Femi Odugbemi: The golden boy of Nigerian documentary

[Mirror]

In an age when foreign entertainment tinged pop culture is overrunning the local creative sphere at the expense of intellectual craftsmanship and cultural authenticity, Femi Odugbemi stands out for his unswerving passion –spanning a professional film career of 25 years− to the art of documentary filmmaking. Going by childhood accounts, the multi award winning filmmaker and co-founder of IRepresent Film Festival, who enters the golden year of his birth today, is compulsively enthusiastic about creating fact-based stories; not as a necessity borne of his educational background or harsh economic realities.

In pre-teen years, the Ondo State indigene remembers being enamoured with the photographic equipment used by the old photographer who occupied a shop on the ground floor of his family residence in Mushin area of Lagos. Rather than toe his accountant father's career line, Femi's young mind –in its early stages of creative growth, began to feed and exercise its power of imagination watching the photographer at work. "Maybe that sort of started me off very early. In those days children begged their fathers for bicycle, I begged my father for a camera. I somehow knew it was an important part of my future; that I would be working in the areas of visual imaging, storytelling and creativity", he says.

Fast-forward several years later, 1984 precisely, Femi graduated with a B.Sc. (Honours) in Film and Television Production from the Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA. That certainly was his launch pad; not into the world of instant celebrity status by virtue of shooting a quick film or music video. However, Femi subjected his intellectual capacity to continuous expansion and his time to learning the ropes from old hands in well-established TV houses. Immediately after University, he landed a job as director and producer of several broadcast programmes at KUSM Channel 9 TV Bozeman Montana. There he gained valuable competence in multi-camera live transmissions of MSU Bobcats Basketball and football matches broadcast to a city audience of over four million people.

By 1986, Femi returned to Nigeria and barely had time to settle down to life at home before getting behind the cameras again at Africa's first and largest TV network, the Nigerian Television Authority. During his one-year National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, stint with NTA Kaduna, he produced and directed drama series and various studio presentation programmes. More notably, he had a hand in producing and presenting "Panorama", a popular current affairs documentary programme. These were Femi's growing years recollected fondly for the opportunities they presented him; "I was very lucky to have worked directly under the erstwhile acting Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, Bayo Atoyebi. I also went on to make several projects with Jimi Odumosu, Wale Fanu, Tunde Kelani and Lola Fani-Kayode".

After three years of intensive and hands-on practice in television production, the then emerging artist began to explore new frontiers in the advertising sector. Between 1987 and 1998, Femi served in various capacities of official ascendancy with first, Lintas Advertising, Lagos and later, STB-McCann Erickson also in Lagos. During that time, he produced the "Turn to Star" beer campaign for Nigeria Breweries, a campaign that subsequently won the CLIO Award. Earning rapid promotions on the job, he continued to write, produce and co-ordinate TV/Radio production activities. In addition, he was charged with supervising the establishment of Audio Visual First Limited, a subsidiary independent production company for the agency. After the successful planting of Audio Visual First in 1998, he was named the first Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer; a position he held till 2004 before leaving to run his own company, DVWORX Studios.

Although he continued with writing, producing and directing TV and radio commercials at DVWORXS, the director threw himself wholeheartedly into film production and created a slew of award winners in the process. Shoring up his impressive CV is Femi's production credits on MNET's award-winning soap Tinsel. Other acclaimed TV and documentary works include television drama, Like Father, Like Son; short film A'Bobaku (winner of Best Short Film, Terracotta 2010 and Africa Movie Academy Award, AMAA, 2010); Bar Beach Blues, winner Best Short Film, Zuma Film Festival 2007; a political full-length feature, Maroko; a new direction short film, Mama Put, which clinched the Best Short Film prize at Abuja Film Festival in 2007 and Bariga Boy, winner of Best Documentary, Zuma Film Festival 2009, Terracotta 2010, Best Documentary AMAA 2010 and Real Life Awards (Afro-Pop Prize) 2010.

An outspoken crusader for reforms in the local film industry, among the many responsibilities he has taken on to transform Nollywood and the film making business is co-founding the IRepresent International Documentary Film Festival in 2009, alongside two firm ideas ally and fellow culture advocates, Makin Soyinka and Jahman Anikulapo. Femi opines that Nigeria through, IREP, must bring about 'awareness and a consciousness of the power of documentary films to mediate our experiences as individuals and as a nation'. Thus, the 2013 edition of the annual fest was held in Lagos this March under the theme: "Reconnections", reflecting issues of identity for and of Africans.

Speaking with Friday Flavour in an earlier interview, the documentarist had harped on the power of 'documentaries to influence cultural, political and social changes in our environment'. "In practical terms, last year we showcased how the video documentaries from the fuel price increase mass demonstrations of January 2012 shaped the capacity of the people to express themselves and the depth of their concerns for the direction of the country at that time. That has led directly to a massive overhaul of the oil sector and the investigations that have exposed the corruption in that sector", he stated.

With all of the tremendous work under his belt, what career projections has he set for attaining the age of 50 and beyond? Any special birthday wishes, this writer asked the artist; "I intend to keep creating visual art and engage in cultural advocacy work. I hope to continue to deliver creative excellence and be involved in making the Nigerian film industry a better place. I want to invest more of my time in mentoring young professionals and in film education projects. Hopefully, in my lifetime, Nigeria will rise to its destiny which is to be one of the greatest culturally relevant cinema countries in the world".

Whether in his lifetime or not, Femi has secured his place in the annals of contemporary Nigeria film history and his manner of commitment and verve is the nourishment neo-Nollywood should suckle on to actualise his birthday wish.

National Mirror