A Peep Into Kunle Afolayan’s The CEO

* This Movie Has Potentials To Be The Best From Africa — Jimmy Jean Louis
* We Will Continue To Support Nollywood — Bank Of Industry

IN 2005, when filmmaker Kunle Afolayan left his seven-year banking experience to embrace acting, which used to be a side job, it came as a surprise to his colleagues. However, being the son of famous theatre and Yoruba film director, producer and actor in the 70’s, late Adeyemi ‘Ade Love’ Afolayan, that move was just natural.

By the time Kunle headed for the New York Film Academy in the United States of America, where he took a course in acting, it became obvious to many that he’s a chip of the old block.

As an actor, his first movie was in 1998 when he featured in Tunde Kelani’s Sawordoide, but he gained wide praise as a filmmaker with his first feature film, Irapada, which announced the arrival of a unique voice in the industry.

By the time he released Araromire (The Figurine) and followed up with Phone Swap and most recently October 1, it was clear that Afolayan, who is the founder of Golden Effects Pictures, is not a fluke. So, when he recently unveiled plans to work on a pan-Africa movie project, The CEO, many predicted that a new record is about to be set in the continent’s motion picture industry.

Having financed the movie through its NollyFund scheme designed to support the creative industry, the MD of Bank of Industry (BOI) Rasheed Olaoluwa and his team recently visited the production crew on location in Lagos. The visit, which afforded BOI an opportunity to have a feel of real life film production, shows that the cast and crew of the movie have literary woken up the once sleepy Inagbe Resort in one of the creeks of Lagos. There have been several movements in and out of the resort since shooting commenced, with the locals making good cash ferrying visitors in and out of the Island.

Multiple Grammy award-winner Angelique Kidjo, who arrived Nigeria with her hubby Jean Hebrail, stars in The CEO alongside Nigerian-born U.K.-based actor, Wale Ojo, Haitian actor, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Fatym Layache, Nico Ranagio, Kemi Lala Akindoju and Hilda Dokubo. As expected, Kunle is working with a familiar crew, including Tunde Babalola as scriptwriter, veteran production designer Pat Nebo, the award winning cinematographer Yinka Edwards and adept production manager Bose Oshin.

Aside for the financial reward, it seems Afolayan is on this project to make a bold statement. And from the mood and comments from the crew on location, it seems The CEO has become an African project.

“I’ve always wondered why a film from Nigeria will not be shown in other countries in Africa not to talk of the rest of the world. We have very big market in those other countries, so why are we not utilizing those opportunities? The only country where there seems to be very close relationship between two industries will be Nigeria and Ghana. Everything outside Nigeria and Ghana, if you travel far North, the Egyptians, the Moroccans, the Algerians, and the Tunisians, they are not into Nigerian films; we don’t watch their films here either,” Afolayan hinted.

According to the filmmaker, time has come to connect the entire continent through motion picture.

“In the Francophone African countries, even places as close as Ouagadougou and Ivory Coast, they watch little of Nollywood films dues to language barrier. The only catch for them is that we have large number of Yoruba people in Abidjan. But with this movie, we intend to connect Africa and then take our story to the world,” he said.

From Lagos, the production crew will move to Ivory Coast, Kenya, South Africa and Paris where some of the scenes will be shot.

“We are hoping that by the end of the year, we should have a rough cut of the first cut, by April next years, we should have the final film,” Afolayan assured.

While commending BOI for the NollyFund facility, Afolayan noted that, “if that wasn’t available, I’m sure we wouldn’t have started; that has helped us. A lot of people here are aware that we took loan from BOI because every time I’m talking to actors, I make that clear to them.”

He continued: “Even the Director of Photography (DOP), they are getting used to the Nigerian system where we dream and we just work to achieve it with our little resources. If we have more of these initiatives from banks, where they believe in your vision, even if you don’t have collateral, it will help the industry a great deal,” he said.

He however thanked the MD for making the process of accessing the fund easier for filmmakers, urging the bank to also consider film sponsorship.

“I remember four years ago, when they started, I applied but when I saw all the requirements, I ran away; I don’t have properties to put down. But when you came with the team, the whole thing worked. But you can go further maybe doing a bit of sponsorship, because this is a film that will really travel. We’ve been watching some of the things that we’ve done, even the media, they should write it down, ‘this is going to be a revolution in Africa cinema. It’s no longer about Nigeria; this is about taking Africa to the world.

“All of those people, who are involved, like Air France, will fly with the product anywhere the film goes. And the lifespan of the film is forever; it’s enteral. I think it should be a marriage; it should be on going. For you to have come here, I’m sure that the relationship is growing bigger. I pray that we will all have cause to celebrate later,” he said.

Responding, Olaoluwa expressed satisfaction at the level of work so far on the project, assuring filmmakers of BOI’s resolve to support Nollywood.

“When we introduced the NollyFund, we had three objectives. First is to ensure that people like you (Afolayan) that have shown that quality and track record can be supported to actually elevate the quality to international standard. The second one is to ensure that we can support movie distribution in a different paradigm. The last time, we had a discussion surrounding neighbourhood community cinemas; we are still working on that and we are going to pursue entrepreneurs that want to do business in that regard. The third element of that objective is to actually support the establishment of international quality movie studios in Nigeria,” he said.

Expressing confidence on Kunle Afolayan as a filmmaker, the MD said, “we are really pleased to be here; you happened to be the first beneficiary under our NollyFund. So, it was important that we come here to show support for you and the cast. We are a development Bank and our objective is essentially to ensure that all the critical sectors of Nigeria get support from BOI. I’m pleased and proud that you’ve been a pacesetter in this regard; you’ve done very successful productions in the past. We have no doubt that this is going to be an absolute blast,” he said.

Originally, Jimmy Jean Louis scenes were to be shot in Ivory Coast, but due to the national elections taking place in the country this October, the director decided to bring the Hollywood star to Lagos to shoot interiors scenes, while the rest will be done in Ivory coast on a later date.

“It was on Tuesday and I only had a window of four days, because I have to go back to Toronto today actually. It’s good to be here; I think I’m doing a movie that is really worthy. I’ve been talking to Kunle about this project for few months and now here we are, doing The CEO, which is going to represent Africa the best possible way as far as the cinema is concerned,” Jimmy said.

For the Hollywood star, the time has come for Africa to tell its own story, adding that working with Kunle Afolayan on The CEO is like a ream come true.

“We’ve been trying to work together for a long time and this is the project that brought us together. This movie has the potential to become one of the best movies coming from Nigeria and Africa, with African directors, African producers and African talents. If this movie crosses over, then it will open the door for other African movies, which will help in telling the right story about Africa,” he said.