Half of a Yellow Sun gulped $10m – Yewande Sadiku (Executive Producer)

Turns out Nigerian movies are increasing their budget for the good of the viewers and i LIKEY. I saw this in punch news this morning and thought to share. Enjoy!!!!

At a time when most Nigerian film makers shy away from making big budget epic movies for obvious reasons, the film adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s award winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, is said to have cost the producers $10m.

The executive producer of the movie, Mrs.Yewande Sadiku, said this on Tuesday during its private screening at the Ozone Cinema in Yaba, Lagos.

The movie, which will premiere in Nigerian cinemas for the first time on April 12, 2014, was shown to a select audience comprising journalists and invited filmmakers.  It was also shot for 33 days in Nigeria and for four days in the United Kingdom.

yewande sadiku

While fielding questions from journalists, Sadiku, a trained investment banker, said funding for the movie, which covered the cost of production and excludes other attendant costs, did not come easy.

She recalled, “After I successfully raised $1bn for an undisclosed telecommunications company in Nigeria, I thought it would be very easy to raised $12m to shoot Half of a Yellow Sun. But I was wrong. After I was turned down by some investors, I became very sad and unhappy for Nollywood. But the required funds were finally realised. The movie costs us about $10m dollars to shoot and this is beside other fees.”

A visibly elated Sadiku said she was happy that the challenges faced by the production team had become a thing of the past.

Just to correct the impression that the movie is simply an account of the Biafra war, she added, “The film is, first and foremost, the product of a collaboration between the United Kingdom and Nigeria. It is simply a love story set in a war situation.

“It talks about the lovers and sisters who were divided by war but united by love. We set out to make a love movie and we hoped to do this in such a way that it also captured the totality of the Nigerian civil war, as well as the destruction that occurred during the period.”

Although Sadiku fears that she may not be able to regain the initial capital invested on the film at the end of the day, she is still optimistic that there will be good returns.

As a step in the right direction, the producers have lined up a number of avenues through which they can generate revenue after the cinema rounds.

Sadiku shares a few of the plans being mapped out for the ‘ambitious’ project both locally and internationally.

“The movie is being marketed on social media platforms, in addition to the traditional news and media outlets. It will be premiered in Australia on April 27 and will also be released in 40 cinemas across London.

“It will be released in the United States by mid May. We have already secured distribution rights in Portugal and the Middle East. We have DVD distribution already secured with a marketer in Alaba market. Plans are also in the works to have it included in in-flight entertainment so passengers can get to watch it while flying,” she says

Explaining why the movie will be premiered in Nigeria in April after being screened in other parts of the world, Sadiku says, “The reason why we chose the date is simply because we want the lead actor and actress, Chinwetel Ejiofor  and Thandie Newton, as well as others, to be present in Nigeria during the premiere and that time fits well into their schedule.”

When asked if the author of the novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie, is pleased with the movie, she replies, “Chimamanda auctioned the rights for the movie and then left the director to interpret it into a script accordingly. Someone took her baby, cut it up and I dare say, it is a true representation of the novel and nothing off context. It is simply a representation of her work.”

The 500-page-long romantic drama spanning over a decade follows the fate of four people who become entangled in both their relationship and the civil war. It focuses on two wealthy sisters,  Olama(Thandie Newton) and Kainene(Anika Noni Rose) who, upon returning from their UK education, choose two completely different lives.

The cast of the movie is predominantly Nigerian and home based. The film features sterling performances by established names, Onyeka Onwenu, Gloria Young, Gloria Mba, Zack Orji, Genevieve Nnaji, Jude Orhorha, O.C Ukeje , Kazzem Kae Kazzim amongst many others.

The movie which was shot on location in Creektown, Cross-River State, and London, was written and directed Biyi Bandele. Its cinematic distruition will be handled by Kene Mkparu’s Film distribution company.