Uche Chika Elumelu is a talented actor especially given to the rigours of writing and performance. It’s only normal, given her extensive experience in theatre. Her best films, in her own words in an interview published here, are masterpieces brimming with action, tension, musicality, and drama. Below, I explore Uche’s top five films: DOUBT Directed by John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is a drama film based on the Tony Award-winning 2004 stage play of the same name. It’s a faith-probing story about Father Flynn (Dustin Seymour Hoffman), a school teacher accused of paying too much attention to the school’s only black student. The subsequent investigation is led by school head Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and Sister James (Amy Adams). The film was met with critical acclaim upon release, with special praise reserved for the lead actors. Viola Davis, playing the mother to the supposedly abused black student, was famously nominated for…
An Invitation to the Fourth Wave of Nigerian Cinema
Since its inception, Nollywood’s image has been embodied by splashy melodrama and vibrant exploitation flicks. But a closer look into the Nollywood expansion into global relevance reveals a new wave on the horizon, one brimming with new possibilities as it questions the choices of old. Below, I expand on the examination of a similarly titled thread I shared on Twitter: The 70s-80s are regarded as the Golden Era of Nigerian Filmmaking and for good reason too. We had about 300 theatres, popular literature adaptations, technical excellence, and high story craft. We had films made by masters like Oladele, Adu, Ogunde, Olaiya, Balogun, Ugbomah, Afolayan, and so on. Notably, these masters were, by training, theatre practitioners and as such, their films retained a certain air of theatricality in performances and were generally unlike the art-house film sensibilities already emergent in francophone African cinema (Touki Bouki, Mandabi, Yeelen). Sadly, most of the…
THE ANNUAL FILM MISCHIEF 2022 “LESS IS MORE” COMES TO AN END
On Thursday the 17th of March 2022, The Film Rats Club kicked off the inaugural edition of The Annual Film Mischief (TAFM), a film festival poised to bring to audiences a selection of quality low-budget independent films. The theme ‘Less is More’ was chosen to celebrate low budget films with unique narratives and styles. The four-day festival ran from March 17th to March 20th 2022 simultaneously in Ibadan and Lagos Nigeria, as well as virtually. The festival opened physically in Lagos at ‘Viva Cinemas, Ikeja’ and in Ibadan at ‘Thursday Film Series Club, University of Ibadan’, whilst it closed on the 20th of March 2022 in Lagos at ‘Impact Hub Lagos’ in Lagos, and Thursday Film Series Club, University of Ibadan’ in Ibadan. TAFM screened 23 films in competition, and the objective of the theme “Less is more” was met after watching beautiful films of the members made with little…