A case of writer’s block hit Nigerian filmmaker Babatunde Apalowo in the wake of winning the Teddy Award at the Berlinale in 2023 for his debut feature All The Colours Of The World Are Between Black And White, which explored the taboo subject of homosexuality in contemporary Lagos.
“A lot of what I wanted to do I kept pushing aside, thinking it’s not good,” he recalls.
“What made it work for me is the city. I went to Ibadan to visit a friend and I was looking at the old architecture and it was so beautiful — and then the story popped up.”
Apalowo is now in Morocco to attend Marrakech’s Atlas Workshops with the story that became InThe Shadow Of Good Fortune, set in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan. It follows a young couple whose daughter is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness just as the woman finds out she is pregnant. Torn between their responsibility to their girl and the possibility of an unborn male child, their relationship suffers the strains of a patriarchal society, where a woman’s decision to reclaim control of her body and life can come at the cost of her marriage.
The film is in the editing stage of post-production, with the team refining a second cut and a pick-up shoot planned for 10 days in January. Apalowo serves as writer, director, editor and producer through his Polymath Pictures, along with Kemi Lala Akindoju’s Make It Happen Productions, whose major producing credits include Gangs Of Lagos for Prime Video and The Black Book for Netflix. Apalowo hopes to find a “a co-producer, possibly French, and some professional feedback for the film” in Marrakech.
Although the logistics of mounting a feature proved easier the second time around, Apalowo, who is from Ogbagi-Akoko (Yorubaland), says making a film in Nollywood, which has its own infrastructure and audience expectations, was “a double-edged sword”.
“Nigeria is not a country like others, where cinema is completely nonexistent, even though the structure might not be the best, it’s still some sort of structure. But there is a negative side. Nollywood has treated the audience in a certain way and taught them the way in which a film should be seen,” he explains. “To make something different becomes a problem, because you’re not making a ‘Nigerian’ film.”
One challenge can be at the casting stage. “There is a kind of glamourised look that Nollywood really champions,” suggests Apalowo. “It feels like all of our actors are the same.”
However, the success of his first film made it much easier for the filmmaker to cast the central couple in In The Shadow Of Good Fortune.
“There was the pedigree that came with my other film, so I had a lot of actors who wanted to work with me,” he says.
The Atlas Workshops are taking place from December 1-5 as part of the Marrakech International Film Festival, which opens on November 29 and runs until December 7.
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