There
were film shows yesterday at the upscale event center on Tiamiyu Savage
Street in Lagos to mark the 50th birthday anniversary of foremost
Nigerian filmmaker and documentarist, Femi Odugbemi. Friends, colleagues
and fans of one of the few filmmakers in the professional class
gathered to watch some of the award winning documentary films he has
made — Bariga Boy, Ibadan, Oriki, Metamorphosis in an evening tagged
‘Femi Odugbemi: A Retrospective’. The birthday shindig will shift to
Freedom Park on Broad Street tomorrow. There will be drinks and small
chops but guests don’t have to come in Aso Ebi or struggle to get
invites to the party. All that will be required will be their time to
see another set of Odugbemi’s filmic accomplishment—some classics that
have won him wide public acclaim including television commercials and
the movie, Maroko. In between all of these including a day out with the
family, Odugbemi still found time to turn in answers to questions about
his life and career.
I don’t feel any different at 50
Well, in physical terms I don’t think I feel any different really but that doesn’t really surprise me because age for me is nothing but a number. The length of one’s life is not as important as the value and contribution of the life to its community. I have always prayed to God to live a life that fulfills purpose. In that context, I am excited about this new “season” of my life and I grateful to God for the grace to serve Him more and to do more with the talent He has given me.
Always wanted to be a storyteller
I cannot say I would have wanted any other career frankly. I think I have always wanted to be a storyteller. Maybe if I had been more intellectual, maybe I might have had an ambition to be an author or a poet maybe. Storytelling in all its expressions interests me, even architecture - I am always excited by historical buildings as well as modern designs especially those that display creative uses of space. Maybe that might have been an alternative career. Maybe I could have become an architect. That said, I think the visual arts is still my most sensible career path because it gives me a chance to dabble in these other Interests. I am able to consume the writings of writers and transform them into motion picture if i so wish. I am also able to work with Art Directors who create spaces and locations for our films. I am just really grateful to God that I am able to do the things that I am passionate about.
Motivated by images
I have always been very interested in images and storytelling. I grew up in Ayonuga Street in Mushin area of Lagos and our residence had a photographer’s shop on the ground floor. I used to sit at my mother’s kiosk and observe that old photographer at work all day. I think i got pretty excited by the whole process of photography and the storytelling aspects of portraiture. Maybe that sort of started me off very early. In those days children begged their fathers for bicycles, I begged my father for a camera. I somehow knew it was an important part of my future, that I would be working in the areas of visual imaging, storytelling and creativity.
No parental objection to career choice
No, they didn’t object. Although I think they would have preferred that I was maybe an accountant. My father was one of the first sets of accountants that were trained at the University of Ife and ironically he worked at the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation. He was familiar enough with the people who worked in the television industry in those early days to know that it was more a passion business than a lucrative one. But frankly, my parents were never opposed to my career choice. I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I am thankful to God that my father lived long enough to see me somewhat successful at it.
Well prepared for the job
I have in fact been very active in the Nigerian film industry for more than 25years. I started by working at NTA Kaduna as a Youth Corp member after my formal training in film and television production. I graduated from the Montana State University, Bozeman, United States. Class of 1984 and I had plenty of experience from apprenticeship under some very top professionals both in the US and here in Nigeria. I was very lucky to have worked directly under the erstwhile Acting DG of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission Bayo Atoyebi. I went on to make several projects with Jimi Odumosu, Wale Fanu, Tunde Kelani, Lola Fani-Kayode and others before venturing into the advertising world as a writer/producer of TV commercials. I was making commercials in Lintas and later at STB McCann from mid-80s through the early 90s. There are people who have known me for more than 25 years – Tunde Kelani, Sharafa Abagun, Uncle Ted Mukoro and so on. The Nollywood video industry is as they say only 20years old, so it means that I have been working and was known for 5 years before home video even showed up. I had also been working in the industry for more 10 years before I became President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN). Before then, I have been active in ITPAN as a secretary general and council member for more than 4 years. So, as we say in Nigeria, i have paid my dues and I have done my best to contribute in a quiet way to the development of cinema in Nigeria.
An eventful tenure at ITPAN
I think my tenure as ITPAN president was eventful and focused on the needs of the industry at the time and I think that by all accounts we were very successful. We conducted a practical training programme which managed to provide training for more than 1,500 professionals who are working in the industry today. That is an important legacy because its direct impact is the improvement in the quality of works you see on our TV screen in the last decade. We also founded the Lagos International Forum on Video and Cinema in association with the French Culture department. It was an exciting platform that put Nigeria’s industry on the international map. Look around today and there are all kinds of film festivals in Nigeria today, which came on the heels of that initiative. I like to think that ITPAN has done a lot to provide the right kind of leadership for the Industry and it continues to thrive and deliver quality ideas.
Interest in documentary films
All forms of filmmaking are really trying to articulate a culture. I am interested in Africa’s cultural history and practices and also the emerging transcontinental cultures that are changing the face of what is known and unknown about our world today. Documentaries are critical to helping us express our individualities within the blurred boundaries of the global community. Cultures are in real and present danger of extinction. I am Yoruba. And my culture for instance is ancient with an amazing history and full of spiritual mythologies. Its values are profiled in family values, community, respect courtesy and individual responsibilities of integrity, industry, diligence and courage. For hundreds of years that culture has survived through history passed on by word of mouth. Today technology makes it possible to document this culture, to interrogate it and project its mysteries in a way that inspires a sense of belonging and pride.
Documentaries are also important today less as mere documentations of events and history and more for how they shape our thinking and mediate our experiences. That is a very important consideration if you accept the idea that whilst technology and globalization has made our lives easier it has blurred our understanding of what is truth. Everything is complex and whilst you may have access to the facts of a situation the truth of it has many sides. I believe its capacity to go beyond the news cycle and present to us perspectives that gives us deeper understanding is the reason documentaries are so important. Besides we are also living in a time when young filmmakers in particular are increasingly turning towards documentary as a way to make sense of the world they live in. They are more alert about and suspicious of the mainstream media and eager for a visual form that engages them about real events in a real way even if that form is rough or even low-key. It is a very exciting and ground breaking time for documentary. There is a transformative power to any art form that tells a story that is uplifting and redemptive.
A fulfilling career
I think I can say that I have had a fulfilling career. I have been given an opportunity to do what I love to do. I have been able to connect with amazing people, I have been able to experience fantastic opportunities and in the midst of it I have been able to contribute my quota to this thing call the Nigerian community. In return, I have tried to invest myself in a lot of young people. I have taken the time to provide leadership to the industry by being active in promoting its growth and interests. I am grateful to God He has given me grace and blessed my efforts beyond measure. I am happy that wherever my name is mentioned, it is associated with quality and passion, and for me that is the greatest wealth that I can have. I may not have a huge bank balance but I am grateful that I have enough fulfillment and satisfaction with my career.
I am serious about work, but I have a past time
I think those who know me well will confirm that I am very relaxed and I laugh a lot. Yes, I am serious about my work, and I think that it is important to be serious about work so that we are not sloppy. Do I relax? I think one of the great things about being a filmmaker is that it is not really a job, it is what I love to do and it relaxes me as well. In terms of other things, I love to watch films, I love to read, I play basketball, and I blessed with good friends with whom I socialize. I think I am much fulfilled that way. For those who know me well, they know that laughter is my best medicine.
I have a family and they are important to me
I am blessed with a wonderful wife and family who encourage me greatly. Family is important to me but not as showpieces. My wife is a private sector professional and she is often busy too. But really I try to keep my private life private. I am not interested in the celebrity culture and i certainly avoid the rituals of self-promotion but my close friends and colleagues have access to my private life and are familiar with my family.
I am by nature an optimist
By nature I am optimistic, and I believe that it is within risks that opportunities lie. So, for me failure is all part of life. I would rather try and fail, than not try at all. In that sense, there are many things that I have tried that are successful, and there are many things that I have tried that have not worked out. Do I then have regrets? None whatsoever! I thank my God because he has given me a joyful heart. I don’t dwell on failure and things that don’t go right. I tend to think about how to leverage the talent that I have and how to make the most of it. It’s been a great life with great moments and some not so great moments, but the bible says, “In all things, give thanks”.
Its difficult to say which of my works has been most successful
Success is always a variable that needs to be defined. If you ask me this question in the context of realizing my creative vision for any of my works, well, I think all of my works have come as close to what I intended them to be thankfully. In terms of the film I like the most or the one that is most challenging to make, I think it is difficult to say because film projects are like babies, regardless of what people say, you are very partial to them. However, the film I have really learnt the most in making is my new documentary “Rolling Dollar – A Legend Unplugged”. Beyond everything, there are values of life that I learnt from making that film, and I hope it is successful in that I hope people learn the same values from it. The idea that life is not over until it is over, that if you find something passionate that you are doing, keep doing it whether it brings you money or not. The idea that life is in a cycle, and that sometimes things are good and at other times they are not, but you just stay close to God and ultimately things would turn around.
Me, my works and society
I am grateful to God that there is a side of my work producing TV commercials and corporate videos that provides me and my team enough to survive so that we can continue to do the “Passion Projects” that are maybe not so lucrative in returns right now. But I have a long term view of these things. I believe that it is important for African filmmakers to have a long view in terms of the profitability and impact of their films. In the near term, the artistic motivation has to be more than just making money; it has to also be about making a point. To that extent I am satisfied. I believe that my works will continue to be relevant and appreciated over time and by God’s grace, they will continue to be important representations of my humble contribution to the ‘cultural conversations’ of our dear country.
I can’t quit filmmaking
I wish I could. The thing is if you really have the passion for the arts, you may be broke and have no money to live yet you feel a certain joy at being able to do what you love. I would rather that I made a film that makes me 3 billion Dollars than be given 3 billion Dollars not to make film. I am not in it for the money, though money is important, i am in filmmaking because that is my purpose and what i was born to do.
iREP and future of documentary films
Irep is now “owned” by a community of young professionals who are passionate about its mission and that community is growing every day. We would continue to guide it so that it does not lose its focus. We want irep to focus on training so that we can create more filmmakers who are good at making documentary films. That is very important if we must achieve our goal of creating a documentary cinematic culture, that is not in the hands of institution but in the hands of individuals. Ultimately we would put more effort into our workshops. Our monthly screening programmes are also important as a platform for us to continue to engage in dialogue about films and documentaries. We want to ultimately grow the audience and we want our festivals to become more practical in what it delivers to filmmakers. We hope to go into universities and hold irep events. Our focus is entirely about the next generation of Nigerian filmmakers and the need for them to see documentary as a very important artistic platform of expression for their talent and their views of how our Nigerian society can be better.
I don’t feel any different at 50
Well, in physical terms I don’t think I feel any different really but that doesn’t really surprise me because age for me is nothing but a number. The length of one’s life is not as important as the value and contribution of the life to its community. I have always prayed to God to live a life that fulfills purpose. In that context, I am excited about this new “season” of my life and I grateful to God for the grace to serve Him more and to do more with the talent He has given me.
Always wanted to be a storyteller
I cannot say I would have wanted any other career frankly. I think I have always wanted to be a storyteller. Maybe if I had been more intellectual, maybe I might have had an ambition to be an author or a poet maybe. Storytelling in all its expressions interests me, even architecture - I am always excited by historical buildings as well as modern designs especially those that display creative uses of space. Maybe that might have been an alternative career. Maybe I could have become an architect. That said, I think the visual arts is still my most sensible career path because it gives me a chance to dabble in these other Interests. I am able to consume the writings of writers and transform them into motion picture if i so wish. I am also able to work with Art Directors who create spaces and locations for our films. I am just really grateful to God that I am able to do the things that I am passionate about.
Motivated by images
I have always been very interested in images and storytelling. I grew up in Ayonuga Street in Mushin area of Lagos and our residence had a photographer’s shop on the ground floor. I used to sit at my mother’s kiosk and observe that old photographer at work all day. I think i got pretty excited by the whole process of photography and the storytelling aspects of portraiture. Maybe that sort of started me off very early. In those days children begged their fathers for bicycles, I begged my father for a camera. I somehow knew it was an important part of my future, that I would be working in the areas of visual imaging, storytelling and creativity.
No parental objection to career choice
No, they didn’t object. Although I think they would have preferred that I was maybe an accountant. My father was one of the first sets of accountants that were trained at the University of Ife and ironically he worked at the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation. He was familiar enough with the people who worked in the television industry in those early days to know that it was more a passion business than a lucrative one. But frankly, my parents were never opposed to my career choice. I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I am thankful to God that my father lived long enough to see me somewhat successful at it.
Well prepared for the job
I have in fact been very active in the Nigerian film industry for more than 25years. I started by working at NTA Kaduna as a Youth Corp member after my formal training in film and television production. I graduated from the Montana State University, Bozeman, United States. Class of 1984 and I had plenty of experience from apprenticeship under some very top professionals both in the US and here in Nigeria. I was very lucky to have worked directly under the erstwhile Acting DG of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission Bayo Atoyebi. I went on to make several projects with Jimi Odumosu, Wale Fanu, Tunde Kelani, Lola Fani-Kayode and others before venturing into the advertising world as a writer/producer of TV commercials. I was making commercials in Lintas and later at STB McCann from mid-80s through the early 90s. There are people who have known me for more than 25 years – Tunde Kelani, Sharafa Abagun, Uncle Ted Mukoro and so on. The Nollywood video industry is as they say only 20years old, so it means that I have been working and was known for 5 years before home video even showed up. I had also been working in the industry for more 10 years before I became President of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN). Before then, I have been active in ITPAN as a secretary general and council member for more than 4 years. So, as we say in Nigeria, i have paid my dues and I have done my best to contribute in a quiet way to the development of cinema in Nigeria.
An eventful tenure at ITPAN
I think my tenure as ITPAN president was eventful and focused on the needs of the industry at the time and I think that by all accounts we were very successful. We conducted a practical training programme which managed to provide training for more than 1,500 professionals who are working in the industry today. That is an important legacy because its direct impact is the improvement in the quality of works you see on our TV screen in the last decade. We also founded the Lagos International Forum on Video and Cinema in association with the French Culture department. It was an exciting platform that put Nigeria’s industry on the international map. Look around today and there are all kinds of film festivals in Nigeria today, which came on the heels of that initiative. I like to think that ITPAN has done a lot to provide the right kind of leadership for the Industry and it continues to thrive and deliver quality ideas.
Interest in documentary films
All forms of filmmaking are really trying to articulate a culture. I am interested in Africa’s cultural history and practices and also the emerging transcontinental cultures that are changing the face of what is known and unknown about our world today. Documentaries are critical to helping us express our individualities within the blurred boundaries of the global community. Cultures are in real and present danger of extinction. I am Yoruba. And my culture for instance is ancient with an amazing history and full of spiritual mythologies. Its values are profiled in family values, community, respect courtesy and individual responsibilities of integrity, industry, diligence and courage. For hundreds of years that culture has survived through history passed on by word of mouth. Today technology makes it possible to document this culture, to interrogate it and project its mysteries in a way that inspires a sense of belonging and pride.
Documentaries are also important today less as mere documentations of events and history and more for how they shape our thinking and mediate our experiences. That is a very important consideration if you accept the idea that whilst technology and globalization has made our lives easier it has blurred our understanding of what is truth. Everything is complex and whilst you may have access to the facts of a situation the truth of it has many sides. I believe its capacity to go beyond the news cycle and present to us perspectives that gives us deeper understanding is the reason documentaries are so important. Besides we are also living in a time when young filmmakers in particular are increasingly turning towards documentary as a way to make sense of the world they live in. They are more alert about and suspicious of the mainstream media and eager for a visual form that engages them about real events in a real way even if that form is rough or even low-key. It is a very exciting and ground breaking time for documentary. There is a transformative power to any art form that tells a story that is uplifting and redemptive.
A fulfilling career
I think I can say that I have had a fulfilling career. I have been given an opportunity to do what I love to do. I have been able to connect with amazing people, I have been able to experience fantastic opportunities and in the midst of it I have been able to contribute my quota to this thing call the Nigerian community. In return, I have tried to invest myself in a lot of young people. I have taken the time to provide leadership to the industry by being active in promoting its growth and interests. I am grateful to God He has given me grace and blessed my efforts beyond measure. I am happy that wherever my name is mentioned, it is associated with quality and passion, and for me that is the greatest wealth that I can have. I may not have a huge bank balance but I am grateful that I have enough fulfillment and satisfaction with my career.
I am serious about work, but I have a past time
I think those who know me well will confirm that I am very relaxed and I laugh a lot. Yes, I am serious about my work, and I think that it is important to be serious about work so that we are not sloppy. Do I relax? I think one of the great things about being a filmmaker is that it is not really a job, it is what I love to do and it relaxes me as well. In terms of other things, I love to watch films, I love to read, I play basketball, and I blessed with good friends with whom I socialize. I think I am much fulfilled that way. For those who know me well, they know that laughter is my best medicine.
I have a family and they are important to me
I am blessed with a wonderful wife and family who encourage me greatly. Family is important to me but not as showpieces. My wife is a private sector professional and she is often busy too. But really I try to keep my private life private. I am not interested in the celebrity culture and i certainly avoid the rituals of self-promotion but my close friends and colleagues have access to my private life and are familiar with my family.
I am by nature an optimist
By nature I am optimistic, and I believe that it is within risks that opportunities lie. So, for me failure is all part of life. I would rather try and fail, than not try at all. In that sense, there are many things that I have tried that are successful, and there are many things that I have tried that have not worked out. Do I then have regrets? None whatsoever! I thank my God because he has given me a joyful heart. I don’t dwell on failure and things that don’t go right. I tend to think about how to leverage the talent that I have and how to make the most of it. It’s been a great life with great moments and some not so great moments, but the bible says, “In all things, give thanks”.
Its difficult to say which of my works has been most successful
Success is always a variable that needs to be defined. If you ask me this question in the context of realizing my creative vision for any of my works, well, I think all of my works have come as close to what I intended them to be thankfully. In terms of the film I like the most or the one that is most challenging to make, I think it is difficult to say because film projects are like babies, regardless of what people say, you are very partial to them. However, the film I have really learnt the most in making is my new documentary “Rolling Dollar – A Legend Unplugged”. Beyond everything, there are values of life that I learnt from making that film, and I hope it is successful in that I hope people learn the same values from it. The idea that life is not over until it is over, that if you find something passionate that you are doing, keep doing it whether it brings you money or not. The idea that life is in a cycle, and that sometimes things are good and at other times they are not, but you just stay close to God and ultimately things would turn around.
Me, my works and society
I am grateful to God that there is a side of my work producing TV commercials and corporate videos that provides me and my team enough to survive so that we can continue to do the “Passion Projects” that are maybe not so lucrative in returns right now. But I have a long term view of these things. I believe that it is important for African filmmakers to have a long view in terms of the profitability and impact of their films. In the near term, the artistic motivation has to be more than just making money; it has to also be about making a point. To that extent I am satisfied. I believe that my works will continue to be relevant and appreciated over time and by God’s grace, they will continue to be important representations of my humble contribution to the ‘cultural conversations’ of our dear country.
I can’t quit filmmaking
I wish I could. The thing is if you really have the passion for the arts, you may be broke and have no money to live yet you feel a certain joy at being able to do what you love. I would rather that I made a film that makes me 3 billion Dollars than be given 3 billion Dollars not to make film. I am not in it for the money, though money is important, i am in filmmaking because that is my purpose and what i was born to do.
iREP and future of documentary films
Irep is now “owned” by a community of young professionals who are passionate about its mission and that community is growing every day. We would continue to guide it so that it does not lose its focus. We want irep to focus on training so that we can create more filmmakers who are good at making documentary films. That is very important if we must achieve our goal of creating a documentary cinematic culture, that is not in the hands of institution but in the hands of individuals. Ultimately we would put more effort into our workshops. Our monthly screening programmes are also important as a platform for us to continue to engage in dialogue about films and documentaries. We want to ultimately grow the audience and we want our festivals to become more practical in what it delivers to filmmakers. We hope to go into universities and hold irep events. Our focus is entirely about the next generation of Nigerian filmmakers and the need for them to see documentary as a very important artistic platform of expression for their talent and their views of how our Nigerian society can be better.
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