12th April, 2013
Jeta Amata, one of Nigeria’s popular film directors, who recently made an appearance on the CNN African Voices programme, tells EDWIN USOBOH about his movie, Black November, the movie industry and other issues
How do you feel coming from a theatre dynasty?
I feel great. It’s a family of people doing the arts. My grandfather was an icon. He co-wrote and starred in Africa’s first film. My father graduated with a first class, my grandfather graduated with a first class also. They were all theatre artistes but I wanted to be a pilot. When I was about six, I was intrigued by the fact that something could fly up there, and that some men could control it. I wanted to control the plane. So, I went into the sciences. Unlike other members of my family, I was going to be the first person to do something different from theatre arts. So, they were so proud of me, and I went on like that. Just when I was filling the form in my final year to get into the university, I just changed Physics to Literature, Chemistry to Commerce; and I didn’t tell anyone.
Why did you change to arts?
I realised that it was natural to me. I started as an actor. I am a trained actor. I studied theatre arts at Benue State University. I was a teenage presenter on Clapper Board TV before I went to the university. So, like they say, opportunity comes gradually. That opportunity came when I was younger and I took it and found the situation interesting.
What is your view on Nollywood?
It is one of the greatest phenomenons in the world. I’m saying this because Nollywood was inspired and built by us. When Kenneth Nnebue made the film Living in Bondage, it was not meant to be a film, it was meant to be a soap opera because at that time in the early 90s, the most watched thing on TV was soap opera. We realized the most important thing which other African countries don’t know- making films for our people’s consumption. If you can make a film that the people around you can enjoy, there is a possibility that the people in the entire state, country and world will also enjoy it. When you watch Nollywood films, you can easily relate the characters and storyline with people and things around you. Irrespective of what people are saying about the quality of our films…it might not have enough quality because of the little knowledge and technology, but despite that, we are able to make something. We started in the market and then we went to super DHF, mini-DVD and so on. Right now, we use the same equipment people use all over the world. Though I may be in the US right now aspiring to make bigger films, I still apply the rule of Nollywood in everything I do; that is why I still identify myself as part of Nollywood.
You still have a cordial relationship with your colleagues in Nollywood?
Of course, I am one of the first members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN). I was there the first day we started the Directors’ Guild of Nigeria, GDN. I was the seventh official member of DGN. I still have a cordial relationship with Nollywood. All my friends in Nigeria; the actors, producers and directors still talk to me on phone. When I was making the film, Black November, I brought Nollywood actors to Los Angeles to participate, and of course I speak with them all the time. I am still a bonafide member of the industry back in Nigeria. Let’s just say I am on leave here in the U.S.
What was it like working with Hollywood and Nollywood actors together on your set?
Actors or stars anywhere in the world all have huge egos; be it Angelina Jolie or Genevieve Nnaji, as long as you have a following, as long as you have fans, you will still have that chip on your shoulder. Not necessarily a negative chip anyway. Working with them in Hollywood was honestly as good as working with the stars in Nigeria. In fact, in certain parts, I actually have less stress working with the Nigerian stars than those in Hollywood. I will tell you that what people out here bring to the table is a bit of more professional because the Americans have been doing this for over a hundred years and Nigerians started doing it barely 20 years ago. I will say as good as the experience was in collaboration, there isn’t much difference. People are the same everywhere, there is not much difference. This isn’t the first time I am collaborating. When I made Amazing Grace, I shot part of it in the UK and the other parts in Nigeria. I made the Alexa Affair. I shot the entire film in Germany, 2004, and Inale which is about five years ago. I did a lot of it in Hollywood and the rest in Benue State with Bongos Ikwue.
What inspired the film, Black November?
I was born in the Niger Delta. I felt the story of the Niger Delta needed to be told to the world. People who travel out of Nigeria know how things are done in other places. They see how neat things can be. Right in the heart of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California, there is an oil well. They put something beautiful around it to make it look like a tourist attraction and when you drive towards the airport in Los Angeles, 10 metres from Beverly Hills, you would see several oil rings, people are working, work is going on. Everything looks neat, everything is unique, you won’t see spills everywhere. It would shock you to know that people are drilling oil even right here in Los Angeles. They don’t have issues, everything is going on well. Why do we then have issues in Nigeria? So I decided to tell the story and make the world know where we are coming from. Not even people in Nigeria understand exactly what is going on in the Niger Delta. Eighteen years ago, there was ethnic violence and it was seen as the worst oil spill the world has ever seen. So, I felt the story needed to be told.
You told the story of Ken Saro-Wiwa in the film?
Yes, Ken Saro-Wiwa was a Niger Delta activist who was hanged (during the Abacha military regime) for standing for the people because of the environmental injustice in the Niger Delta. I knew Saro-Wiwa, I met him once. He was a writer and a producer. My father knew him too. I got affected about the fact that he was going to die, despite pleas from the Commonwealth and everyone. I have always wanted to tell a part of the story. I don’t want to get into the politics in the story; I only wanted to get into the human part of the story. What excites me about people’s story is the human part of them; not necessarily the politics. Even in Black November, I touched on politics, but I’m more concerned about the feelings of the people, and about what they’ve been through. We are telling our own story, we can finance our own story, we can distribute our story, so it’s a film made by us.
How did you get some of the big Hollywood actors in the movie?
When I told Kim Bassinger about the story, she shed tears and said “I want to do this with you.” Getting Mickey Rourke was tough, it took several meetings with several people, before sitting him down and he was like “I like you, I like what you’re doing. I will like to work with you.” Akon and Wyclef are just amazing people. I just showed them five minutes of what I shot then they started coming up with ideas. Vivica Fox is a friend of a friend of mine.
Why did you shoot a film in Haiti on the life of Toussaint I’Ouverture?
It’s an 18th Century story. Kyra Pahlen had met me in my office in Los Angeles and they were looking for the right director to do a story on the revolution in Haiti and they were sceptical about just getting any director. They wanted a director who would understand the world in Africa because it’s the Asian revolution, the slaves at a time in Haiti. So, they proposed it to me, and sent the script to me. I read it and felt inspired because the son of the most influential black man that has ever lived was a slave at the time of the French revolution; the time of Napoleon and all that. He was a slave on the Island, the Asian, the Jamaican republic and all that, the colony that the French produced everything and made so much money for Europe, the Toussaint I’Ouverture and the people rose up against them and fought and defeated Napoleon. Even when the British sent an army over there, they defeated the British and what did they do, they declared their own independence in 1804, making Haiti the first independent black nation in the world. That’s the kind of story I want my daughter to tell, that’s the kind of person we should look to as a role model. A man who rose from being a slave to being a general in an army, and defeating all these people to declare Haiti’s independence. Right now, I am planning how we could all make this film. So it’s not a story about the President of Haiti but a story on the revolution in Haiti.
Should we expect to see collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood stars in this new film?
Yes, of course. I am going to fly many Nigerian actors here for the shoot in Haiti, France, Spain, England and Louisiana.
Recently, Nollywood celebrated 20, and President Goodluck Jonathan promised his financial support to the industry. What is your take?
That is the Nigerian factor. I don’t support the idea of giving money to the industry. This is not the first person or president that has promised to give Nollywood money. Nollywood should have a commission that should look into what the industry needs. It’s not about putting together N350million or N100million down. There should be a commission team that will sit and recognise what the industry needs. That is not what we need; set up a commission, let the right people be in place, give them a time frame. We want to move the industry forward, so that in five to10 years, the industry can make a lot of money and help the economy and Nigeria. For instance, actors, producers, directors do not pay tax in Nigeria. You have actors who earn about N1.5million in Nigeria, they could be on set for only five days, but they don’t pay taxes because the industry is not well structured. Can you imagine the amount of money the government can make if things are well structured? Look at the poor people who work in the ministry, those who earn about N30,000 monthly, government deducts taxes on that little money every month. Meanwhile, the actor/actress who earns N2million for five days doesn’t pay tax. It’s still the same old story of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It is unacceptable for an industry to rake in so much money, without paying back to the people, it’s disgraceful. What we want is structuring the industry so that we can give back.
You have made a lot of films, which one of them do you hold closely to your heart?
It is Alien Attack. I made it in 1998. I made it but the people that bought it insisted on getting their money back. I became a butt of comedians like Julius Agwu. When he sees me, he will laugh and crack jokes on Alien Attack. It was the worst film that has ever appeared in the Nigerian market. Then, it was terrifying for me, because I wanted to break forward; I wanted to move to the next level. Financially, it was disastrous, heartbreaking and uninspiring for me. But I hold it dearly to my heart.
How do you relax?
I relax with my family. I relax by looking at my daughter because it is the most amazing thing for me to do. I relax making films, going out to the park with my family, play some basketball, chess, scrabble and I run on the beach. That’s how I unwind. These are the things I do to keep life going.
If not filmmaking, what would you have been doing?
Originally, I wanted to be a pilot but right now, if I have the opportunity to choose again, I am not going to be a filmmaker. I am most likely going to be a lawyer because I like defending people.