Adaobi Obiagbosi-Akanihe is a filmmaker and founder/festival director of the African Students Film Festival (ASFF), which holds over a three-day period annually in Lagos, Nigeria. In this interview with Assistant Life Editor, TERH AGBEDEH, she talks about filmmaking and the challenges of running a film festival, among many other interesting issues.
Why did you start ASFF?
While I was in the film school, I was in love with film. I am still in love with film and I have always loved handling the camera and I just knew that I loved travelling and meeting people. For me to travel while in school, I had to make films because I didn’t have money to travel then. So I started making films and started travelling for festivals and people started inviting me.
You didn’t have money to travel, but had money to make films?
Yes, because I was a student, so I had friends that could handle all the equipment for me for free and I just needed to give them food – welfare. I just needed to hire a camera and other equipment, so I just saved up money to hire equipment and get a bus for location. That was what I spent my money on.
Would you say that your being a woman has helped your journey in filmmaking?
I don’t think so. The thing is that I knew what I wanted to start with and I knew when I was in the film school that I was going to be a change agent because I was the first female cinematographer they had in the school. So, I knew that I was going to be a force to reckon with.
You majored in cinematography?
Cinematography and directing.
But did you get to do make-up and other things?
I did, actually. In fact, the thing in the film school is that you have to be taken through the whole aspect of filmmaking; to know a little about everything. For my second film when I was still in the film school, I handled the camera, I directed and for a time, also handled the sound. So, I was like jack of all trades.
By film school, you mean the National Film Institute (NFI) in Jos, Plateau State?
Yes.
Is it a degree you got or diploma?
Degree.
What period was this?
That was 2006 to 2009.
That was the height of the crisis in Jos; how did you manage that?
I didn’t think of the crisis, I just wanted to be in the film school and I didn’t know that we had a film school in Nigeria. I first studied mass communication at the University of Jos, so when I went back to Jos – because I stay here in Lagos – my HoD was like, ‘Ada, you are in love with film, what are you doing about it?’ I was like, there is no film school in Nigeria, and he told me about the film school in Jos. He gave me a note to the registrar and told me to see him the next day. I didn’t wait till the next day. I left there immediately and went to the film school and met with Mr. James George who is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. The way he talked to me about film, that day I bought the form and that was how I ended up in NFI.
That is the only film school in Nigeria and it seems to have produced quite a lot of young filmmakers…
Yes, we have a lot of them and they are doing well.
What does that say to you about the industry?
Like we always say, we are work in progress and we work to improve on a daily basis. Definitely, Nollywood is a work in progress. It started up beautifully and has positive as well as negative sides. But we are here to build on what is existing already. That was the reason I started my festival. Within the festival, we have workshops for students and we want to improve on what we already have; so that in the future, they will talk about Nollywood not only when it comes to quantity, but when it comes to quality also.
Talking about quality, do you think the students who submit their films to the festival are getting it?
When we get the entries, we first of all appreciate the students making the films because it is not easy making films, to start with. And if anybody makes a film, the person actually puts his soul into it. So I wouldn’t say it is bad, it is just that, like students, one of my lecturers would always say while I was still in the film school, ‘this is where you have to make all your mistakes because when you leave and go out there and make the mistakes, it is either they are suing you or you are paying heavily for it’. So, our students are really trying, you will be amazed to see some of the jobs by the students.
Which do you do more now; manage the film festival or film projects?
I do both well, I am a multi-tasking person and I don’t like one project suffering over another. So I just like doing things equally. My festival just opened a call for entries and I am still meeting people because we need funding for the festival. It is solely funded by me. I only have partners, and for you to invite international students, you have to pay for their flight and accommodation, and these things we don’t have yet.
Have you approached the Entertainment Fund?
I went online and discovered that you have to register, you have to be either in the directors’ or actors’ guilds; but I am a freelancer, what you call a guerrilla filmmaker, and I don’t participate in their meetings or anything like that.
What film project are you working on?
I did a short film in Hausa last year that I am still editing; it is called, ‘Mai Gida’. I shot it in Jos. I don’t speak Hausa, but I just believe in our native languages. I just wanted to do something different. I am also working on my first feature-length script. I have not completed the script, but it is going to be in Igbo and broken language (Pidgin English). I don’t want the normal English; I just want people to actually appreciate our local dialects.
You studied mass communication first; do you sometimes feel that was a waste of time?
No, there is no knowledge that is a waste of time. I enjoyed my time as a student of mass communication in UNIJOS, so it is not a waste at all.
What have been your best moments since you went into film?
My best moment was the first time my film was screened at a festival. That was the first time I was seeing my film on a big screen and I was a student. Then I think we were only two female student directors. So, for me, it was one of my wow moments while I was still in school.
You have been to a lot of festivals in Africa and beyond; what do you think the festivals in Nigeria are doing differently, maybe even wrongly?
Film festivals in Nigeria are new; they just started some years back. So we are trying to get on our feet. I think we are doing well, actually.