Cinemas pay me 20% of proceeds –Elliot

As the Nigerian film industry continues to attract international attention by the day, many filmmakers say it is time they began telling ‘our own stories’.

While funding and a general apathy towards adapting notable historical stories, such as Chinua Achebe’s Things fall Apart or works on the Nigerian Civil War, into cinema still prevails, some producers are managing to explore some other relevant areas.

For actor-turned-director, Desmond Elliot, the Nigerian cultural space is indeed a breeding ground for great stories yet untold in spite of several impeding issues. Elliot,  who recently shot an epic biopic titled Apeye: A Mother’s Love,  cites funding as a major stumbling block.

He says, “I will love to do a Sarduana or an Awolowo story but all these require a lot of money. I can’t use my personal funds. How will I get my money back? At the same time, I may have to really convince the executive producer to invest his money in such a project.

“I love to do epics but these are not your everyday kind of movies. I think it is high time filmmakers began to do indigenous stories that border on our heritage and history as a nation.”

Even as some stakeholders still regard the $200m Entertainment Fund intervention by the Federal Government as being inaccessible, Elliot has been lucky to grab a piece of the bounty.  He is one of the few Nollywood practitioners to have openly declared so. The Chief Executive Officer of FilmHouse, Kene Mkparu, is the first person that did so about three years ago.

Elliot, who refuses to divulge the value of the money, says it is strictly meant for capacity building.