Here is an interview with the director:

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR FEMI AGBAYEWA

Nollywood USA
By Olu Ajayi


The streets of Brooklyn, New York are alive with the sounds of a Puerto Rican block carnival, the girls, the ballers and the goons are out. Welcome to NYC, in the middle of this energetic crowd is Nigerian Born Film director Femi Agbayewa. He appears to be at home in amongst the chaos, culture and utopia, Femi’s watchful eye surveys the crowd, he spots me approaching him with my hand extended, my tape recorder out and a wry smile comes across his face. He’s officially ready to tell the world about his endeavors and why you should watch his latest movie God’s Own Country.

Where were you born?
I was born Oluwafemi Akinbobola Agbayewa in Ibadan, Nigeria but I moved when I was very young. My father and mother always made sure us kids knew where we were from.

What made you want to make movies?
Basically, I wanted to tell stories and I can’t sing and dance or rap the only thing left was writing and movies. So I decided to tackle both.

You’ve labeled your foray into film as Nollywood, USA why?
Because I look at this as the next logical step, in North America you have black film and they rarely touch on the African story and when they do it is usually mired in stereotypes. The same goes for African movies they often don’t touch on the American experience and when they do it is often dated or stereotypical. I have an understanding of both the North American and African point of view, so I see where the gaps can be filled. I’ve been traveling back and forth between and each time I bring back a piece of culture and reality it creates dialogue as people want to no more about their brother and sisters in Africa and vice-versa. That’s why my movies deal with shattering myths and focusing on reality.

Reality seems to be a common theme in your movies, why is it such a strong influence in your works?
The name of my production company is Real-Livin and that stands for Revolution Equals an Altered state of Livin. Reality is the best teacher because it is real, there is no fantasy its just rawness of life and if I can reflect that on the screen then it means you’re gaining access to a way of living that goes beyond an image.




How do you change the images that black Africa and black America see and have of each other?
That’s why I came to Nigeria to finish up my movie God’s Own Country; I wanted people to see real images of Africa from an African point of view. You know the shit that CNN couldn’t or wouldn’t show you. We filmed in Mushin, Oshodi, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Festac, and Surulerre. When I went to America I showed our brothers and sisters over there the footage, with their own two eyes they caught a glimpse of life in Africa and they saw is different from the images that White America shows them. God’s Own Country is going to have the same affect on Black Africa cause they’re gonna see this movie and understand that Ike Ajayi’s story is their story and through his eyes they will be able to see a side of American life they’ve never seen before. Every movie I make, everything I touch is about bridging gaps and uniting our people so we can move forward. Everything is else is secondary.

Describe God’s Own Country in one word.
Power

What do you mean?
God’s Own Country is more than just a movie. It represents the taking back of the black image. Right now the media landscape has us dancing like fools, shooting and disrespecting each other for a dollar. Black people are only thought of in certain terms, what’s even crazier is that we are trying to live up to those stereotypes. That’s why the making of God’s Own Country is important because it’s a self-financed project whose sole purpose is to introduce culture into the image equation. I followed a simple formula when making God’s Own Country; Control the media, you control your image; Control your image then you can control the message. Now you talk about what you wanna talk about instead of what is dictated to you. I’m about smashing the conventional wisdom and introducing a necessary wisdom that benefits us.

That’s deep.
Naw, it’s obvious, I can’t let go until as a people we control our destiny and bring issues to the forefront. On the real, no man or woman can do this on their own its going to take a movement of economical and social proportions, cause nobody moves if it doesn’t lead to progress. You can’t convince people that change is necessary if the change causing them to starve. Real-Livin is going to show how in a real way that you can eat off of this plate. We ain’t got nothing to hide our success will be shared with the people, we do this for you.

What was it like working on God’s Own Country?
As a director it was a lot of work, I mean I really didn’t get to sleep because I was wearing so many different hats working so hard. But in a social sense it was therapeutic because of the multicultural crew and cast. We had Nigerians, Liberians, Ghanaians, Koreans, Chinese, Croatian, Ukrainians, working on this project that’s when I knew that this movie was bigger than me, it was a project for the world to see, enjoy and learn from.

How has being a Nigerian influenced you?
To be honest it’s everything to me. My family, my world and my vision is Nigeria. These last couple of years I’ve been flying back and forth between NY, Nigeria and Toronto my perspective and my vision is just bananas. In Nigeria, I go everywhere, shouts out to Ile- Ife, Benin, Brooklyn, Badagry, Queens, VGC, Ikeja, Bronx, Aja, Long Island, Mushin, Oshodi, Surulerre, Festac, and even Winnipeg. My movements just have me focused, everywhere I go people keep asking me questions about each other, so I kept it simple and turned on the camera and let the people tell the stories. When you watch a Real-Livin production you watching real life ya dig.

Any last words?
Real-Livin is a movement. And yeah I would like to say hello to all Africans worldwide and also I would like to say a special thank you to Phat Entertainment.

God’s Own Country is set for a limited release Spring 2006 and will be making the rounds of the International Film Festival Circuit. Look for a wide release Summer 2006.

God’s Own Country features original music by Franchize. Reprinted courtesy of Phat Entertainment Magazine Lagos, Nigeria. Editor in Chief Ore Adekunle

View the trailer on 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MkfLjo6ocA

What's the source of this interview?

What exactly is this Nollywood USA II thingie?