After five years of painstaking work, involving shooting and post-production, Tribe, the highly-anticipated film produced and directed by multiple award-winning filmmaker, Ifeanyichukwu Onyeabo, is ready.
The story of Tribe in Nollywood has had an interesting, albeit controversial, slant since it started in 2010. For instance, it led to the remand in Kirikiri of the producer by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following disagreements with his partners. But he was subsequently absolved of any wrongdoing by a law court, which also asked that an unreserved apology be tendered to him (Onyeabo) for being illegally remanded.
It is however interesting that five years after, he and his partner have put the differences behind them and are currently collaborating to showcase the film to the world, as Tribe also gets set to journey to festivals in Cannes, Durban and Berlin.
The film coming on the stable of IGOSTEVE Pictures is set to come to cinemas in Africa and the Diaspora in the coming weeks.
Obviously one of the most audacious film projects in Nollywood ever, Tribe, which commenced recording in 2010 in Ghana, employed the services of actors and crew members from eight African countries and Jamaica after a three-nation audition tour.
The classic African story was set in Africa about five centuries ago, employing the basic tenets of African culture, attitude and temperaments to achieve what the African film industry has been yearning for. According to a statement by the producers, the film highlighted values and vices that make the African continent an effervescent hub of activities, especially in the years of yore.
“From greed to betrayal, to bravery, to love, Tribe is a film that has a good dosage of such emotions in a manner the cinema lovers would be glued to their seats. After all the years, put into the work, nobody would expect anything less than a classic from us. We went out of our way to get the characters that will interpret the roles the way we wanted. That took us to three African countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. After the casting, we also embarked on another mission of training the cast to fit into the roles. The film has very impressive martial arts skills on display as was typical of the African society then, so we brought in experts in this field to train majority of the actors,” said Onyeabo.
Although the film, no doubt, cost a fortune, the producers are keeping mum on the financial implications of the film, preferring to humbly call it “a story that deserves no resource to be spared”.
The action-packed film parades actors like Peter Bunor, Amanda Ebeye, Peachman Akputa (Nigeria), Fred Amugi, Ekow Blankson (Ghana), Kafui Danku-Charles-Dean, Williemena Pinky Appleton (Liberia) and Kofi Djabi (Jamaica), alongside over 200 actors who traversed the luscious locations where the film was shot.
Available snippets of the film indicate that fans would find the dialogues, sound, lighting, plot, action and acting as the highpoints of the work.
According to Onyeabo, known for many blockbuster films in the industry, “Tribe is an African story that cannot be pigeon-holed to any African country. Tribe, as a film, evolved its own language, which is spoken and understood by the characters. They established a culture that is unique to them while being acceptable in most African communities.”