A Feature Film By
Ubaka Joseph Ugochukwu
PRODUCER'S NOTES
It is not very often that a producer gets to hear a film idea that not only resonates with their taste and aesthetics but also achieves perfect timing with the historic momentum. When I first heard the pitch of Obidike, I found its concept so brilliant and timely that I knew this film had to be made.
Obidike is an exciting project with easily identifiable characters, employing an out-of-the-box narrative style.
After reading the script and having produced Joseph Ubaka's last feature film "Lilies of the Ghetto" and documentary "The Lost Tribe", I was immediately attached to this project, also how he communicates his visual style and his ideas is what I like about him as a writer/ director.
Both history and non-western cultures remind us again and again that rationality cannot be the dominant approach to life. They warn us that this ongoing process of demystification may lead to destructive forms of anti-humanism. Spiritual cinema reminds the viewer of the healing power of wonder; it suggests the need for synthesis over analysis; it honours the complexity of our world; it evokes the sacred; it invites us to be humble and grateful; it respects the mystery of our existence.
Producing this film is my priority, because of the high potentials of the project. We are now looking for partners/ co-producers as we are already applying for funding through funding agency both national and international.
Eave is where we hope to explore other international possibilities, which could help the film get made in late summer 2014.We are interested in meeting with European co-producers to explore other International opportunities.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
OBIDIKE offers the viewer the possibility to reflect on injustice, accountability, faith and redemption. Our point of departure in the writing process was reality. For example, the story of colonialism and slave-trade that devastated Africa in the 18th centuries inspired the concept of OBIDIKE.
As filmmakers, we are drawn to upheavals that strike the cords of global public debates on ethics and responsibility. OBIDIKE should evoke an inner dialogue and, ideally, leave an indelible mark of western imperialism etched on the soul of the viewer. Our Intention is not to illustrate the injustice done to us Africans during the era of colonialism and slave-trade but the power of African religion, culture and traditions.
Embarking on this film project is a form of reflection on what the western press or historians have reported or written about Africa.
I have always wished for that moment when we Africans will start telling our stories, because the western press has tampered with our history. In the course of my research for my documentary film project on the origin of the Igbos, I stumbled upon factual in-formations that contradicted that of the western press, so who do I believe, my people or the western press? Today so many of us are ignorant of this fact because not every-one of us has such privileged information.
Many negative things are often propagated by the Western press against Africa and remotely many Africans are made to believe that there’s nothing positive about them.
Hegel a great philosopher of the German Idealist tradition excludes the black as people with full consciousness and he concludes that Africans have no history because they lack full development of their consciousness and are ignorant of their freedom and as such have made no contribution to human development.
To a great extent, I believe that we Africans have not recovered from the devastating effects of slave trade and colonialism even to this present day, which was part of European cruelest legacy on the African continent that has contributed to our confused sense of identity.
Today in our various African societies, there's this lingering inferiority complex among we Africans and there's need to fight against it.
Our traditions and cultures are seen as barbaric and outdated because of what the colonialist taught us, with the believe that Africans will never get to the point of self-realization. And this has made us to seriously embrace the western culture to the detriment of cultural identity.
Africa is a beautiful continent filled with fascinating sights, sounds and cultures. Some of these have been lost or endangered as a result of the influx of the western culture. Presently, many Africans answer foreign names they do not know their meanings. For us Africans, names are a part of our identity. A name tells a lot about the person who bears it. This means that a name carries along side with it a personality, an identity and in fact, a destiny. This is why within the African society much care is taken in naming a child. Africans do not just name their children carelessly but take time to study the situation and prevailing circumstances of the time before they give a name to a child. There is the belief that names carry along with them the tendency of influencing the bearer to good or evil.
Africa of antiquity has been a center of attraction for many. The great civilizations of the world began in Africa. This was the reason why ancient philosophers and scholars visited Africa to develop their philosophical doctrines. Izu Onyeocha writes that Africa was an intellectual Mecca to European scholars in antiquity.
As I conclude this reflection, let us remember that our past was indeed glorious. OBIDIKE Film Project was born out of the desire to preserve the culture of our people, it is said that within the culture of a people, lies their identity, if we lose our culture we have lost our identity.
Some of the Africans in the Diaspora don’t know what the culture of their people is like but through this film project; they will be afforded the opportunity to know more about their culture and the untold story of western invasion across the Niger.
Africa is one of the continents with a very strong cultural heritage. And there is need for us to keep visual documentations of our traditional beliefs, culture and history for this present generation and generation to come since culture is considered as people way of life.
OBIDIKE is not a film about Colonialism and Slave-trade but a film about the core value of African Tradition, Culture and Religious belief. It is not the appropriation of exotic imagery packaged for consumption by another. It is, first and foremost, the result of a long journey inwards where we examined our presumptions and rummaged through our archives of experiences, all the while searching for revelations.
In conclusion, according to research, the best form of communicating tool is through filmmaking, which is a catalyst for positive change
PRODUCTION NOTES
I did the first draft of the script the year 1999, after conceiving the idea of making an epic film December 1998. it took me 16 years down the line to raise fund and shoot this project.
The story idea was born out of wrong impression that the western press publishes about Africa and I've always dreamt of we Africans telling our stories without prejudice. OBIDIKE is not just a story that someone sat in a room and made up. It's a slavery story from an Igbo-man experience of the slave trade, which lead to the Igbo landing case in the U.S.A
The final draft came out of extensive EAVE Master-class workshop with some European facilitators like Jacques Akchoti [Script Consultant France] and Roshanak Behesht Nedjad [Head of studies/ production tutor, Germany]
16 years after the development of the first draft was just a perfect moment to get the film made, following the trend of Films like “Django Unchained” from the new wave master Quentin Tarantino and “12 years of slave” from Steve Mc-queen. OBIDIKE is the completion of the slavery trilogy, because those slaves where taking from Africa and without the root the story will not be complete.
During my preproduction phase, I had wanted to shoot this film in a village in Ogun state because of fear of having the white cast in the film being kidnapped in Anambra state, but after my location scouting there were so many element mixing and it would have been a disaster if had risked shooting this project in Ogun state.
The day I visited Ugbenu where the film was finally shot in Anambra state, the homeland of most of these slaves, those missing elements that we couldn’t find in Ogun state where at our beck and calls, then I told myself that this is the perfect location for this project and with the blessings of Ugbenu town elders and igbo ancestors, our shoot went well.
Both the cast and crew gave their best without any reservations and more kudos to the courage of our lead actor, who lost in paternal aunty during our production coupled with his late father in the morgue.