Awards don’t open doors – Kenneth Gyang

Weekend Magazine: How does it feel being the youngest Nigerian movie director/producer – do you enjoy it, or it is just a headache? Kenneth Gyang: Such grand labels sometimes come with pressure because people expect much from you. The, the flip-side is that people admire you for what you do to make an impact in […]

Weekend Magazine: How does it feel being the youngest Nigerian movie director/producer – do you enjoy it, or it is just a headache?

Kenneth Gyang: Such grand labels sometimes come with pressure because people expect much from you. The, the flip-side is that people admire you for what you do to make an impact in the society.

WM: Your new movie, a love story, is set against the backdrop of the Pfizer Trovan case. Don’t you feel you’re trivializing human suffering for the sake of art?

Gyang: I don’t think so, because if we are going to talk about trivialising the issue, it has to do with people who are not Africans coming to Africa and talking about things that affect and concern us. I know of films like the ‘Last King of Scotland’ that was made based on the Western understanding of what had happened in Uganda. They usually put foreign characters in their cast to tell the story through their own eyes and understanding.

But in the case of our movie, called ‘Blood & Henna,’ I felt it was better for Africans to tell the story through their own eyes so that people can get to know what we are really talking about. If we tell our own story through our own people, it makes more impact. The movie is not trivializing the issue, but using the incident as a backdrop.

‘Blood & Henna’ goes beyond what people know about the Trovan case. It goes beyond the victims being compensated, as I took it from the angle of a love story. This way, more attention will go towards the survivors via the movie. Hopefully.

WM: Before ‘Blood & Henna,’ you shot ‘Confusion Na Wa’ and even before its release, is already garnering positive remarks from critics. When is it going to be premiered?

Gyang: I’m actually going to premiere it early next year. Why it is not yet out is because there are a couple of issues we have to resolve and I have been working with my partners in the United Kingdom. What we were trying to do is to see if we could reshoot some scenes. These few hitches aside, ‘Confusion Na Wa’ will be premiered by February 2012. But it has to be premiered in Amsterdam first because they gave us money to shoot the film. The agreement we had with them is that the film had to be premiered first in Holland during their film festival before it becomes official to the public. When that is done, we will then decide where and how we are going to go about the premiere in Nigeria.

WM: You do movies in collaboration with foreign donors. Why is it that you don’t seek the support of local donors or collaborators?

Gyang: Back here in Nigeria, you don’t really get people who are willing to invest in your movie or give you a grant concerning that. Even when you get someone to invest in your movie, they try to dictate what goes in and what goes out and at the end of the day, the movie becomes irrelevant. We have to move beyond that if we need to develop our movie industry, and that is why most times I have to go abroad to get collaborators or sponsors of movies.

Locally, there are many constraints as people hardly believe down here that you can make positive impact or money out of filmmaking. Funding in Nigeria is one of our major problems, till we get that right we have a long way to go. But ‘Blood & Henna’ which touches on the Trovan case, is independently funded.

WM: What effect do you think ‘Blood & Henna’ will have on the victims and other stakeholders?

Gyang: I think the victims will identify with the movie. It will help show how when damage has been caused to lives, compensation should not be thought of as a last resort. There is an emotional angle to this story, every family affected by the Trovan case has a lifelong scar. So, when the victims see it, they will actually identify with it. For Pfizer, yes, they might read some meaning into the movie, but at the end of the day, it is something that we have to tell ourselves.

WM: Does your small stature in anyway hinder your work?

Gyang: I think it has to do with carriage. People regularly ask me how I manage with my stature and the kind of work I do. Yes, you might have a small stature, you might be young and all of that, but at the end of the day, it is how you carry yourself that matters. The way you handle your job, the way you address your co-workers and all that, help a lot in taking away the focus on your small stature and bringing it back to the business of the day.

I think, with all the actresses I have worked, we end up respecting each other at the end of the day. I have heard people bigger in size than I am saying they have experienced that, but personally I have never experienced such.

WM: Have you dated any actress you have to work with?

Gyang: Do you mean before or after the shoot commences? (Laughter) When I first started, way back in my days in the BBC, I pulled that stunt once and that was because it was a lengthy project, but as time passed I learned not to mix pleasure with work because it causes a lot of distraction. So, yes, it has happened once and I don’t think it will ever happen again.

WM: Do you think the ‘casting couch’ syndrome exists in Nigeria?

Gyang: Yes, there are instances when actresses trade their body for roles. Recently, someone was telling me the kind of problem they go through, the producers telling them that they want to sleep with them if they wanted a particular role. It does happen and I see it every day.

Funny enough, the people who offer themselves are the ones with nothing to offer on the set, but are desperate to have roles. People who are talented know they do not have to do all that to get a role. So, when the casting couch comes into play, most times it shows in mediocre performances.

WM: What is that distinctive trait you look out for in an actor or actress before you engage their talent?

Gyang: First things first. It has to do with talent and humility. No matter how talented you are, if you are not humble, then it’s baseless. If you get on set late and snub everyone, it definitely will have an effect on everybody. This attitude could discourage other cast members from putting in their best. An actor or actress has to have impeccable work ethics before I will think about working with them. Then the talent follows.

WM: You are from Plateau State. Any plans to one day touch on the crisis in the state in a movie project?

Gyang: I have actually thought of that, but for now I have a short documentary on that, for which I actually got funding from the United States. Such a movie needs a lot of funds and I don’t really think that we can raise that kind of money in Nigeria. But we’re thinking about getting a grant to make the film.

WM: Since your award for ‘Finding Aisha’, what has your career been like? Did the award expand your horizons?

Gyang: The thing with awards is that they give you a name, but it is still what you do every day that opens doors for you. Awards don’t really open doors. Creativity and hard work open doors for you.

WM: After a busy day, how do you relax?

Gyang: I watch a lot of television. I love documentaries. Then sometimes in the evening I hang out with my friends if they are in town.

WM: Which Nollywood stars are you looking forward to working with the most?

Gyang: Actually, it used to be Ramsey Nouah, but we’ve done the upcoming ‘Confusion Na Wa’. So I’d say right now it should probably be Genevieve Nnaji in a science fiction/zombie epic.

WM: Is marriage in the pipelines for you?

Gyang: I don’t know yet, but I hope soon. I remember when my friends would say they don’t really know, but today they are happily married. When the time comes, you guys will be the first to know. I have someone in my life, but she is still ‘undercover’ because I don’t want her to get mobbed.