We will celebrate Bintu home and abroad –Kabirah

 

Veteran film maker, Tunde Kelani, and other stakeholders rally round celebrated actress, Kabirah Kafidipe, as she premiers, ‘Bintu’, AKEEM LASISI writes

Producers and other lovers of Nigerian movies joined celebrated actress, Kabirah Kafidipe, recently, when she premiered her new movie, Bintu, in Lagos.

Bintu is the first film she singlehandedly produced because her earlier works such as ‘Ega, ‘Iwalewa’ and ‘Malaika’ are a product of collaboration between her and her sister, Ayisat Kafidipe.

Among the people present at the event held at R& A Hotel, Opebi, Ikeja were veteran film maker and Kabirah’s mentor, Tunde Kelani, and her parents.

The story of a lady that seeks to get the best out of life but suffers adversity – including rape – along the line, Bintu mostly features new but impressive actors.

The only seasoned face in it is Dele Odule, who doubles as a lawyer and Bintu’s eventual benefactor.

According to Kabirah, popularly called Araparegangan, based on the role she played in Saworo Ide - Kelani’s film that brought her to the limelight – most of the members of the cast are part of a cultural troupe she works with in the US where the film was shot.

In an interaction with journalists at the end of the screening, she spoke on the background of Bintu, noting, “I started writing the story in 2011 but I wasn’t very sure if I wanted to shoot it at that time, because I never wanted to produce. But after I heard about this story, I felt I could produce it but I wasn’t sure I could to it.

“In the US, we have a programme called the Yoruba Youth Convention. It’s an annual programme where we encourage youths, to appreciate their culture and language. We encourage them to speak in Yoruba and other languages as long as it is African. The idea is to empower them to be able to use their mother tongue.

“In 2014 when I travelled to the US, I asked myself: ‘When are we doing this?’ I felt maybe we could just go ahead to do it. I wasn’t very busy so we put heads together and we invited the veteran, Dele Odule, from Dallas to join us in Chicago and then we shot it. I really love the outcome. I appreciate all the help we got. I am going to travel after this [preview], because we need to celebrate ‘Bintu’ in America. In fact, many people can’t wait to see it.”

She added that making a film was far more involving than just playing a role in a movie.

She noted that gathering fund for the project, bringing cast and crew together and working towards delivering an acceptable movie were bound to make the producer lose a lot of sleep.

But she is happy that she has eventually got ‘Bintu’ out.

She said, “It wasn’t very easy because we had to make it as nice as possible. I wasn’t trying to compete with any Hollywood film. I was just trying to make a good film. So, you can imagine what making a standard story can take from you. But my crew was very supportive.

“We are all youths but we pulled together in the same direction and with the support of Uncle Odule, we were able to achieve a lot.”

In what sounded like a major pass mark for the actress-turned-producer, Kelani commended her for delivering the job.

He noted that since he first spotted Kabirah’s talent and gave her a chance, she had never disappointed or betrayed the hope he reposed in her.

Also at the premiere, Ayisat presented her album, Oba Nla (Great God) to the public.

source: Punchng.com