Nigerian Filmmaker Shines A Positive Light On South Africa

Nigerian Filmmaker Shines A Positive Light On South Africa

'Sometimes you have to tell grim stories and sometimes you have to tell love stories,' says director Akin Omotoso

Written by Rykesha Hudson
06/04/2016 04:05 PM

TRAILBLAZER: African film director Akin Omotoso [Photo credit: Victor Dlamini]

SOUTH AFRICA'S history and politics are complex and dominated by the country’s grim and harrowing journey to end apartheid – the legal racial segregation enforced by white people from 1948 to 1994.

The country has seen its share of cinematic revisions of its history, and the majority of such films are set in the past, either in pre or just-post-apartheid South Africa, and are often positioned as cautionary tales of what happens when xenophobia and human nature go awry.

While Nigerian-born actor, writer and film director Akin Omotoso accepts that the country’s history and “negative” aspects should be shared and discussed, he believes that movies should portray a broader scope of South Africa.

“You want to see a full spectrum of a country,” Omotoso says. “You should see its history, its past, its present and its future.”

“Film industries in a lot of other countries do that very well, like London, America, Bollywood and Nollywood. So for South Africa, it’s important to have a wider variety of what you see and what you expect.”

Best known for his films God Is African and the award-winning Man on Ground – the hard-hitting thriller about how xenophobia in South Africa affect the lives of two Nigerian brothers – the director’s latest feature Tell Me Sweet Something was a box office hit in South Africa and even competed against popular international films including Southpaw and Fantastic Four.

The Johannesburg-set rom-com also earned Omotoso an Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) for Best Director.

Tell Me Sweet Something follows Moratiwa (Nomzamo Mbatha), an aspiring novelist with writer’s block. She hasn’t had much luck with love ever since her ex-boyfriend Norman went out to buy milk and never returned. Moratiwa now runs a second-hand bookshop in the hippest most vibrant part of the new Johannesburg. Tired of having a recluse as a best friend, Tashaka (Thishiwe Ziqubu) convinces her to party up a storm at a new club in the city; it is here that she meets South Africa’s No.1 celebrity model Nat Masilo (Maps Maponyane).

A far cry from his past cinematic projects, the filmmaker says: “I want the ability to tell different stories.”

He adds: “Tell Me Sweet Something is just a way to say that Johannesburg is beautiful and, as ridiculous as it sounds, people do actually fall in love. And sometimes the only problems that people in South Africa have are just problems of the heart.”

Drawn to love songs and romance films from a young age, Omotoso dreamed of making a romantic movie before he ever considered become a filmmaker.

Explaining his decision to make Tell Me Something Sweet, he says: “I really like love songs – it starts there. There’s just something about love songs that fascinates me.”

He continues: “And I really like the movie Love Jones - I remember seeing it as a student. I just love the feeling of that film. I love how you left the cinema and you felt good. At the time, I didn’t know I was going to be a filmmaker, but I remember thinking ‘wow, I’d love to make a film like that’.”

AFRICAN ROMANCE: A still from award-winning movie Tell Me Sweet Something

Fast forward 15 years, and an opportunity finally came to tell that story.

“It’s something that’s always lived with me - to tell a love story. I really enjoyed making this film - you’re smiling on set every day. Where as when you’re doing more darker, harrowing material it can affect you.”

A recurring theme in Omotoso’s films is the fraught post-apartheid relationship between Nigerian migrants and their South African hosts. Part of the reason is autobiographical: Omotoso is the son of a Barbadian mother and Nigerian literary professor, who moved his family to South Africa in the early 1990s. The result is that Omotoso is as much Nigerian as he is South African.

“I always just say ‘I’m a child of the world’,” he laughs.

Omotoso’s next film, Vaya, is currently in post-production. Vaya weaves three separate plots that intersect in a gripping and deeply moving story about coming to Johannesburg and struggling to survive.

The film came out of a seven-year project the director has been working on with a group of homeless people in Johannesburg.

“Sometimes you have to tell grim stories and sometimes you have to tell love stories. And to be able to tell and share these stories is a blessing.”

For more information, follow filmmaker Akin Omotoso on Twitter @PunchNCream