Balancing Act (London)
Russell Southwood
27 November 2008
interview
London — Nigeria's success with its Nollywood film industry is leading to a great deal of soul-searching (see Regulatory News below). The country's censorship board NFVB has attempted to licence film distributors and is making pronouncements about how Nollywood films should reflect "a more positive Nigerian Image internationally". Kiszo DuFay learnt his film-making skills at the Hollywood Film Institute but he returned to Nigeria two years ago to make films in his home country and to launch the African Roving Film School as a way of raising skills locally. Russell Southwood spoke to him last week.
Q: What's your company Taradome Entertainment Group do?
It used to be a distribution company but now we do film productions. We want to tell African stories that are done well and we have various projects in development at different stages.
Q: What are the projects?
We've got three projects that we're hoping to realise starting next year. We've finished scripting two of them. One is Lagos Jumping, a buddy-style movie done in an African way. It deals with drug dealing via South Africa and narrated in the American style.
The second project is The Drive which is about three African doctors from different parts of the continent who are friends. They attend a medical conference and miss their flight but they have to get back to attend the wedding of one of them. They have to drive to the next country to get another flight and it's about the obstacles they encounter. It looks at the different prejudices there are about being different Africans.
The third one is an experimental project using Shakespeare's Othello to make a psychological thriller and we've not finished scripting it yet. It's a different twist on the relationship between Iago and Othello. We're trying to do all of them on internationally costed budgets and we're looking internationally as well as locally for the best possible persons to act and make them.
Q: How did the African Roving Film School come about?
It was born out of necessity. When I came back to do production, the skills needed were grossly wanting. I was trained in LA and I thought how can I have an impact on the industry? If you train someone, they'll never lose that.
Although we have had difficulties with pricing (the courses) and lack of sponsorship, we are making progress. People are not earning enough money to pay for the training so the courses have run at a loss. We've been trying to get international help and are talking to equipment manufacturers about loaning us equipment at a low cost or no charge. But there's definitely excitement about and a need for training.
The courses we run are listed on our web site (http://www.arfsworkshops.com/) and we get professionals from places like UCLA and we have a sound person who comes from France. My script instructor is an Irish-born, UK citizen. They are all interesting personalities and it's our ambition to train the 1000 best people in every area of training. And then I can hand pick people for my productions...
People coming on the course are everything from beginners just wanting to learn from scratch. These include those leaving university, looking to do something in the film industry to professionals who want to come on an advanced course to enhance their skills.
Q: How do they find the money for the workshops?
Nollywood spends the equivalent of US$50,000 on a production so writers for example don't get paid more than US$500 for their contribution. Training is the last thing on their mind. We get some of the training underwritten but it still costs money. And I don't think it should be free. One thing we've focused on is writing skills. How do you develop your script? How do you develop a narrative? You have to be able to tell stories that people are interested in buying internationally. You have to know how to move to a proper template and to create a Grade A production. Then there are questions like: how do you produce something? How do you stop piracy? You need to get the product into the right hands.
Q: Where do you think the Nigerian film industry will be in five years time?
It will have produced an Oscar-winning product with great quality and talent. We have have the creative talent: the writers, the actors and the musicians. We haven't had the proper platform to showcase their talent. These are the kind of people we'd like to go after.
Q: What's your own personal background?
Before coming back two years ago, I'd spent 24 years of my like in the USA. I trained as an electrical engineer and got bored with that. So I did a scriptwriting workshop and acting. Before I came to the USA I was a child actor but was dissuaded from going in that direction because the industry was not really developed at that stage. Anyway, I worked on putting a fibre optic cable from Burbank to Atlanta and got my diploma from the Hollywood Film Institute.
I came back two years ago because I wanted to do a project on the ground. It's a huge challenge but the opportunity is here. I want to create a structure that will allow international investors to put money into Nigerian films. They shouldn't write Nigeria off. If they come here, they wouldn't be disappointed.
Announcement:
Africa's first media market has already attracted 200 participants
DISCOP AFRICA 09 will take place at the Sofitel Terranga Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 February, 2009, and is expected to bring together 300 participants representing African broadcasters and Pay-TV platforms, overseas and African content suppliers, and blue chip advertisers ready to implement practical solutions that could further enhance the development of television content business in Africa.
The 3-day event will consist of a one-day conference program, two days of pre-organised meetings between participants and several social networking functions.
The conference's agenda will include round-table discussions, case studies and tutorial sessions centred on fundamental issues such as the development of sound export strategies for television content produced in Africa, innovative bartering syndication techniques, audience profiling and measurement methods, training programs for television executives, etc...
Social networking functions will include thematic luncheon and cocktail parties promoting amongst other things an educational channel project to be launched at DISCOP AFRICA 09 and Nollywood television content producers who will have a strong representation at the market.
Acquisitions and programming executives representing close to 120 African public, commercial broadcasters and Pay-TV operators will be in attendance looking for children's programming, documentaries, low-budget formats, educational content, Telenovelas, major TV Series, blockbusters films and packaged TV Channels. African television content will also be in high demand at the 3-day market.
According to Yoda BOUREMA, Programming Manager of Burkina Fasso's main public TV Station "24 Hour Chrono and Prison Break are both on my short list of top-programs" adding also that "programs produced in Africa are also essential to me as most of them address local issues and social concerns of great importance to African viewers."
Whether local, regional or international, sport is an indisputable component of African television, especially with the upcoming FIFA's 2010 WORLD CUP which will take place in South Africa. News and lifestyle programs are also a growing success as television access and distribution increases throughout the continent.
On the content suppliers' side, 35 sales organisations from South and North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, China and South-East Asia, are planning to take part in DISCOP AFRICA 09, alongside 15 distributors from Nigeria, South-Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Fasso, Senegal, Congo and Ghana. Registered companies include MTV Networks, who will represent the world renowned BET catalogue, Nollywood Worldwide Entertainment, MNet, Ketsiatek Globale, Hi TV, Star Media, Off the Fence, Dorimedia, Caracol, Televisa, Fries Film Group, Mediaset, Mondo TV, Daro Film Distribution, Thema, Ideas for Films, New Films International, ABS-CBN and Deutsche Welle.
The DISCOP organisation has partnered since 2005 with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). NATPE is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming in all forms, across all mature and emerging media platforms. Founded in 1991, DISCOP East is the only television content market strictly targeted at Central and Eastern Europe. DISCOP Africa, launching in February 2009, will be the first event of its kind in the African Continent centred around pre-organized meetings between buyers and sellers of television content.
For further information: WWW.DISCOP.COM
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