The News (Lagos)
Tayo Odunlami
21 August 2000
interview
Lagos — Tunde Alabi-Hundeyin, the sturdy dark-skinned owner of Dudu Production, is an icon in the Nigerian film and home movie industry. When Alabi- Hundeyin set out for business with his first film in 1984, he had his eyes well- focused on quality. The award-winning producer still insists on quality for all his production. But can the same thing be said of the entire industry?
Q: You're well-known in the movie industry? How would you see the progress of the industry in the past 10 years?
A: I'd like to treat this on different facets. If we look at it in terms of social acceptance of our creative process, there has been a massive development. If you remember, about 10 years ago, the vogue was Chinese films, American films, people go to the film houses to queue up and all that and you see these terrible films where one man will be fighting 40 people and his cap would not even fall off. But people were excited. At that time, many of us were feeling very terrible that there was, and is no art that can assist us socially and mentally in this. But one major thing that the movie industry has achieved is turning people's minds around. Now, if anybody wants to watch an Indian or Chinese film, it's just recycling. The main focus now is Nigerian-produced films, whether they are in Igbo, Yoruba or English. That to me is a major achievement. Two, technically, there's been a kind of transition. Ten years ago, if you could not do a celluloid film, you cannot go into the business, and so we had very few films, which were only Yoruba films, because the film industry actually started with the Yoruba.
Then, you had Hubert Ogunde, Baba Sala, Ade Love, Dr. Balogun. I too did my first celluloid Ireke Onibudo in 1984 on 16 mm. Then, we were very few in the industry. But when the video technology came in and now the video C.D, film technology improved and you find that anybody with a good idea and only N200,000 goes on location. Some even do it for less. So, that is positive in the sense that, it was able to direct the attention of the society to our own kind of jobs. But for all this positive sides, there is a side that is negative. This too is on different levels. Number one, the market has been suffused with a lot of very poorly-produced and poorly-conceptualised jobs.
I feel very sad when I see some of the things that are being pushed out, and people are taking it for granted that the society will always take it. When people were complaining, I said don't worry, it will get to a point where market forces will mould these things. As you can see now, many producers and marketers are crying because some produce many films, and don't even sell 5,000 copies, despite all the adverts and promos. Home movies got to a point where producers and directors were not only pushing out films, actors also too started producing and directing. Marketers too started producing and directing, and writing scripts. Marketers for God's sake. You see, they desecrated an element of film- making. Film-making is a meditative process. I have not released any film in the past four to five years, although I have some of the best cameras anybody has in this country. I have also, post-production suites. But film-making must be a product of a long period of meditation: what do you want to work on, what do you want to portray for the society and all that? Even the process of realising your dream should take time. I was surprised when a producer who says he's prolific was revealing in an interview that he has produced 45 films in three years, and I felt that somewhere along the line, people with lack of training and a lot of charlatans have invaded the industry. We went through the theatre arts establishment and we started from stage, so we understand what is supposed to be involved. On the other hand, most of our traditional artistes, who really went through the heavy training of stage and travelling theatre, resort to very poor technical processes. So, the people who have money do not have a good production culture, and vice-versa.
Q: You've complained about quality. Would you say that the poor quality movie is an evolutionary process that would metamorphose into perfection?
A: I definitely believe so. Even the poor situation that we are talking about, is not general. A lot of our colleagues are producing very beautiful jobs. It is not as if everything is condemnable. A lot of guys are making serious breakthroughs in terms of production. But, I am very wary of many of the effects being introduced in films, it makes our films look very cheap.
The fact that we have computers now in the country are making people to be doing very silly effects. Things that should have gone into musical videos are now going into films. Even then, I believe that the poor state of the situation is evolutionary. Market forces have now come in, people are beginning to think twice before pushing any film. And very soon, you'll find out that many people will go back to selling their spare parts or just blank tapes, and leave the professionals to work.
Q: Where does the greater fault lie? Is it in technical production, or in script-writing?
A: The first element of any production is scripting. Once your script is wrong, no matter what camera you use, no matter what level of effects you do, you already got it wrong. So, I'm appalled at the system now in the industry, where somebody will run to someone else and say, 'I have a sponsor, can you get me a script within two weeks' and the guy says, 'next Monday, the script will be ready.' And they sit down and hammer it out. But by the time you now produce and look back, you see serious continuity problems. When I did Iyawo Alhaji, it took me three years to write it.
Q: Do you write your script?
A: Of course, I've always write my scripts.
Q: What role have the banks been playing in this area?
A: I don't think they have been playing any role. I'm yet to know of people who have got funding from banks. Mostly, people depend on individuals who have money.
Q: Does it mean that the Nigerian movie industry has not reached a level where banks trust the movie people enough to finance them?
A: It is the financial institutions themselves that have not found their level. And it's part of the social problem. Even in government, this noise about the Ministry of Tourism is nothing. The ministry does not have anything tourism going on. Our tourist centres are all in a terrible shape and you wonder where all the money voted for those places goes. It is part of the social problem that our own side of the business is regarded as an intangible industry. People only want to get contracts in government parastatals. People don't understand that entertainment is a very powerful tool for social and political development and for attracting good public relations for the country itself.
Q: Have the movie makers met with the Culture and Tourism Minister to articulate these views?
A: If somebody is appointed a Minister for Tourism and Culture, he is supposed to have an idea of everything related to his job, map out a budget and then reach out. I for one, nobody can convince me to go and line up in front of one minister's office to convince him on what to do. We have a film laboratory in Jos, which does not service anybody in Nigeria. They should know how to exploit the place well. But I have hopes.
Q: Do you believe in Nigerian movie awards?
A: Why not? If we can have merit awards at the federal level and our own Oscars, etc., it doesn't matter. It helps. I remember about 10 years ago when I won my first PMAN awards, walking on that stage, felt like walking on cotton wool. From that day, I told myself that I had to remain relevant till I die in this industry. Even if there's no money involved, it helps to motivate one. I just hope people don't proliferate it. It doesn't all have to be music and movie awards. Let them turn their light on other areas of human endeavour and if they want to do it, there must be integrity and sense of purpose.
Q: Is there really money in the movie world? What's the volume of profit in the industry now-in millions or billions of naira?
A: I wouldn't really say it is in billions, maybe millions, yes. And I think people were making more profits before then now. The profit margin has dwindled because of proliferation; too many films flood the market and in one or two weeks, your movie is out of your audience's consciousness because a new film is out and so is another. These days, you see so many posters that you don't even bother looking. But at least, it has bettered the lot of our actors and actresses. Many of them are graduates now. They're buying cars and building houses. Their standard of living has appreciated.
Q: How fulfilled are you in your contribution to the movie industry?
A: The results speak for me. What I have achieved personally is not even the issue now. The volume of jobs the home movie industry has produced makes me proud. In that direction, I'm glad to have been a pioneering part. And the quality of hands in the sector has also risen substantially. Now, you have graduates and professionals as actors, actresses, cameramen, producers, script- writers, etc. More importantly, you see these people ride good cars, earn good money and live well. I am proud of this development.
Q: You seem to have disappeared so to speak from the industry in spite of these...
A: No. I take my time before I do anything. I am also into other aspects of production. I do adverts and musicals, for instance.
Publication date: August 28, 2000
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