Femi Odugbemi through the lens …The journey of a rare talent
Our entrepreneur for the week is an interesting personality. A man who spends a considerable amount of time living in a world of make-belief yet has a firm grasp of the intricacies of politics and life-altering subjects like dieting. Femi Odugbemi, cut his teeth in the advertising sector as creative genius with Lintas Advertising and STB McChan, he then served on the team of pioneer directors with the multi-award winning soap Tinsel. In this interview with Rita Ohai, Odugbemi, who at present stands at the helm of affairs at DVWorx Studios, raises the curtains on his journey to greatness.
I first met Femi at a national women’s conference last year where he was guest speaker. I was struck by the depth of his knowledge and his ability to speak on a range of issues – from the complex to the most mundane. The creative maestro was never at a loss for words; never in a state where he couldn’t express his opinions coherently. The compere of the event, Audu Maikori, had apparently had a few interactions with him because when Mr. Odugbemi was called on stage, Maikori comically urged him to keep the length of his speech under 3 minutes – a warning the film-maker completely ignored. Consequently, he went on to blow the audience away with his insightful review of the film-making industry and by the time his thirty-something minute monologue came to an end, the walls of the hall reverberated with applause.
The aura with which he commanded the audience likely stems from his foray into film-making about 25 years ago. In this space of time, he has directed and produced some of the most amazing pieces of work from this part of the world.
Let’s take you behind the scene’s and tell you how his fascination with the camera began: “I think from very early in life I have had a strong consciousness of the power of images and how they define both the story and the storyteller. I grew up in the early 60s and 70s in a house in a Lagos suburb (Mushin) where there was a ramshackle photography studio below our apartment. I was fascinated by the work of the photographer as a storyteller, shaping a narrative. He expended a whole lot of energy on achieving the right look and mood and seeking to extract a certain energy from the individuals and families who came to have their portraits done, such that I realized very early in life that whilst the final image tells the story of the subject, the storyteller’s influence and impact on the representation of that story was immense.
“Added to that”, he continued, “was the fact that there was a makeshift cinema house behind my primary school where we were able to see a constant stream of Indian and Chinese films that we watched after school. These films were neither subtitled nor over-dubbed. Yet we were able to consume the stories because the images strung together a visual narrative that we understood beyond the spoken words of dialogue that was foreign. So I was confronted again with powerful images, this time in motion. It wasn’t a difficult decision therefore when it was time for me to decide a career, I simply knew I wanted to create images and tell stories using the camera.”
Choosing to study film-making at a time when law, banking and medicine were the prime careers of the 80’s was frowned upon by civil society may have served as a deterrent but luckily his father actually worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation so he was saved the trauma and bias that comes with rebelling against choosing a pre-ordained career path. This freedom to choose what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing saw him gaining admission into the Montana State University in America. A place where he had his first experience with racism when a little child and her mother called him the foul-word, ‘Negro.
“The only incident I could ever remember”, he said, “was of a little girl who saw me walking one summer afternoon and screamed to her mother “What is THAT?” And the mother replied to my hearing “darling, that is what is called a negro.” I just walked by and laughed. But save that incident, I actually thrived quite well out in the rocky mountain county.
After that mishap, Odugbemi had a pretty good sail at Bozeman Montana which was predominantly a conservative white environment. According to him, “Maybe I also too focused on the things I was trying to accomplish to notice. You know as a Nigerian as well, we do have this no-nonsense body language that oozes a certain confidence. Maybe that’s part of it but I was one of the very few black students on campus in a school population of over 30,000. My roommate was white and several of my friends from school are still good friends today and we all share stories and conversations almost daily thanks to Facebook.” At this point, he actually did an ‘LOL’ (21 century internet gibberish for ‘laughing out loud’).
In the 1980’s, traveling abroad to study was considered a norm. With round trip flight tickets costing less than N500, it was pretty usual to find young men and women seeking greener pastures crossing the boarder. However, a lot of them were gobble-smacked with shock when they returned as a result of the disparities in culture after making the transition to other climes. Having served as a director and producer with KUSM Channel 9 TV in the United States being posted to serve in Kaduna for his Youth Service program was an anti-climax he handled bravely. Here’s how he put it: “Ah…it was quite a shock mostly on the level of systems and equipment. On the one hand I had been Producing programmes with large outside broadcast vans and 16 to18 camera set-ups at KUSM 9 and then I suddenly had to contend with single camera operations at NTA Kaduna when I showed up for my Youth Service.
“But I tell you, working at NTA Kaduna back in 1985 to 1986 was one of the best professional experiences I ever had. It was a time when programmes like ‘SAMANJA’ was being produced out of NTA Kaduna – I learnt resourcefulness and how to make a lot out of very little resources from working there. I worked with wonderful mentors like Bayo Atoyebi who went on to become Acting DG of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission. I worked with very experienced broadcasters who had never had the level of resources that I was exposed to at KUSM but who had created solid work and impeccable reputations under challenging circumstances. So in the end though the transition for me culturally and professionally was challenging, I learnt a lot and made a lot of friends who remain till today. I also got to know Nigeria better. Until I went to Kaduna I hadn’t travelled beyond the South of Nigeria. So suddenly being immersed in the culture up north was an absolutely fascinating experience.”
Half a decade later, the experience gained in the land of the Hausa-Fulanis is still yielding much fruit. Traditionally, 50’ is often tagged the year of the re-birth. Hence when, Odugbemi hit the jubilee mark, it was with a lot of fanfare. He literally shut down Freedom Park at the Old Broad street, Lagos for two consecutive days by pulling off a mini-film festival. One year later, at 51 his opinion on every other matter except Nigerian politics appears to have evolved. Thus, when we discussed the topic, with a show of emotion, he said, “I am by instinct a progressive and I think conservative politics has a face that pretends that it is ok for the strong to ignore the weak economically and socially and I have always concluded that the ‘strong’ limit themselves if they leave the ‘weak’ unattended.”
Out of the blue, Femi suddenly waxed lyrical with ancient proverbs as he properly tried to dissect the crux on the platter; “Yoruba people say when you are the only rich man in the midst of poor people you will end up the poorest of all. I believe in politics that focuses on reducing poverty – and by that I mean both economic poverty and intellectual poverty as well. I believe in politics that understands that governance is about building sustainable institutions, not just infrastructures. So my politics is very forward-leaning on paying attention to education, especially science. It is keen on equitable distribution of wealth through creating jobs to reduce poverty. It is keen on protecting the environment and preserving nature’s resources which is where protecting our wild-life comes in.”
Remember how I hinted at his very articulate mind. This response right above is further proof! Just like most ‘elder states men’, as the bulge around the tummy begins to develop a personality of its own with age, they gradually transition into card-carrying health-junkies. In like manner, Femi’s propensity for doggedness takes a bow as wear and tear attempts to claim possession of his rather charming pulchritude: “Well, it is so much cheaper to stay healthy than pay huge sums for medical care. I guess as one grows older you pay better attention to what you eat and how you eat. Perhaps I am lucky in that I have never really been keen on food so much so hopefully it makes it easier to eat appropriately and more healthily in this my old age.” And then he laughed.
As the Chief Executive Officer of DVWorx Studios, he is constantly seeking viable ways to cope with the endless challenges posed to the film industry and for him, the biggest headache he faces on a regular basis is “poor infrastructure. The erratic power supply remains a big issue for anyone doing business in the film & TV environment because we need power constantly. Today we run my company on 3 generators – you have a back-up for one and a back-up for the back-up plus an assortment of Inverter batteries too! Just dealing with the infrastructure issues consume way too much of your time and finances. But really the greatest problem surrounds the lack of government support and understanding for the entrepreneurs of the creative industries.
“Virtually all the equipment used in the Film and TV industry in Nigeria is imported. The import duties on film production equipment need to be reviewed by the government as part of its strategic ways of encouraging the industry to grow. We also need to do more to encourage foreign crews to film in Nigeria. Right now it is prohibitive to invite an international film production to Nigeria. Cape Town is now the filming destination for international crews and that is translating into hundreds of millions of dollars into the South African economy. We have a lot of rich locations and beautiful landscapes as well that would be wonderful for filming but we have not made any effort to market ourselves as a film-friendly destination. Maybe as the Federal Government expands its support to our industry, they will focus on this area as well. I certainly pray so.”
Femi is a man of principles. So while many of his contemporaries dabble into the murky waters of movie-making manned primarily by the senior boys in Alaba, he chooses stick to his guns producing documentaries, soaps and short-films. As far as he is concerned, “Because I am an entrepreneur I am keen to find channels of distribution for my works that guarantee return on investment. As things stand in the TV and Film business today, television guarantees a return on investment more than the open market distribution channels of Nollywood.
“I enjoyed making TINSEL. I enjoy being part of the creative process for made-for-TV movies. For now cable television works for the economy of my creative projects until the emerging Cinema distribution networks also come on-stream fully. I will make more features in the immediate future – that’s already in my plans. I make documentaries because of the need to build up that aspect of our creative expression. Documentaries need to be understood as an important platform for mediating our experiences as individuals and as a country. It brings perspectives, background and a multi-dimensional understanding to things in such a way that we begin to see beyond the facts of the matter, we begin to see the truth of it. We must reignite a culture of intelligent content production that documentaries provide. That is why I make documentaries and encourage other filmmakers to do the same.
The director and producer has had the opportunity to work with great minds like Bayo Atoyebi, Tunde Kelani and Lola Fani-Kayode but with the high quality of work being put out by young film-makers from this part of the continent, Odugbemi would not mind trading the lens with bright storytellers like Ishaya Bako, Victor Aghahowa, Kenneth Gyang, Tope Ogun, Najite Dede, Soji Ogunnaike.
For one who is accustomed to the sweet-smelling savour of success, he still manages to have a fairly humble view on life issues, the fact that Femi is not afraid of failure his persona even more appealing. When BD Sunday asked him how he handles the set backs he faces as a husband, father and then business man, he posited, “I am an optimist by nature and I really believe it is within risks that opportunities for growth resides. For me failure is a part of life. I would rather try and fail than not to have tried at all. Even I fail at something, I do not lose completely because its an opportunity to learn. I just make sure that I do not repeat the same failure again. In everything however, I always thank God for His grace and for His power that gives me life!
At a lecture he gave at the Center for African and African-American Research, Durham North Carolina, he vehemently expressed how he takes his identity as an African film-maker seriously. When asked if he still believes issues of rejection or xenophobia by the Western creative industry towards indigenous mainstream players in the media sector exist, he said, “ Yes, in the sense that the opportunities for African Cinema to find global distribution or for artistes and creatives of African descent to be included in international projects that are not necessarily about Africa are still very slim. No, because we needn’t bother about existing western structures in the creative economy of Africa if we pay the right attention to build infrastructure of African economies.
The huge popularity of Nollywood films across Africa and in the diaspora reveals the possibilities of a sustainable creative economy for our artistes and filmmakers. For me it is not about what opportunities we are not afforded by others, it is about what opportunities we choose to create for ourselves.”