IT was a bright and beautiful afternoon in Lagos, on Friday, May 31, 2013 as Prof Wole Soyinka met with the top adult cast and crew for the feature film adaptation of his childhood memoir, Ake: the Years of Childhood currently being produced by a Lagos-based production house, Back Page Productions.

The meeting was hilarious, thought-provoking as well as inspiring as Professor Soyinka and the lead cast and crew exchanged views and pleasantries.

In attendance were leading lights of the Nigerian movie industry including Taiwo Ajai-Lycest; Akin Lewis, Tina Mba, Ben Tomoloju, Yinka Davies, Tony Umole, Yeni Kuti, Jimi Solanke, Jahman Anikulapo, Beautiful Nubia among others. Also in attendance were the film’s top crew such as Dapo Adeniyi, the executive producer; Yemi Akintokun, the director; Ayodele Ayobolu and Kemi Obadina heads of marketing and communications respectively at Back Page Productions.

The film is set in the 1930s and 1940s and as poised to recreate that period through restored locations and period automobiles. One of the leading characters Mrs. Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti is reputed to be the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car.

Nigeria’s history is also at the fore in the Ake film, especially the Egba Women’s Riots of 1945 led by the Nobel laureate’s aunt and mother of the late musician, Fela Kuti as well as Soyinka’s own mother, Eniola Soyinka. The riot climaxed with the famed deposition of the Alake of Egbaland, the abolition of the poll tax on Nigerian women and the institution of the universal adult suffrage.

The film which is commencing production this month is expected to be shot over the next six months in Abeokuta, Ibadan with some select scenes in Lagos. They will be premiered in 2014, in time for two landmark events: the 100th anniversary of the Nigerian amalgamation and the 80th birthday celebration of Prof Soyinka.