You need to be at Silverbird Cinema during the recent screening of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ to appreciate a somewhat renaissance of the cinema culture in Nigeria. The tickets were sold out with many requesting the organisers of the movie premiere to schedule further screenings at Silverbird and others cinemas across the country.
Of course, the movie, an adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, which cost $9 million to produce, is among the most expensive movies filmed in Nigeria. It is also one of the answers to the call for high budget films that will compete with the likes of Bollywood and Hollywood.
Also, movie buffs who witnessed the premiere of the film in London on April 8, 2014, were more than thrilled that the movie set during Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s was worth spending one’s hard-earned money to watch. Since then, the movie premiere has continued in other parts of the world, especially in the US.
Sadly, while the movie keeps thrilling fans at cinemas across the world, Nigerian movie buffs and cinema aficionados can no longer enjoy the latest thrilling offering from a Nigerian soil. Since the first premiere at the Silverbird Cinema last April, the movie slated to be screened in over five cinemas across the country has not been seen by anybody on the big screen in Nigeria. To the disappointment of many, the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) is wielding its big hammer against further screening of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun.’
While refuting allegations by some Nollywood stakeholders and concerned public that it did not ban the movie, the excuse NFVCB has given for its actions, is so far, not plausible.
According to a statement signed by Caesar Kagbo, acting head, corporate affairs, NFVCB: “We wish to categorically state that there is no truth in media reports that the Board has banned the film. However, the management of the Board under Patricia Bala has stated that certain aspects of the film have some unresolved issues which have to be sorted out in accordance with the law and laid down regulations.”
If that is the case, the issues delaying the screening in Nigeria should have been addressed during the evaluation of the screenplay for the film by the same NFVCB.
Bearing in mind that the movie was produced with a loan from the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment Industry Stimulation Loan Scheme (NCEILS) of the Bank of Industry, the question now is how does NFVCB hope to encourage further investments in the movie industry, public and private sectors if they are not sure of recouping their funding, especially through cinema screenings in Nigeria?
It is also ironic that the Bank of Industry sponsored the ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) sponsored the road show for the world premiere of the movie at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and the same NFVCB is turning around to delay the screenings in Nigeria.
It is sad that the regulator is rather killing the industry with this harsh move, according to stakeholders.
If the bank was not aware of these grey areas before spending millions of dollars to fund the film production, what about NFVCB that sponsored a delegation and road show led by Patricia Bala, its director-general, for the world premiere at the Special Presentation section at the 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last September in Canada.
While issues such as political tension is the excuse for the delay, as raised in some quarters, then movies with political undertones are being shown in several viewing centres in some troubled spots on the African continent and nobody has been attacked.
Nigerians await the NFVCB to right its wrong so that they will go back to the cinemas to enjoy ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’- the $9 million movie, they say.
OBINNA EMELIKE
