Though yet to be formally released to the theatre, the film since its maiden outing in July… the two screenings in London 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
INSPIRED by Nobel laureate’s prison notes, the film, The Man Died, will be on a double-bill screening in London next week, in continuation of its global tour of festival circuits and educational institutions.
On Sunday, October 27, The Man Died will be screened at the Rich Mix Theatre, South East London as part of the Film Africa Festival 2024, which opens formally on Friday October 25. It will then move to the University of East Anglia, where it is expected to be seen and assessed by members of the academic community, especially students and scholars in the media, theatre and humanities. While the Rich Mix screening will be followed by a Q & A session with the director, the East Anglia one will be tailed by a conversation with the director and some of the cast and crew members in London.
Though yet to be formally released to the theatre, the film since its maiden outing in July, has continued its run of festival circuits and educational insitutions, 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 two 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,” stated the iREP directorate.
This is the second time the film is doing the London run, having been first screened to a full house of over 400 guests at the London School of Economies, LSE, on July 25 as part of a 9-day programme jointly organised by the Lagos-based Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE) and The Africa Centre (TAC) — to mark the Nobel laureate’s 90th birthday anniversary hosted by the Centre.
Starring a galaxy of renowned and notable names 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 since been screened at QFest of Words (Oct 5, Lagos) and at the Streamfest of the Labone Dialogues (Oct, 11, New York University Accra).
On home turf… LABAF, ENIFF, AFRIFF – all in November
The Man Died is billed for Wednesday November 13 at the Agip Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos as part of the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF, which had declared its 2024 season “The Soyinka Year”, and dedicated its 26th edition to celebrating the eminent life and illustrious career of the renowned poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist human and civil rights activist, famously referenced as the “Global Humanist.”
TMD will also be at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival, ENIFF in Enugu on November 27, and at the African Film Festival, AFRIFF also in November.
…Return to the Global turf
TMD is also 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.
The film, which 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.
About The Man Died…
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 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 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.”
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.
Interview:
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 Battleground; Brethren; Movement JAPA, and Covenant, among others. Also, producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films, Odugbemi 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.
