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Lagos – Ema Edosio, a khaki shirt and little golden ballet flats, salutes the people of Ojuelegba, the Lagos neighborhood where she shot her first film a few months ago, as if she were at home.
Although the 34-year-old director now lives in the " islands ", the most affluent neighborhoods of Lagos, she grew up in the heart of the sprawling megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants, in a family of nine children.
Kasala !, his first film – which means " problems " in street language, is a " declaration of love " to his city.
" 80% of Lagos looks like that, and yet it's never shown in the cinema, I wanted to be the voice that brings these people's lives to the screen ," he says. she to AFP.
Far from the glamorous scenes and upscale neighborhoods where Nigerian film productions, Kasala! smell sweat, dust, marijuana, spoiled meat and motor oil.
For budgetary reasons, the plot is about a day and its spring is simple: four friends " sting " the car of an uncle for " go to party with clbad . " Lack of luck, they have an accident and must absolutely find 20,000 nairas (47 euros) before dark to pay for repairs.
T.J. and his friends are teenagers like any other. But in a poor district of Lagos, a mistake of youth can quickly turn into drama: the uncle is himself covered with debt and risk death if he can not sell his car.
Kasala! is a comedy close to the drama about friendship and the omnipresent " unravels " of the big African cities.
He depicts, without any scorn or judgment, African youth stuck in their ghettos, their debts and their second-hand clothes, while they dream of leading the high life, as their idol, the superstar of the afropop Davido.
This has seduced Abiodun Kbadim, a theater actor who plays the role of Taju, the poor, debt-ridden uncle who tries to make ends meet behind his filthy market butchery stand.
" My character is the backbone of Nigeria ," says the actor. " This is the story of all those people who have to force their way in life.That immense majority of the population of whom we never speak." "
-" Social Cinema "-
This first film was acclaimed by critics in the Nigerian press, recognizing cultural journalists in Kasala! " the film that could save Nollywood from a bad year 2018 " (Oris Aigbokhaevbolo for Bella Naija) or admiring " attention to detail cut to the razor to describe these neighborhoods, from the first scene. "
" The comedy anchored in realism, it's not something we used to see on Nigerian screens ", summarizes Dare Dan in Lagos Film Society.
And for good reason, no local cinema has agreed to broadcast Kasala! in theaters. " They told me that the public wanted to see movies that make you dream ," laments Ema Edosio. In Nigerian language this means: movies where we see wealthy people.
" This social cinema is struggling to emerge ," says Serge Noukoué, organizer of the Nollywood Week festival in Paris. " It's not Nollywood's DNA that is entertaining, and we're still in the 'highlife' wave of Nigerian cinema: very sophisticated, in the trendy neighborhoods, with heavily masked women. . ", continues this specialist of African cinema.
Kasala! was however selected among the films of the year for the festival: " This is a refreshing, authentic film ", explains the organizer. " Ema Edosio is a 'new voice' in the Nollywood universe It's good "
– " Nigerian Folly " –
" I have the back of the movies that depict a reality in cardboard, glitter, with actors who have a British or American accent! ", prevails Abba Makama, director of Green White Green, movie" mosaic of Nigerian madness ", and one of the first of this small realistic wave that is blowing on the cultural scene of the African giant.
His film has been featured in about 20 festivals around the world, including Toronto, and is available on Netflix. Green White Green has been a great success, yet it has never been shown on a screen in Nigeria either.
" In the 2000s, we had twenty cinemas only throughout the country ," the director pleads. " Now we have plenty of channels: more cinemas, cable channels, YouTube, streaming subscriptions, … And yet, all movies are pretty much the same, we need a distributor for the alternative scene. "
Ema Edosio, she is convinced: the public exists for such realistic films, it must only succeed to prove to distributors.
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