TUNDE Kelani has started 2013 with a double deal for his fans. TK, as the multiple awards-winning filmmaker is known, is back to location for “Dazzling Mirage” and some “Missing Parts” of Ma’ami. The wave-making Ma’ami has star actress, Funke Akindele as the lead act. Kelani said the decision to shoot the missing scenes is unconnected with the fact that the film has not been released, “but to make it a better picture with those scenes that are yet to be shot.” Kelani, who has just returned from the Dubai International Film Festival as a member of the jury, said “Dazzling Mirage”, written by Olayinka Abimbola Egbokhare, is a continuation of his literature to screen approach in filmmaking.
Ma’ami, which has reportedly done cinema and festival circuits locally and at international centres is again attracting Kelani’s attention. Among the festivals where this chart-toping movie has received applause were in Brazil’s BENVIDO A Nollywood: Welcome to Nollywood in Brazil, British Film Institute’s Film Africa and at the Edinburg Film Festival, Scotland. The African Film Festival, Glasgow and New York African Film Festival 2012 also enjoyed rave reviews of the Nigerian story.
Explaining the reasons for remaining unfazed by ravaging piracy, lack of fund and infrastructure that have stalled Nollywood, the 2012 ZUMA Films Best Director, said, “2013 it’s a sink-or-swim year for the movie industry in Nigeria. There in no doubt that the industry has been ravaged by piracy and very slow development of infrastructure which continue to pose great challenges for Nigerian filmmakers, but we are determined to do the best we could, because the show must go on. I am committed more than ever to this movie because it is a story that touches the nerve of a nation, and our approach towards sickle cell anaemia patients and all the myths associated with it.’’
“Even then it is an interesting love story, because all of us connect directly or indirectly to the patients of this ailment. I have also had personal relationship with sufferers of this ailment and I consider it my responsibility to bring their story to the fore. I’m intrigued by the writer’s approach to weave a love story with it and that to me is the attraction.’’ Egbokhare’s Dazzling Mirage, published by Loud Books, is a narrative about the adoptive daughter of the Adebayos. The story is about the travails, and triumphs against all physical and psychological pains which she experienced in her journey towards self-fulfillment. It is about the life of a sickle cell disease sufferer who, by reason of her peculiar genotype, is sentenced to bouts of crises which make life very unpredictable.
Egbokhare has a PhD in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan, where she teaches writing skills. The story is being adapted for screen by UK-based Ade Solanke, nominee, Best New Play 2012( Pandora’s Box) off West End Theatre Awards; winner, Best Playwright 2012, Nigerian Entertainment and Lifestyle Awards; winner, Best Playwright 2011, African Film Awards. Typical of Kelani, the production of “Dazzling Mirage” will be a capacity-building project that will involve aspiring filmmakers and to this effect, a new set of equipment have been ordered to achieve hands-on experience.
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