Green White Green: And All The Beautiful Colours in My Mosaic of Madness
London: Friday, 4 November, 2016 – As part of its BLACK STAR Season, the BFI will bring to the forefront Nigerian filmmakers who are revolutionising the industry with arthouse, documentary and experimental films. Nollywood has quickly made its mark among international audiences and new filmmakers have emerged, eager to tell new stories and push filmmaking boundaries.
The Beyond Nollywood Weekender, which was curated by Nadia Denton, in association with the BFI’s popular African Odysseys strand, will take place from 18-20 November at the BFI Southbank in London. The Weekender will open with Green White Green: And All the Beautiful Colours in My Mosaic of Madness (dir. Abba T. Makama, 2016). A hilarious coming of age story, Green White Green is the first arthouse film of its kind from Nigeria and premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to much acclaim. The screening will be followed by an Afrobeats set with DJ Cuppy in the BFI Riverfront Bar.
One of Nigeria’s most sought-after actresses, “Screen Queen” Nse Ikpe-Etim (Reloaded, Journey to Self, Fifty) will discuss her career and the Nollywood star system in a special event taking place on Sunday 20, November. Ikpe-Etim has acted in over 20 films and was voted Best Actress at the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards in 2014.
Exploring the history of the music scene of Lagos from highlife to juju and Afrobeat is guerrilla-style music documentary Faaji Agba (dir. Remi Vaughan-Richards). The film features Fatai Rolling Dollar, Alaba Pedro, SF Olowookere and Ayinde Bakare.
UK premieres of 14 short films will be shown over the course of the weekend including; The Women of Nollywood: Amaka’s Kin, (dir. Tope Oshin, 2016) an intimate look at the careers of a handful of female directors referencing the late doyen filmmaker Amaka Igwe; I Believe in Pink (dir. Victoria Thomas, 2016) a documentary about men who tattoo their lips pink in Lagos; futuristic animation The Golden Chain (dir. Buki Bodunrin, 2016); and No Good Turn (dir. Udoka Oyeka, 2015) a thrilling glimpse into the ramification of a deadly Boko Haram attack.
“I am thrilled that Beyond Nollywood is taking place as one of the BFI’s most far reaching seasons to date. The selection of films reflect new trends emerging from the Nigerian film space which are destined to take the African narrative to new places.” – Nadia Denton, BFI Beyond Nollywood Programmer
7 filmmakers will be present throughout the Beyond Nollywood Weekender to participate in postscreening Q&A’s, including Tope Oshin, Ishaya Bako, Remi Vaughan-Richards, Victoria Thomas, Sade Adeniran, Andy Mundy-Castle and Cherish Oteka.
The BFI’s BLACK STAR season, which will run until the end of the year, is the UK’s biggest season of film and television dedicated to celebrating the range, versatility and power of black actors. The season’s aim is to bring the work of black actors to a new generation of UK audiences, helping to reposition them and their performances in our collective memory.
BLACK STAR will be available to audiences everywhere in the UK; in cinemas including BFI Southbank, on BBC Television, on BFI DVD/Blu-ray and online via BFI Player until 31 December.
The full BLACK STAR Beyond Nollywood programme can be found here: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/beyondnollywood
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