In Ido-ani, Sango Talks Traditional Spirituality

UK born-Nigerian filmmaker, Sango is set to release his first indigenous movie titled Ido-ani. The filmmaker, who prefers to be called Sango, informed that the movie connects with who we are as Nigerians and our traditional spirituality.

    “When I tell people my name is Sango and I practice Ifa, they just look at me; it is almost a stigma in this part of the world. But when you go to other civilised parts of the world like America, Cuba, it is one of the fastest growing religion,” he noted.

    The movie, which stares Bimbo Akintola and others, tells the story of Omawumi Adewuyi and Olamisimbo Owolabi, who are well grounded in their culture and African spirituality. 

   “They lost both parents in the village put on a bus to Lagos to find their grandfather, the bus breaks down few times before getting to Lagos and the bus takes them to a different garage from where their grandfather was and the story goes on with their encounter with a madwoman played by Bimbo Akintola in their quest to find their way.” 

    Before shooting the movie, “we had to go the extra mile to train these children, who played main characters in the movie. They were trained for about eight months; three hours after school and seven hours every weekend. We didn’t just want to train them for our film but as actors and actresses.” 

    Narrating his experience on location, especially in public buses in Lagos he said, “the touts (Omo Ota) will not let us film; we brought the DOP consistently on our projects and for three and a half weeks we could not do anything. The DOP was physically taken and put in a car, until we have to pay to also avoid our cameras from being smashed. And I am not talking about this happening once but it was a consistent daily thing. In fact I hated everything about shooting,” he lamented

    On the choice of Bimbo Akintola and other known face in the movies, he informed that it was based on the warnings he got from marketers. 

   “This is very sad because I think there is a wealth of talent out there. We auditioned some credible people for the same part that Bimbo played, who had what I wanted. But then I felt I wouldn’t be doing myself a favour if the movie doesn’t get out there and I think it is depriving Nigeria of a wealth of talent,” he said.

    The filmmaker cum farmer noted that part of the reasons he relocated is to invest in agriculture.

   “I want to also shoot films on the farm; I want to also make films that could be doable in the areas where I am farming. We had brought projectors to facilitate cinemas in the villages where I farm although it didn’t work out now, but the next film I will be doing will be based in the village setting.”

    Having been in the movie world in the past 25 years, Sango who parked up his independent studio in Central London has among his foreign productions, Quiet Storm and Niles.