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Docu-film On Buhari For Screening At AFRIFF

By Florence Utor
31 October 2015   |   10:13 pm
You may think you know quite a lot about Nigeria’s new president, Mohammadu Buhari. On the other hand, many still wonder what sort of man he is and what makes him tick......
Buhari

Buhari

You may think you know quite a lot about Nigeria’s new president, Mohammadu Buhari. On the other hand, many still wonder what sort of man he is and what makes him tick. In fact, many even wonder about his sense of humour and what sort of husband or father he is. President Buhari is obviously a private man and of very few words.

Although the country got to know a bit about his family during the recent general election campaigns, but since then the doors to his private life have been slammed shut. Nigerians are yet again left with only the steel and austere public servant.

As if to satisfy the curious, a film about the private persona of President Buhari has been shortlisted in the Best Documentary category of the 5th African international Film Festival (AFRIFF) which holds from November 8 through 15, 2015 in Lagos. The film created, produced and co-directed by Ireti Bakare-Yusuf of NottingHill Media and titled Buhari and The Burden of Expectations, is billed as an insightful and entertaining documentary about the private persona of Buhari. Filmed in collaboration with Heavywind Studios, Lagos, the humorous, engaging and discerning 50-minute documentary, gives a glance into the cloistered character of Nigeria’s new president through the eyes of his family, friends, and former-colleagues.

In a country where the average age is 70, many Nigerians living today have little or no memory of Buhari’s first coming as a military leader. In December 1983, Buhari came into power through a coup that toppled the democratically elected administration of President Shehu Shagari. From conversations with younger people, it was apparent that many were unaware who the president was, or what he represented and neither did they have an understanding of his imprint on the country’s imagination both during his first term as a military leader and today.

Bakare-Yusuf

Bakare Yusuf

Through contributions from President Buhari’s close friends such as General Paul Tarfa (former military administrator of Oyo state), Mallam Isyaku Ibrahim, founding member of PDP, Mallam Mamman Daura (Buhari’s nephew and former editor of New Nigerian), Senator General Mogoro (rtd), Asia Ahmed El-Rufai (wife of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai), Kunle Idiagbon (son of Buhari’s former No 2 Major-General Tunde Idiagbon), Mrs Aisha Buhari and their daughter Halima Sherrif – Buhari and many more, the documentary presents a colourful collage of the new president in a way that Nigerians and the world have never seen him before.

Filmed during the 2015 election campaign period, Buhari and The Burden of Expectations takes a non-partisan approach to questioning, as critics and supporters alike talk about their experience and memory of the man in his first coming and their expectations of him now. One of the notable contributors is 13-year old Koyinsola who’s simple request of President Buhari is delivered with the innocence of a child yet a chorused desperation representative of every Nigerian student irrespective of age. This is a fun, enjoyable and endearing film. You will leave the theatre knowing more about our president than you ever thought you cared to know!…

Buhari & The Burden of Expectations, co-produced and edited at the Heavywind Studios, Lagos, and co-directed by the award winning afro-jazz multi-instrumentalist and creative documentary filmmaker Laitan Adeniji, aka Heavywind, will be screened on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 7pm at the Genesis Deluxe Cinema, Palms Shopping Mall, Lekki. To attend the free-screening, log on to the AFRIFF website www.afriff.com and follow the instructions to 2015 event and register as FESTIVALIA.

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