Skip to main content

SOYINKA’S AKE FILM RELEASED ON AMAZON

Ake, the film adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s classic childhood memoir Ake, The Years of Childhood is now available on Amazon and other global platforms. Set during World War II years, the story combines a beautiful child-view narrative with resonances from the war as heard and imagined in Soyinka’s hometown in Ake, Abeokuta. It climaxes with the Egba women’s riot of 1945, led by Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, mother of the deceased musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Taiwo Ajayi Lycett (OON) as Madam Amelia

Shot at various locations in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Lagos and East Grinstead, UK, the film has been screened in Lagos and at film festivals in Cannes, France and the United States. The French subtitles were contributed by Alliance Francaise in Nigeria.  

Directed by Dapo Adeniyi and produced by Back Page Productions, the cast of nearly 1000 features some of Nigeria’s foremost professionals in the film and theatre industries including Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett (OON), Yinka Davies, Yeni-Anikulapo-Kuti, Jimi Solanke, Lanike Onimisi-Bennet, Festus Adegboye Onigbinde, Alex Bratt, Gbenga Ajiboye, Hafiz Oyetoro, Yemi Solade, Wale Ramon, Wale Adebayo, Toyin Abiodun, Bose Oladele, Joke Muyiwa, Samsideen Adesiyan and Bayo Bankole.
 
The District Officer (Alex Bratt) at the Alake's Palace

Director Dapo Adeniyi has produced for radio and television in Nigeria as well as the BBC. He was also a British Council Fellow at Downing College, University of Cambridge. 

Soyinka’s account is such an important historical script because it portrays a world in turmoil – the Second World War and colonial rule in Nigeria which was pressured by agitation for independence.

Echoes from the war were heard distinctly in Abeokuta by its enlightened communities on rediffusion radio, the headmaster of the local mission school inclusive, who was the writer’s father.

Ake is not an overt historical account but one which relays a crucial chapter in Nigerian history from the eye-witness of a child. The Egba women’s riot, directed by Mrs Kuti, Soyinka’s aunt, was conceived and hatched under his eyes. His mother Eniola, participated as one of the closest collaborators with Kuti in the women’s movement. 

Ake valiantly overcomes the usual production challenges in the recreation of film scenery and props, period automobiles and architecture of a bygone era.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Olorunsesan paulAugust 23, 2019 at 7:32 AM

    In fact this is a moment of self confidence in all things, wole soyinka play of childhood is a adaptation, reminiscence of the past bringing to all live a sence of the past, the present and the future. Thanks for his affectionate.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The palette of Uzoma Samuel

By: Mathew B. Oyedele His studio walls were barely empty except for a painting that drapes a corner of the studio. He was working on a portrait of two women who wore bright expressions on their faces. I was about to ask him why his works were not on display when he delved into a corner of his studio and took me on a voyage of ankara interaction. I could not refuse the captivating rhythm that encapsulated my mind from his artistic oeuvre. I came across his works through the social media and I was attracted by his intricate use of Ankara as a medium of expression. I studied his works as he uploaded them at intervals and made an appointment to visit him in his studio. “My use of ankara is something that came from the blood. It was a gift from my mother. I think she passed that gift to me indirectly. Instead of me becoming a tailor, I see myself sewing those clothes on canvas”; this was his response when I asked him about his discovery of the medium. Uzoma is not a social co...
2 comments
Read more

Tobenna Okwuosa's "From Historical Facts to Poetic Truths" at the African Culture and Design Festival.

Tobenna Okwuosa. Mathew B. Oyedele Three books by Nigerian writers - The Man Died by Wole Soyinka, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe and Labyrinths by Christopher Okigbo inspired the recent works of Tobenna Okwuosa that were exhibited at the African Culture and Design Festival, in November 2017. These books offer a profound archive for the artist to delve into the past and create an oeuvre that confronts the viewer with guilt-ridden contents. 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra, and 50 years after the death of Christopher Okigbo on war front, fighting for Biafra. Okwuosa’s exhibits show the   historical facts of the Biafran War and the poetic truths of Christopher Okigbo. The Biafran War is a vital and sensitive aspect of Nigerian history that should be known to all Nigerians so that we may, to borrow an expression, transform yesterday’s action into tomorrow’s wisdom. The provocation of conversations in the coll...
3 comments
Read more

NO HOME

My beloved house has treated me thus It has led me on the back of the wheels Ocean from my eyes Farewell, I bid. They exist in my head The slaughtering, killing, butchering, Murder. Heads assembled on the mattress Wrappers, west Scarfs, east Breast, dangled. Ahead is a lion Behind is a crocodile Where do I go? Where do I stay? There is no home Just a space to occupy For today I exist Tomorrow I know not.
5 comments
Read more