Author: Michael Kolawole

EXCLUSIVE: From the shining lights of theatre stages around the world to the klieg lights and silver screen of Nollywood, Olarotimi Fakunle’s artistry knows no bounds. Though some may consider him a newcomer, theatre enthusiasts know better—Fakunle is a seasoned actor with a rich resume of performances, directing, and theatrical knowledge. Long before he delighted the audience with his memorable performance in Jadesola Osiberu’s Gangs of Lagos, Fakunle had already stamped his name on theatre stages around the world. In Defense of ‘Gangs of Lagos’ and The Future of Our Films Olarotimi Fakunle Over a Skype call, we had our…

True to its title, Gangs of Lagos, Prime Video’s debut African original film, directed by filmmaker Jadesola Osiberu, depicts an impoverished and chaotic neighborhood that bursts into a bloodbath. A hybrid work that integrates components of drama and gangster, the film locates its action in Isale Eko (downtown Lagos). The film premiered on Prime Video on April 7, 2023, starring Tobi Bakre, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Chike Osebuka, Chioma Akpotha, and Iyabo Ojo. In parallel to City of God (2002) and Gangs of New York (2002), the film is set in a present inflected with subtle dystopian facts—local hustlers with illegal operations,…

Anthonieta Kalunta’s proficiency in enacting her role as the cool-headed but vigorous lead character Aisha, in Desmond Ovbiagele’s critically-lauded movie, The Milkmaid, is so spell bounding that it won her accolades and awards. The Milkmaid tells the story of how Boko Haram, the extremist group that has destroyed Nigeria’s northeast and some countries in West Africa, kidnapped more than 250 schoolgirls in 2014 from the town of Chibok. In the 2020 film, inspired by the iconic photo of two Fulani milkmaids on the Nigerian 10 Naira note, Aisha and her younger sister Zainab (Mariam Booth) are abducted by the extremists…

Although born in Lagos, when he was five, he was taken to Abeokuta to live with his paternal grandparents. While in Abeokuta, he was exposed to Yoruba novels and music. By the time he was nine, he was already reading and writing. Later, he started reading D.O. Fagunwa’s books to his grandfather. His first glimmer as a filmmaker started from his childhood ideas of shadows from the headlights of automobiles passing across the wall of his grandfather’s compound. He discovered photography in Standard Six when he befriended a boy whose father was a photographer and possessed a box camera. Kelani’s…