I refused to go to the University because I wanted to be a photographer –Tunde Kelani

July 5, 2014 by Ademola Olonilua and Tunde Ajaja 

   

 

Tunde Kelani

Foremost filmmaker, Tunde Kelani in this interview with Ademola Olonilua and Tunde Ajaja, talks about his life experiences

You were one of those who commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for accepting defeat in the just concluded election in Ekiti State. Many people thought you were just a movie maker, not knowing you were politically inclined.

That is not being politically inclined. I am a member of the society, so I can also comment on issues from my observation. As a film maker I am also an observer, and if you pay attention to most of my works, you would see that they are socially and politically relevant. If you see films like Saworo Ide, Agogo Eewo, Campus Queen and Arugba, they have been described as a conscience camera in the sense that they are socially relevant, so it is part of my observation.

Your recent movie, Dazzling Mirage, is about sickle cell anaemia, why the interest in sickle cell?

Primarily, the movie is adapted from a novel written by Yinka Igbokare, a lecturer in the University of Ibadan. It is a fantastic love story with the theme of sickle cell, which I made into a film to draw more attention to the sickle cell disorder. It could be said that Nigeria is the epicentre of sickle cell anaemia because we have the largest number of the carriers in the world and we are contributing 150,000 births of children born with the disorder on a yearly basis. I thought that were not doing enough to create the required awareness. That is why the summary of the film at the end says ‘know your genotype and attend genetic counselling.’ It is one thing to know your genotype, but to be counselled provides you with information so that whatever decision you make in choosing a spouse, you would be making that decision from an informed opinion.

Some people felt you did it because of your friend, Wale Fanu, who is SS?

No. The theme of sickle cell appealed to me more because I’m close to people who are living with the disorder, I have shared some of the pain myself. If you look around you, you would see that you know someone who is a victim and you might have heard stories that are sometimes unbelievable, and so on. The process of making the film itself is like an advocacy. I’m glad that we are able to involve a lot of young people.

You called for public funds to support the project and some people are thinking you are broke.

Of course, film makers go broke because chances are that funding is a problem. It is always a challenge, and in the case of Dazzling Mirage, we went on crowd sourcing, which is something new, through an associate in the US and the objective was to raise $20,000 to complete the film. It was a good experience for us because we had never done that before. Finally, we made it but something really happened. Some of the criticism came from Nigeria and it is interesting that people who criticised that I was going broke never brought money, but we had response from my brother and sister, the Maduagbuna of Afrinolly, who saw our second teaser which we put on the campaign. They said that they would give us the money and they did. That is why we acknowledge their support. A lot of people have supported us on the project. In fact, there is a girl who is living with the sickle cell disorder, I think she’s in the University of Ilorin, she gave us N50,000 which was very encouraging and very touching.

Why is it that the cost of producing your movies is usually high?

Well, relatively, it would appear high in Nigeria, they are nothing more than between $100,000 and $150,000. Now it is very difficult to define Nollywood. If a film like Half of a Yellow Sun is considered a Nollywood movie and it comes with a budget of about $8m, how do you compare $8m to $200,000?

Apart from low budget, why has the storyline become homogenous and predictable. Are there no new storylines?

It seems the people and the marketers who fund such movies, as far as they are concerned, don’t consider such things. It is a commodity, a product and I doubt if they even watch the films themselves, but the important thing to study is why the audience have continued to demand for them, so it is a chain of supply and demand. If it is that bad or terrible, why is the demand going up? So, they have to satisfy that demand and make business while doing it. The day a consumer association makes up its mind not to do certain things, maybe there would be a call for a change.

Recently, Oscar said Nigerians could now make submission for the foreign language category. Do you think we have hopes of winning?

We will. It is very exciting that the Nigerian film industry is now recognised globally. It is just like the World Cup whether we play well or not, it would not be complete without the participation of Nigeria. If Nigeria qualifies, then it adds another colour. The same thing is happening to cinema but it is a shame that our economy is not robust enough to support it. Perhaps if there is government intervention, like getting a fraction of what they put into football, maybe we can have a clean shot at Oscar. On our own, I doubt if we can ever muster the resources needed to make the kind of film that can compete there. For me, it is really exciting, not that I’m desperate to win an Oscar, but at least there is some hope that things could happen if every other thing falls into place. I am much more excited because I think that if a Nigerian film wins an Oscar in that category, it is not going to be in English, it is going to be in one of our indigenous languages and culture which is the point I have been making all along.

How did you start Mainframe Production?

I have been in the industry for a long time. After my television broadcasting experience at the Western Nigeria Televison as a film cameraman, I wanted to make narrative film big like the American cinema that inspired me, having seen the restriction of films made for television broadcasting. I wanted more than that, so I went to London Film School. When I came back, I stayed for about two years more, that was when WNTV was changed to NTA. Wale Fanu and I were partners in Sinicraft and we started the company together but I wanted to produce. My first shot at producing was to adapt Adebayo Faleti’s ‘The Dilemma of Father Michael’ (Idamu Paadi Michael), which I got Faleti himself as co-producer, including Wale Fanu and Yemi Farounbi. We had everything we needed apart from money, which was about N85,000. It was one of my mentors, the late Alhaji Lasisi Ori Ekun, who suggested that we approach Senator Rasheed Ladoja. Truly, he blessed the project and gave us the N85,000. We made the film but it was somehow a disaster because we really didn’t make the money back, so we were unable to return some of Ladoja’s investment. In any case, I had decided that I was going to start Mainframe as a production company because that was where I had interest, so Wale Fanu was managing Sinicraft. If you have noticed, I make films people hardly make, so it was important for me to really get into it. It could have taken me ages and I needed support so, I approached Senator Ladoja again to explain the concept of Mainframe to him as one that would seek to promote, preserve our rich cultural heritage and produce films that would be meaningful and socially relevant but that there was no money to buy equipment. Again, he took the risk, even though I didn’t pay back the old one completely. The interesting thing is that he even paid more than the one he gave us previously. He paid for the equipment to start up Mainframe, so we had to find the funds to make the movies. Our strategy was unusual because we refused to be funded by marketers and distributors. If we didn’t cede creative control, that was the only way we could maintain the standard, not just the film, but the content of the film itself. I think I’m lucky to be one of the few Nigerian film makers who, for a period of about 20 years, have a body of work that qualifies as a collection of classics. It has been really tough because we have to struggle to keep up with the technology to preserve the films. Today, in this digital era, we are gradually migrating all the resources into a sort of virtual space where the films are preserved forever.

Growing up, every child wanted to become something, what did you dream to become?

I wanted to become a photographer. It was not a difficult choice for me because in my primary six, I managed to buy a camera. Then, my father said once you clocked five, you had to leave Lagos and that was why he sent me to Abeokuta. I was living with my grand parents in Abeokuta. When I got into secondary school as a boarder, I had some freedom so I raised some money to buy camera. I had a friend then, Emeka Chukwemeka, we became partners in photography and we established our own team and practised throughout our stay in secondary school. My parents were very poor and they could never have afforded buying me anything. I was one of the first beneficiaries of Awolowo’s free education. By the time we got to the final year, we had each bought the Alina 35 X, which was our first single Lens Reflex, and our first semi-professional SLR, 35mm. From that point, there was no turning back because I had already invested so much of my time. Till now, I live with cameras everyday as if they are alive. I make sure I’m satisfied with one because after about two days, I already know what the camera can do and I’m already dreaming of the next one that would give me more functions. It continues till today so it’s really exciting.

Why did your father send you away from Lagos, was he too poor to take care of you?

I think it was just his decision that we would not be raised in Lagos. My father followed Awolowo religiously, so anything Awolowo did could not be wrong as far as my father was concerned. For the fact that Awolowo led the party when they introduced the free primary programme, it was good enough for my father. Then, if it was Awolowo, then it was good, so I was like the first guinea pig. I thanked him because there is no way I could have known anything about the Yoruba culture, all the endowment and the rich heritage of the Yoruba culture if he did not do that.

If you had such interest in photography even in primary six, what inspired you?

I think it was natural. It was an in-born thing. I think I was fascinated about the machine that can freeze a moment and preserve it for life. I think it is a good thing. My interest in it grew more and more. I cannot draw, even though I bought the best drawing tools. I also tried music, I even owned a guitar, but the music didn’t come, so I am just stuck with this. What I am doing is second nature to me, it is so natural. In fact, I don’t see the labour in film making at all. To me, it is fun. That I have gathered all the resources and brought all the performers together and they are obeying my command, performing for me, being the first one to watch it feels so good. So, it’s an absolutely enjoyable process.

How did you come up with the concepts of your classics like Ti Oluwa nile, Magun, Ole ku etc?

I think it is the combination of many things. I have been mentored and inspired by the greats. In the 80’s, I had worked with the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Dr. Ola Balogun in his Orun m’oru, and some others by him. I worked with the traditional movie people a lot and shot at least 18 or 20 of their movies. It is so easy for me to identify a good story, do some research and extract the theme.

With all those stories deeply rooted in the African culture, it makes some people wonder what your religion is, maybe you are into traditional worshipping?

No. Religion does not come into this, all the great cinemas that influenced me were indigenous ones. Japanese films are written in Japanese, which is a great example of indigenous culture. Chinese movies are made in Chinese, American movies are written in English, all the French movies are written in French, then what is wrong with my own language? So it is quite natural that I would also seek to express myself in my indigenous language and culture. I feel happiest and freest when I talk in Yoruba language.

You said the things you saw around you then influenced your love for the Yoruba culture. Does it mean if your father had allowed you to remain in Lagos, you may not have been so culturally inclined?

I could have been alienated from the richness of the Yoruba culture. If you didn’t experience it or had some intuition and interest, you may not. I went after the Ifa priests and others and became really fascinated by the Osun Osogbo group and as a result, I did Arugba and Osun-Osogbo documentary. I became fascinated with the traditional process of anything in modernity, it is raw there. God gave us the resources to make it but unfortunately, we missed it. God gave us Ife and everything surrounding it, and we could not build it into a tourist haven or reinforce what the ancestors gave us. What did we do about the rich cultural heritage of that ancient community? By now, everybody should be paying pilgrimage to Ife and coming to identify the footprints of those early men. I think we missed the opportunity. And I don’t think we can give it any more value because somehow something went wrong. It also seems that the Yoruba heritage seems to have thrived more in the Diaspora than at home which is a disgrace.

Is that why you have been so committed to doing things the African way, in terms of dressing, movies, etc?

I am not committed. This is the way I am. It is not just starting now, this is the way I have always felt, expressed myself and done things. That is why I believe I have some recognition. For me, the purpose of education is to acquire knowledge and use it to develop your own. Even though I learnt filmmaking, I cannot make American movies. I cannot match them. There are visual effects and all those things. But I have interesting stories, sometimes very simple and universal, using my own language and culture to contribute to global expression. For me, it looks so simple and ordinary. I can’t speak English and become an English man.

So you don’t feel intimidated with foreign style of doing things?

Anytime I go abroad, you find my cap on my head and it is an identity because there is no mistake about where I could have come from in the whole world. God is a God of variety and diversity. That is why he gave all of us a geographical space and a heritage and we are supposed to show ourselves. We should appreciate our diversities and even complement ourselves. We are not created to consume, we have brains and we have technology, so let us use it. That is my life.

Have you ever thought of retirement?

I cannot afford a life without camera. That is the problem because I still need to do some more work to survive. I pray that I have good health. The thing about film making for me is once you have maturity and experience, you can see what you want to do clearly and you do great things.

Is any of your children towing your path?

No. They were born into it. We lived together in the studio here for their first ten years. They knew what we were doing and they took part but they lost some interest in production. We cannot rule it out but I’m happy they chose to do their own thing.

You don’t feel disappointed that they wouldn’t continue it?

Not at all. I would have been a greater disappointment to my parents when I said I didn’t want to go to the university but be a photographer. When I wrote Chief Dotun Okubanjo that I wanted to be a photographer, he interviewed me and said he wouldn’t pay me salary and I agreed. He didn’t believe me, so he said I should go and call my father. I told my father, so he went and had a chat with him. When I started work after my secondary school, I started paying my parents’ house rent. Another father could have considered that since I would not be paid, he would pay his rent himself. My parents didn’t think like that. I wanted my father to buy me a camera on my birthday but he could never afford it, so after secondary school, I made a money box and I wrote PPF meaning Personal Photography Fund and anytime I returned from an outing, I would put all the coins in the box. I processed the films when everybody would have gone to bed, with the help of my sister. For me, it was fun and exciting. To some people, it was a waste of money but I was happy to do it.

One would have expected someone like you to live in Lekki or Ikoyi?

No. I cannot, because I like to live among people. People there have fence and dogs. I’m simple in everything. I don’t think I can. It is not my priority. I’m a simple person and I interact with people.

What about your parents, siblings and growing up?

My parents were very understanding. There was no undue pressure. I was a bit upset when my second sister decided to be a photographer. Then, people used to see photographers as unserious people (Oniranu). I understand they wrote me off as Oniranu, so, when a woman wanted to be another one, I was not happy. But thank God she is a prominent photographer now. So, we are now in one association and she is doing fine. Her photography is different from mine and occasionally, she does studio works, portraits, socials and the likes while I do films, photography or anything that catches my fancy.

How do you cope with your female fans?

You know I am too old now. (laughs) Somehow, I don’t know how it happens, you can see that in all the films that I have, I have had very positive and beautiful female characters. I have a reputation of never being involved in any of them. My code, whether written or unwritten is, I never get involved outside professional relationship. In any case, I’m too selfish because my work is a rival to anything. Film makers are usually like that. The gain is that we are surrounded by people that can tolerate us because we are never at home. If you have a wife that nags because of your inability to stay at home, such a wife might be shocked to hear that she should drop the key whenever she intends to leave the house. It makes me more appreciative of my immediate family, because I am never around. As a consummate artist, I am so selfish to consider the project first to anybody. When I was single, even potential spouses never took me serious because when I was doing my television work, I could never date in a reasonable manner even if I attempted to do so.

How was life as a young photographer?

Well, I suffered a lot. I had worked after school in places like UAC, AJC world, etc, those were not what I wanted. You have to sacrifice if you believe in what you are doing. When I was an apprentice photographer, the deal with the late Dotun Okubanjo in the studio on Broad Street was that he would not pay me, that is why I tell young people that if they really want to be whatever they choose to be, money should not come first. We were living at Herbert Macaulay in Ebute Meta and I would trek to Lagos Island everyday. The first test came when we went to a party and my friend didn’t want to introduce me as a photographer, he was in telecoms. When he mentioned my name and wanted to lie about what I did, I spoke out that I was a photographer. Then, anyone who had O’Level and wanted to do photography, people already classified such person as unserious, so I was an example of that. But now, professors bring their children here and ask me to teach them photography. Now it is fashionable unlike in those days. These days, photographers introduce themselves with prestige because people could easily think of the heights attained by some great photographers like Don Baba, Elechi Amadi, etc. I admired some of these people. When I was young and I bought newspapers, all I wanted to see were the photographs and who took them. I’m happy that some of the people I admired then, I met them and we became colleagues. In 1973, at the National Stadium, I was officially a cameraman from WNTV and for the first time in my life, Peter Obe was lying in the grass and I was lying beside him, and I was able to tell him that I once applied to him to be trained and mentored as a photographer.