In this exclusive interview with Egungwu Chukwuka, award-winning Nigerian video director Adindu Collins, popularly known as ‘Director Dindu’ reveals how his passion for filmmaking started with photography, and led him to storytelling. The Benin-City-born and bred founder of Cinema House Productions has directed projects for top artistes like Davido, Joeboy, DJ Neptune, and Praiz. He also directed the video of the song ‘Work Me Out’ by Jamaican singer, Shenseea where she featured Wizkid.
Can share with us what triggered your decision to choose film and music video directing as a career?
Right from when I was young, I have always had a very imaginative mind. I am an imaginative thinker; I think a lot and can make up entire scenarios. After school, I discovered photography, which helped me realise my potential for capturing captivating images. This led me to filmmaking, as I recognised my imaginative mind would thrive in that field. Looking at my work today, you will notice the abundance of storylines, that’s how everything started.
How do you handle the scouting of locations, casting of actors, and recruiting crew members for your productions?
In Cinema housing, we have personnel who handle location planning. We have our location manager and cast. After brainstorming, we decide who we want to work with. Then, we reach out to external agencies to contact those individuals. That’s how we handle it.
What role do you think Nigerian cinema plays in shaping our cultural narratives?
Actually, Nigeria’s cinema plays a great role in shaping our cultural narratives. The more we project our culture in our films, the more the next generation can learn.
If you look at this generation, only a few people are willing to research and delve into our history. They watch movies and learn from there. So, I strongly believe that cinema plays a huge role in depicting African culture and narratives.
Your new movie,’GodDafi’, featured an impressive casts like Charles Inojie and Tina Mba. Can you share with us how their expertise enhanced the film?”
It was amazing working with amazing talents, just like I posted on social media. It was a pleasure working with these people, and I enjoyed the fact that they gave their all.
In a nutshell, can you share how the movie’GodDafi’talksaboutfamily, love, and the search for destiny?
The story ‘God Dafi’ is like the beginning story of a very long, intriguing messiah African story. He was actually destined to be born into a certain lineage, and within the course of his life, he is supposed to attain divine enlightenment and bestow others with divine enlightenment, thereby eradicating evil in the world and bringing his people back to their original state of being God on earth.
When you watch the movie, you will realise that Jaba was very much in love with Ene, but he just had this fear of responsibility and not being ready for parenthood, which made him fade out a little bit. Everyone has this fear in them, but later we saw him go out of his way to take multiple jobs to provide – that is out of love.
Our culture as Africans, instills in our princes the spirit of responsibility. As Africans, we are seen as responsible and willing to take care of our families.
How do you navigate funding challenges for your projects?
For funding challenges, we have been facing them, and it remains an ongoing struggle that we are yet to overcome. I reach out to people I know who are willing to invest in this dream, but it’s hard. I have been practising this career for a very long time, and it’s been a big vision in my head for just as long. I have been working and saving towards it for a long time. Navigating funding isn’t easy, but it’s something I will accomplish, and we will continue to excel, by the grace of God.
NB: This interview was originally published in The Independent Newspaper on 26th October, 2024.
