Proud to be African Clothing at Mirror Boy Screening

Director Obi Emelonye, obviously Proud to be Nigerian!

The second groovy event of October 1 2011 was a free screening of the Mirror Boy a 2011 movie by Nigerian Director Obi Emelonye, the general synopsis is  of a young African boy who is taken back home to Gambia by his mother after getting into trouble with a bully. When he gets back he gets lost in the market and then begins a series adventures with a guide called the Mirror Boy.

The film in itself was a shock to me in so many ways, in as much as I love Nigeria, Nollywood and its products depress me as the non existent, plots, production values, lengthy interminable multi sequeled titles simply seem to portray an image of mediocrity that doesn't do Nigeria credit.

This movie was everything a good Nigerian movie should be, the production values were good, with good editing, camera angles and plot lines. The acting was of a standard that most Nollywood films didn't bother with.Genevieve Nnaji as Teema the boy’s mother was excellent, for some reason I had not thought of her as a credible actress until this movie. Edward Kagutuzi in the lead role as Tijan seemed a bit stilted but seemed to grow into his role as the movie progressed and ended with a more confident performance so it was a surprise to learn he was in fact not a 12 year old Gambian boy but a 21 year old, Ugandan, 2^nd year Business and Computing student who had an agent and acting credits from the Bill and Law and Order UK under his belt. Osita Iheme (Pawpaw of Aki and Pawpaw fame) was good and ever pleasing to African and Nigerian audiences but the fact that he needed subtitles when speaking in English somewhat limits his cross over appeal. The other thing that tasked somewhat was the sound quality which varied throughout the film, in one scene whilst walking through the woods the sound of the leaves drowned out the voices and then it switched round and the voices drowned out the leaves.

Obi Emelonye and Edward Kagutuzi 

For all these issues it was a well written, well crafted film, made all the more fascinating by the facts that came out during the Q&A with Obi Emelonye and Edward Kagutuzi after the show.

The film was made in Gambia after an offer from the Gambian government, who in the end provided 15 5 star hotel rooms, 20 soldiers and 5 policemen for security, 15 vehicles and the freedom to shoot all over Banjul. As the credits showed; alot of the technical crew were British, with the director of photography Clive Norman being responsible for the generally soft focus of the film. Obi Emelonye dismissed this reliance on foreign talent as part of the evolution of Nollywood.

The funding behind the film was innovative as well with OHTV sponsoring the film, but it was in terms of the marketing and release that the film came into its own, the decision to hold a release in Leicester Square in a 1500 seater venue on a Tuesday was deemed risky however the fact that it not only sold out but on the day had queues round the block were instrumental in getting the Odeon cinema release deal. This prompted a question about leveraging this pool of supporters to provide crowd sourcing funds for future high quality Nollywood releases, but Obi considered having 100 'small' masters worse than having 1 big one! 

So many things about the movie and the story behind it resonate with me, the whole Born in the UK, Made in Africa theme which was the basis behind Tijan returning to Gambia was extremely important to Obi as he was writing it as he has young children in school in this country and was witnessing them going through the identity issues that the character Tijan went through.

The quality for the film and the self belief shown by taking the risk on the Leicester Square red carpet launch show that with good quality production and a decent even if simple plot Nigerian movies can go on general release and stand shoulder to shoulder with other ‘World films’ in the UK market.

Hopefully this movie has set the bar to which other Nollywood movies aspire to and the business model used will be attractive to other Nigerian movie makers.

Obi Emelonye’s next movie (Last Flight to Abuja) is being filmed in the Tinapa Business Resort in Cross Rivers State, Nigeria and is being produced by Charles Thompson.

I trust this film will be as good as the Mirror Boy and we will be able to showcase the beauty of Nigeria to the world

Proud to be African is exceptionally proud of this move and will definitely be at the premiere of Last Flight to Abuja.

Mirror Boys is on release at selected UK cinemas