https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/02/05/how-kunle-afolayan-ushered-in-a-new-era-of-nigerian-cinema
How Kunle Afolayan ushered in a new era of Nigerian cinema
As well as making ambitious movies, the writer-director is now passing on his wisdom to the next generation of film-makers
Books, arts and culture
Prospero
Feb 5th 2020
BY S.J.
“AT THE AGE of 12 or 13, I began travelling beyond the borders of Nigeria with my father: Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast,” recalls Kunle Afolayan. It was the 1980s, and his father, Adeyemi Afolayan, a celebrated director and actor, would personally distribute his films. They were often stories about ordinary people—taxi drivers, perhaps, or farmers—overcoming difficulties. “We would go from one town to another by bus, carrying 16mm projectors,” Mr Afolayan says. It was a labour of love.
Mr Afolayan initially resisted a career in film despite this early exposure to the industry, studying business administration at Lagos State Polytechnic before taking a job at a bank. He soon had an idea for a movie and, finding that he did not have the time for both the corporate world and his project, in 2005 he quit his job and enrolled on a course in digital film-making at the New York Film Academy’s outpost in London. On his return to Nigeria, he set up his own production company, Golden Effects Pictures, and began developing his first feature-length film.
Sent from my iPhone