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‘The Man Died’ at Luxor African Film Festival, Jan 12

The film will be screened at 6pm on Sunday January 12, 2024 in the Big Hall of the Jolie Ville-The Nile in this scenic city, fondly cited as the ‘world’s greatest open-air museum’ by the top tourist guide books. Luxor is located in the south of the country, in the region called Upper Egypt

JANUARY 12, at 6pm, The Man Died, the feature film inspired by Wole Soyinka’s memoir of same title, will be screened in competition on the Day 3 of the ongoing Luxor African Film Festival., LAFF, holding in the historic city of Luxor, Egypt.

The film will be screened at the Grand Ballroom of the vast Jolie Ville Spar & Hotel, located on the King’s Island Luxor in South Egypt (the Upper Region).

First screened in Lagos in July to mark Soyinka’s 90th birthday anniversary, The Man Died  is in competition with 10 other films from nine countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, Cameroun, Togo, Rwanda and Madagascar.

LAFF named af the city, is its 14th edition, and the 2024 edition opened on January 12 and will end on 16th. It has four main sections — documentaries, short films, students films and feature films.

It will be screened at 6pm on Sunday January 12, 2024 in the Big Hall of the Jolie Ville-The Nile in this scenic city, fondly cited as the ‘world’s greatest open-air museum’ by the top tourist guide books. Luxor is located in the south of the country, in the region called Upper Egypt.

The Man Died inspired by Soyinka’s memoir of his 22 months in prison during the Nigerian civil war, which bears the same title, was premiered in London in the United Kingdom in July 2024, commemorating the author’s 90th birthday anniversary.

Though yet to be formally released to the theatre The Man Died has continued its run of festival circuits and educational institutions, as programmed by the promoters, the Foundation for the Promotion of Documentary Films in Africa, FPDFA, otherwise known as the iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum, iREP.

“The screenings are part of the strategic agenda to make the film register its impact in the two most important target audiences — Festival circuits and Educational institutions before it hits the commercial phase — theatre screening and online streaming,” according to the iREP directorate.

Starring a collection of top stars in the Nigeria film industry, with Wale Ojo in the lead role of Wole, and Sam Dede as Yisa, Wole’s chief tormentor, The Man Died, has been screened at the Streamfest of the Labone Dialogues (Oct, 11, New York University Accra).

…Return to the Global turf

APART from Luxor, the movie is on the radar of educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; Jo’Burg, South Africa as well as at Harvard University, Ithaca College (US), and Oxford University (UK), among others.

TMD is garnering volumes of critical acclaims, is in the review gaze of such top-notch global cinematic gatherings as the Berlinale in Germany, Catharge in Algeria, Jo’Burg Film Festival, SA; African Film Festival, New York, US, and FESPACO in Burkina Faso, among others. This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms, and international distribution channels.

Wole in Enugu prison

The Plot:

THE Man Died is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war. He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind. At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to his self by a thread. At other time, he pondered, listened, watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can.

Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.’
Wole Soyinka, born July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria to a clergy father and trader-activist mother, is a poet, playwright, memoirist, essayist and political activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Wole being interrogated by the agent, Yisa

Synopsis: WOLE is out in the night, hunting- an expedition that brings back memories of the times spent with his grandfather who amongst many words of wisdom, taught him to face his fears and never to turn the other cheek. From a written note in Wole’s car, its established he has been warned to stay out of circulation so when he shows up at FEMI JOHNSON’s customary weekend soiree, an alarmed MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER who had sent him the warning note warns him to go undercover- the army is looking to arrest him and possibly kill him; notifying him that his office was just raided.
The duo of FEMI JOHNSON and BOLA IGE forces a reluctant Wole to heed the warning but as he sets off, he remembers he needed to disband a group of activists waiting on his command to start an anti-war rally and despite the attempts of the concerned trio to sway him, he insists it is only right he disbands them so they do not endanger their lives by rioting when they don’t see him. As he drives through University College Ibadan, he is arrested by a lone police officer. A tussle for his body begins- between the military governor in Ibadan, Governor Adebayo and the federal might of Lagos.

Lagos wins and Wole is transferred to Lagos where all agreements made to Governor Adebayo to bring Wole safely back to Ibadan are broken. He is interrogated by the ruthless officer, YISA who has been given the mandate to frame and liquidate him. The interrogation reveals Wole’s offence — his visit to the Biafran warlord- Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu in Enugu under the aegis of the THIRD FORCE. The visit had rattled the military government as they believed Wole, with his international clout is capable of giving both armed and diplomatic advantage to Biafra. Wole refuses to implicate any of the Third Force members, angering Yisa. Despite Wole’s insistent he was there just to find a way to end the joke of a war; he is chained and sent to Kirikiri where he rejects an offer from the government to implicate an Easterner for a cabinet position. Wole manages to smuggle out a letter to comrades in the university encouraging them to keep on the fight and informing them that he remains committed to the cause only for the letter to end up in government hands, setting off a dangerous chain of events that will see Wole framed and subsequently marked for liquidation. It will take partnership of his lover MORENIKE and the rallying together of the prison community regardless of tribe, tongue and creed to unite to save Wole from imminent death- a probable metaphor of what makes a nation.

Wole in Kaduna prison

About The Man Died… the movie: PRODUCED by Zuri 24 Media, The Man Died, according to the synopsis on its website — www.themandiedmovie.com — is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war.

He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated seglement of the conflict. It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind. At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to himself by a thread. At other times, he pondered, listened, and watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can. Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.”

Director: Awam Amkpa

Amkpa

THE director of the film, an actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003), Awam is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. He has also written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.

In a recent YouTube clip, Amkpa provided insights into the creative process behind ‘’The Man Died.’ He talked about the creative freedom afforded to him and writer Bode Asiyanbi, allowing them to expand the storyline beyond the confines of the memoir. Amkpa also reflected on the evolution of Nollywood over the years, noting the elimination of language barriers and the industry’s growing coherence and technical prowess.

“Way back, we were vilifying Nollywood as an all-comers game. But now the film industry in Nigeria has come to a place of coherence and technical ability. We still have problems here and there but there is a general coherence and technical ability that make the stories generally accessible regardless of where people are in the world,” he said.

Amkpa further observed that the quality of storytelling in Nigeria has outpaced the audience’s expectations. “Which is a good place to be because it is leading the audience to think in a more cosmopolitan way.”

In making ‘The Man Died,’ in Nollywood Amkpa stressed the importance of authenticity in portraying Soyinka’s stories, advocating for collaboration with individuals intimately familiar with the environment that shaped the Nobel laureate and his narratives, irrespective of their skill sets.

“I have an army of former students who are big-time filmmakers in Hollywood and elsewhere that I could just call on a whim to make the film and shoot it in Nigeria but that for me, there’s no learning curve,” he said. “For me, every creative project is like going back to the basics and building back upwards. That was why for me it was very educational to come here.”

Interview:

Producer Femi Odugbemi and Director, Awam Amkpa on the set of TMD

Producer: Femi Odugbemi

Odugbemi

THE Producer, an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar, Femi Odugbemi is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos, producers of the film. His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries. He was one of the founding producers of the daily soap opera Tinsel as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including BattIlegroundBrethrenMovement JAPA, and Covenant, among others. Odugbemi is also  producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films. He is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSqp6Z0XsuE

 

 

 

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