Kannywood stories are far better than Nollywood’s – Gidigo

My name is Mika’il Isah bin-Hassan, an indigene of Jigawa born in Kano in 1974. I had my education, from primary school up to the university level in Kano. I read sciences, geography in particular. Being a scientist, what influenced your decision to join the movie industry? When I was at the university, I had […]

My name is Mika’il Isah bin-Hassan, an indigene of Jigawa born in Kano in 1974. I had my education, from primary school up to the university level in Kano. I read sciences, geography in particular.

Being a scientist, what influenced your decision to join the movie industry?

When I was at the university, I had planned with a couple of my friends then, people like Maude Rabi’u Gwadabe, Garzli Ahmed to mention but a few. We established a drama association that we named Galaxy Entertainment Club. With the club, I won so many awards; I won the Best Comedian Award in the Faculty of Science, Best Entertainer from Biological Sciences and I won a series of awards from various faculties and departments. I was even given life membership by the Liberty Chambers from the Faculty of Law in 1997 or 1998.

When did the inspiration to become an artist start?

In everything there must be some form of motivation and I think the first people that motivated me are people like Dan Magori and Co. I use to watch their comedy series a lot; this inspired me a great deal and I became interested in what they were doing and most especially the comic role.

And I could remember when I was a kid, I was obsessed with cartoons like the famous Tom and Jerry and other cartoons. This also made me develop the desire for comic roles.

When was your first contact with kannywood?

I started when I was in school. I remember the first film I featured in as a principle character was in 1996 in a film produced by Jigo Production (Idan Kunne ya ji). But in that film I did not play a comic role.

The Hausa Movie industry has gone through a series of changes; as someone who has been in the industry, what are the challenges you faced in the profession?

Well I had started as an actor, when I met late Tijjani Ibrahim, he started grooming me as a writer because he knew I could write, he gave me the opportunity to write the screenplay of most of his films. He also made sure that I was trained on various aspects of film making up to the level of becoming a director.

Malam Tijjani Ibrahim is a legend who had devoted his life to making the industry a success. I have learned a lot from him that made my journey to where I am today a successful one. He is a pioneer and he left a legacy in the industry.

Notwithstanding, judging from the type of society we come from, innovations and changes are perceived differently. So far, the challenges are all technical. Because to become a film director or even to become a film producer you have to know what the ethics of film making are. We are left behind because we don’t believe in research; we don’t even accept changes in the industry.

There has been friction between some members of the industry and the Kano State Censorship Board as a result of the approaches made by the board; how do you perceive this crisis?

You know in this world history always repeats itself, you see the challenges being faced by the industry are challenges faced by Hollywood and other film industries decades ago. But when the government realises that they can’t do without them, now they are empowering them.

Film is the easiest way of communication between the government and the society, whether the government is making effective utilization of the film industry or not is not for me to judge.

Recently Kannywood celebrated its 20th anniversary, do you think there is anything worth celebrating?

We have to ask ourselves from the past 20 years what were we using before? What were the techniques of film making and even the marketing? Are we moving forward or not? If we are not then it means we are stagnant. We can easily count the years, but where are we, now what have we achieved? I believe if we reflect, I think the development and changes are only few. There is indeed something to celebrate but it is very little.

So what is the way forward?

I think the only thing is we need to have standard organizations with a solid guild, and the guild should be run properly. We have to work hard, we have to learn to research and bring out a very good film. Let the producers start collaborating in making or producing very good films that can be presented anywhere in the world.

How would you compare Kannywood and Nollywood?

The stories we have are far better than those of Nollywood, and I don’t agree with the agitations that Hausa movies don’t portray our culture, when compared with films from Nollywood you will understand what I am saying.

They are only ahead of us technically and we are even trying in the technical aspect. I believe within one to three years we will meet up and Nollywood will be nothing but a story, I assure you this.

Any advice to your colleagues in the industry?

Let’s unite. Let us not believe that we can’t do without anybody, we can make actors and actors are made and you can make films with anyone, we can groom actors that can bring the needed change in the industry.