I wanted to act, but became producer – Iyantama

Hamisu Lamido Iyantama, a producer, actor and script writer, is one of the founders of Kannywood. Also a politician, he contested for governor of Kano State on the ticket of the Action Democratic (AD) during the 2007 elections. In this interview with Weekend Magazine, the 51-year-old artist talked about why he is focused on filmmaking, […]

Hamisu Lamido Iyantama, a producer, actor and script writer, is one of the founders of Kannywood. Also a politician, he contested for governor of Kano State on the ticket of the Action Democratic (AD) during the 2007 elections. In this interview with Weekend Magazine, the 51-year-old artist talked about why he is focused on filmmaking, his plans for Kannywood, and more. Excerpts:

Weekend Magazine: A lot of people have asked if you have quit Kannywood because they weren’t seeing you in new films or watched those you have produced. What happened?

Hamisu Lamido Iyantama: I haven’t quit Kannywood. One thing I want people to know is that producing films requires prudent and diligent planning. It also requires coming up with a new concept that will capture the attention of people. Even before now, if you follow the antecedents and history of Iyantama Multimedia, I don’t release many films at a time, but usually one or two in a year. What made me take a break is because things have changed and the marketing and distribution of our films has been in shambles. We started from video cassette to CD and now DVD. At a point we weren’t recovering what we invested in producing the film. I know filmmaking is not all about making money, but also to create awareness, entertain and educate people. However, without getting your money back, one would still have the fear of spending money to produce films. So I took a break to re-strategize.

WM: Why did you choose to focus on filmmaking when you returned?

Iyantama: At a point in the past we used to get back what we spent at cinemas, even before our films hit the market, but the culture of going to cinemas gradually died down. Now that the culture is being revived and modern cinemas are springing up and TV stations buy our films, it has inspired me to return to filmmaking.  

WM: How many films have you produced or featured in, so far, after your return?

Iyantama: I have produced about seven films. There’s ‘Uwar Bari’ and ‘Wayar Hannu’, both on family issues. There was also ‘Wuta a Makera’, a film on Kannywood where I depicted what was really happening in the industry. I also produced ‘Dan Baiwa’.

There are also ‘Hakki’, ‘Wuta a Masaka’ and ‘Yanci’, all yet to be released. We are at post-production stage and plan to take the films to TV stations and cinemas before we finally release them into the market.

WM: What would you say is the major difference between what you used to produce and your latest works?

Iyantama: I don’t want to say much so as not to sound like one blowing his trumpet, but my films would be different from the films people watch.

WM: Having been away for a while, what differences have you noticed in today’s filmmaking?

Iyantama: We mainly used to use analogue equipment, but we have now gone digital. In terms of lightning, before now, if we don’t have electricity we can’t shoot a film, but now we have rechargeable lights that enable us shoot for 12 hours.

WM: Since your return, who have you enjoyed working with the most?

Iyantama:  Enjoyed working with Hafizu Bello, who directed all my new seven films. We also know he is a famous director in Kannywood. He has directed several Kannywood block-busters. He studied filmmaking in England and the United States of America. 

WM: What plans do you have now in 2018?

Iyantama: I intend to produce about ten films in 2018.

WM: You worked with many actors back then and now you work with new ones. Why is that?

Iyantama: In my new films we cast both old and new actors. Among the old is Baballe Hayatu. In filmmaking it is not about old or new actors, although there are films that require new faces, while others need old hands. There’s the type of film where putting new actors wouldn’t give you what you want. The new faces I used in some of my films include actress Halima Ibrahim, Garzali Miko, Fatima AbdurRahman da Wasila Abubakar and several more. If you watch them you wouldn’t even know they are new because we made sure they acted professionally. In some of them, I played the role of artistic director, where I told the actors what to do in terms of mood and reaction.

WM: What challenges have you been facing?

Iyantama: The challenges were minor. One was from our sound team. They didn’t do a good job, and I didn’t notice till during editing. The sound was poor. I had to call the actors to the studio to say what they have already said while onset. The second challenge that I faced was also during editing. The editors didn’t want me to be with them while they were editing. They wanted the director or producer to just give them the work and go. 

WM: What is your vision for Kannywood?

Iyantama: Any time I am with prominent people, like traditional rulers or clergy men, they urge me to produce films so the young don’t disrupt the industry.

I want to change the storyline of Kannywood from the usual ones. I also want to improve the marketing of our films and start taking my films to Cameroun, Niger Republic, Chad and many other countries. We are targeting their cinemas. All my films would have Arabic and French subtitles. With these seven films I am targeting the world market. I want the films to be shown in France and other francophone countries. I’m also thinking of collaborating with other filmmakers in the world.