‘Why I made a documentary on Flora Nwapa’

Your latest project is the ‘The House of Nwapa,’ which premièred in Zimbabwe. How did the premiere go? It was a great outing for me. The people who saw the film said they loved it. What motivated you to do this documentary on Flora Nwapa? I made ‘The House of Nwapa,’ because I am a […]

Your latest project is the ‘The House of Nwapa,’ which premièred in Zimbabwe. How did the premiere go?
It was a great outing for me. The people who saw the film said they loved it.

What motivated you to do this documentary on Flora Nwapa?
I made ‘The House of Nwapa,’ because I am a feminist. I believe that we are all equal and that women and men must be treated equal in every way. 
I have been called a misogynist by people who think I hate and disrespect women. I do respect women – I am equal to women – mentally and physically. So, this is why I feel horrible when I meet a woman who can’t stand on her own, emotionally, financially and mentally. It worries me, but I revel in the fact that my only sister, born in the midst of 5 boys, is as strong as the boys, if not stronger than us all. 
She has lived in India for over 6 years alone, traversing the world on her terms and building the bridges she wants to build and burning them without anyone’s approval. Her name is Nkechinyere. That is to say, The one God gave. Jokes: my parents would have thought that it was not God that gave us, the boys, to them. 
Many people have argued that in Africa, women are trampled upon. There is a surge of militant feminism ravaging the cyberspace. 
We all know that Flora Nwapa has been called a feminist, because her work was heralded as a watershed moment for female writing and asserted the place of women in the society just like men. It has been used to contrast Achebe’s work which some suggest to projects patriarchy… by the way Achebe posits his male characters to overshadow the thoughts and consciousness of the females. More still, ‘Efuru,’ Flora Nwapa’s first work is sometimes suggested to project womanism and for some others, feminism. This is because of the protagonist, Efuru. It isn’t clear which argument has won. The irony is, I doubt Nwapa ever placed or saw herself in either labels. I doubt if she was a person of labels at all. Perhaps we need labels; perhaps they help to clarify debates. I’m just not big on them. In Nigeria, labels mostly seem to muddle debates rather than clarify them, and so you have a lot of pseudo, or what one may call cyber-feminists who lack understanding of the ideological tenets of the very label of feminism which they pretend to know. 
 
No wonder you spend years working on this documentary. What was the most surprising thing you discovered about Flora Nwapa?
In my understanding, Flora Nwapa, in her works, did not necessarily seek to emancipate women through the portrayal of the Efuru character, or to sample a personality all women should aspire to, but simply to bear witness to its existence. She was not trying to create a conception of womanhood which all women should aspire to. She was not inventing a picture of powerful women. She was a powerful independent woman herself. The Igbo society allowed room for this, she was one herself and she was simply giving voice to what already existed but perhaps did not exist yet on the pages of a novel. She was being, as Achebe would put it, the proverbial lion that had to tell its story, in order not to surrender the narrative of the hunt to the hunter. 

Despite this interesting position you had to crowd fund to complete this project. Why did you take this measure?
I mean, I was in a dilemma. But the truth is that I still had to borrow to complete the film. It was a tough phase of my life.

Having interviewed a cross section of people for this documentary, what unique insight did you get that you can share with readers?
Flora Nwapa did everything differently. I could not capture the essence of her, hence, I am working on a biopic, called ‘Flora,’ which will star the brilliant Nigerian actress, Mbong Amata, who has appeared in films like ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Black November.’ We’ve started work. We’re going to reflect on Flora Nwapa’s life as a young woman, a young writer, a young government administrator and a young feminist, who did not see anyone as competition and went ahead to marry another woman for her husband.
 If Flora Nwapa was not the most powerful woman in the 1970s in Nigeria, then who is? She went ahead to take her children to Udi, where she went to marry Maudline Nwakuche for her husband. Maudline became the second wife of Gogo Nwakuche. The marriage did not lack, but simply, because Flora Nwapa was aware that men are keen on having so much sexual conquests, she decided to free him legally. After Maudline, there was another young woman who lay in Gogo Nwakuche’s bed and Flora Nwapa found out. Her name is Idu. She became Gogo’s third wife. Idu’s father, from Abatu, was a friend of Flora. Flora was not happy. She had not approved her joining the family. She lived with the pain until she died. According to Maudline, Flora Nwapa was one who would not look for trouble. She let Idu stay.

For people who are not into writing or are not aware of Flora Nwapa, why do you think they should watch this documentary?
They have to look out for a complex character and a very strong woman. 
While you were documenting the legacy of one writer, you courted controversy when you aired your opinion about Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ and the reactions have been scathing. Do you think people overreacted or that you went overboard with your comments?
I’m sorry, but I don’t care how people reacted. It is their business. What I have said about Achebe, I still stand by it. I don’t care much about Achebe and his warriors.
 
Can you clarify your comments on Achebe and ‘Things Fall Apart?’ What was it exactly you were trying to say?
What I was saying is that ‘Things Fall Apart’ is not the greatest book written by an African. I mean, how many people have read Pita Nwana’s ‘Omenuko,’ one of the finest novels written in Igbo?

Not many, I imagine. Your opinions about Soyinka are quite different, aren’t they?
I love Soyinka so much, the mention of his name melts my heart. 
 
As a writer, a music producer and filmmaker, which are you more at home with?
I am not even sure I know. I think I am at home with all.
Since your first novel, ‘The Abyssinian Boy,’ was published, the second novel hasn’t come. Of course in between you have written books on music and made a film and even wrote a poetry collection, what is happening to your creative writing?
Oh well, it will happen soon. Just in a short time.