Encomium
FOR the fourth week, the fate of the movie, Half of A Yellow Sun, being released in cinemas in Nigeria still hangs in the balance. The Nigerian film board is yet to give certification for the release in Nigerian cinemas. While the release in Nigeria remains uncertain, Americans have started watching the movie in cinemas as it was released in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday, May 16, 2014. That is one month after it was released in the United Kingdom and it has made a record of being among top 10 most watched movies in the UK Box Office.
Just as anxiety continues over the fate of the $10 million movie, investors are worried over their money committed into the movie. One of the investors and executive producer, Yewande Sadiku, an investment banker who marshaled the N1.7 billion pumped into the movie revealed how frustrated she and other investors are over the development. In a chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly on Friday, May 16, 2014, the banker said, “We are still waiting for approval, so many people want to watch the film but for the delay which I believe will be resolved soon.”
There are few scenes in the movie which may re-ignite memory of the Nigeria civil war considered not too good for public consumption at this period in Nigeria, what are you going to do about that? we asked her. “I am sure you have watched the film, it’s not a war film, it is a love story set in a time of war. The film is not meant to fuel any tribal sentiment in Nigeria, it is our history we can’t run away from it. After all, it’s an adaptation of a novel. The novel is selling everywhere, why can’t the movie also be allowed to be screened in cinemas? There are films like Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April, about the genocide in Rwanda, the killings between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the film did not cause any problem in that country. There is also the film about Idi Amin, the Ugandans did not go to war because of this.”
What will now happen to the huge investment pumped into the movie production? we probed her further. “Of course, we are worried. I, personally, is more concerned about the investment, other investors are also concerned. I just pray the whole thing is settled soonest because I am optimistic the movie will be certified. In fact, I can’t wait.”
The movie scheduled for release in Nigeria on Friday, April 25, 2014, was put off because of non-certification by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), another date was set for Friday, May 2, 2014, yet no approval. And since then, no new date was fixed as the producers of the movie shot in Calabar, Cross River and London wait for the film board’s approval.
Meanwhile, Chiwetel Ejiofor, the lead actor in the movie, Half of A Yellow Sun is said to have hit it big having featured in major films in recent time. Since he hit limelight, the Nigerian born UK-based role interpreter has reportedly made $2 billion, his total worldwide Gross Box Office.
– FOLUSO SAMUEL
