Award-winning Nigerian filmmaker Chris Ihidero has officially begun production on the ‘most important’ project of his illustrious career. Earlier this year, Netng reported exclusively that the filmmaker was working on a blockbuster when auditions were open to the public in February
While several details of the movie remain under wraps, Ihidero disclosed to Arise News on The Morning Show that production had begun in earnest. He further disclosed that the movie’s plot centres around a modern-day Robin Hood in Lagos, who steals from the rich to empower the poor.
Our hero, this Robin Hood, has to forgive himself for an incident that occurred 7 years before our movie begins, while contemplating if his love interest is genuine or a plant by the person who wants him dead, Ihidero explained.
It’s a love story in a time of war. But love for self, place, community and asking ourselves if we need saviours or if we need to rise to become the saviours we want to see in others.
The film, which has been in development for nearly a decade, promises to tackle some of Nigeria’s most pressing issues, including economic inequality and the growing divide in the urban contemporary society and Ihidero who directed over 100 episodes of the Fuji House of Commotion explains why he wants to explore the social and economic divides through storytelling.
The Lagos Urban area; Ghettos is my favourite storytelling place and if you look through my career from MTV Shuga to Lady Buckit, it’s always been about the battle between those that have and those that don’t and the gatekeepers at everypoint for those who have aspirations, and thats what I want to do on a bigger scale.
Ihidero emphasised that this is different from the other Robin Hood characters we have seen in recent Nollywood movies. The difference here is that when you term yourself a saviour, we must question what your motives are. Why exactly are you doing this, and are you going to survive? There’s a place for aspirations and a place for reality, and the reality of our society is that before you save others, you must first save yourself.
The question for this film is “are you going to save yourself first and if you fail, can you go on to save others. Maybe that is a question for our leaders and those of us who are followers considering what we allow them to do or not do?”
Though the title, characters, and release date are yet to be confirmed, fans can prepare for a blockbuster with a huge cultural impact on pop culture.
