tiny way but little drops of water make an ocean,” he said in Lagos.
He was talking about the 13-episode Dawn in the Creeks reality television show project which has the support of the U.S. Consulate in Lagos and the U.S. State Department and is already showing on several television stations in the country.
Jeta, who is the creative director for the project, explained that when he made his first film in the 1990s at least 200 films were released annually, about 50 titles every week.
“That is how strong what the term Nollywood had been from the mid-90s to early 2000 in about 10 years. So how best do you send a message out in Nigeria? Why not use the medium which millions of people not only in Nigeria, Africans in the Diaspora and Africans as a whole latch onto? That is how the concept of Dawn in the Creeks came about,” he stated.
He said what better way to reach out to the people in the Niger Delta considering that he is from the Niger Delta also.
“I was born in that place, I swam in those waters but maybe I was lucky in some ways and I went this other way. So you too can go the same way because the rate at which the narrative that through violence you will make it is going, that means every child that is born wants to be someone who will carry a gun so that tomorrow they will buy a hotel in Abuja or they will build some massive mansion in Yenagoa or Port Harcourt, or Warri or something,” he said.
Essentially, the goal of the project is to help these young people not only to develop the filmmaking craft but also to become ambassadors of the new way of engaging in the Niger Delta thereby changing the violence mindset. The idea is to have a different conversation about the Niger Delta which is as complex as any other place in Nigeria.
These things are already happening with the project, which not only trains but also equips the aspiring film-makers. And Jeta is convinced that the films these guys are making will make it big in the industry making them money along the way.
“Like I tell everyone, I have a five-year-old daughter so, who is this message for? Who do we leave this message for? And I think my daughter is one of them. We have to be true to it this time when we tell the kids that they are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. We have to be honest about it now and not tell them that they will be the leaders of tomorrow and then the next 80 years we are still leading. So, the term I always use, what kind of ancestor do you want to be? It resonates with me and it is important, what kind of ancestor do I want to be?” he said.
Jeta and his colleagues in the Niger Delta Legacy Advisory Board, go to a community, speak with the people and look for seven of them who would see it through. He and the Vice Chair, Yemi Adamolekun and Project Manager, U.S. Consul Niger Delta Project, Adewale Ajadi, among others have been to three towns and engaged 21 young people.