Multi-hyphenate, Bolanle Austen-Peters aka BAP, movie director, producer, playwright, lawyer and mentor was guest at the University of Westminster on Friday January 17, 2025.
Mrs. Austen-Peters was the year’s first guest under the Camri Africa Media Series in collaboration with Bubbles FM. The evening, which witnessed a huge turnout of academics, students, filmmakers, actors, and film enthusiasts, proceeded under the theme Bolanle: The State of Movies and Theatre Sectors in Contemporary Nigeria.
The evening began with a screening of BAP’s most recent movie, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, a riveting and blockbuster biopic of the mother of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The screening was followed by a conversation which was moderated by Dr. Lookman Sanusi.
TheLagosReview movie critic, Michale Kolawole has noted that “Bolanle Austen-Peters’ directorial approach to the story balances intense dramatic moments with quieter, reflective scenes. The chaotic opening sequence, with its rapid cuts and visceral brutality, contrasts with the more measured pace of the flashbacks, creating a rhythm that mirrors Funmilayo’s calm life and turbulent activism.”
The conversation which lasted for almost two hours was comprehensive, fun, exciting and interactive with Bolanle fielding questions about her productions, empowerment programme for young creative, creative process, state of the movie industries and more.
In the audience were young men and women who had interned at Terra Kulture, BAP’s well-known spot in Victoria Island, Lagos in the past or benefited from her Terra Academy For The Arts (TAFTA) which states its mission as – “to educate young people with relevant up-to-date technical and practical skills for the creative industry.”
TAFTA which is supported by the MastercCard Foundation, FCMB, Jobberman and more has just announced its 9th cohort and has at the last count trained over 23,000 students who have benefitted from its mix of in-person and online classes.
According to TAFTA’s website the target is to “educate and train up to 4,000 students each year. We are targeting a total of 65,000 students between the ages of 16 and 35 over our first five years”.
Bolanle explained that the idea for the academy was birthed during the pandemic as a means of keeping idle young people engaged and learning skills that will stand them out in the gig economy. “There was a lot of down time during Covid” she explains.
Responding to juggle multiple balls as a wife, mother, entrepreneur and creative maestro, Mrs. Austen Peters had a simple answer. “Time is important. We are not here forever so we have to let it count.”
BAP fielded questions on a wide range of subjects and they include:
How she chooses subjects for her films: “I enjoy history, so I am drawn to historical figures and incidents and I also like to observe things. “Man of God” came from observing pastors and their shenanigans. Bling Lagosians came from reminiscing on what me and my friends get up to in Lagos. 93 days came from Steve Gukas and co. I read the script and I was drawn to it.”
How does she decide that a script is worth her time: “Once I start reading a script and it grabs me and I am not struggling to understand what they are trying to say then I know it’s worth it.”
Her thoughts on the future of film making in Nigeria: “There are great filmmakers across Nigeria they just don’t have visibility.”
On prioritizing women: “I am intentional about prioritizing women in our training and at the academy especially in some skill sets that women are well suited for and excel in.”
On Netflix exiting Nigeria: Netflix is still in Nigeria, they just stopped doing originals and it was just a few filmmakers benefiting from that, so they are still there. Now, you see, Netflix had less than 300k subscribers in Nigeria so I guess they had to make a business decision.
On what kind of film from Nigeria she believes appeals to a global audience: “There is only one kind of film that appeals to the world; excellence. Make it good and the world will watch.”
On her approach as a Director: “I believe in educating my cast. I love helping the actors understand the character they are playing and their motivations.”
On the future of Nollywood: I believe that we need to diversify our content. It can’t just be only epics or comedies. A while back people believed that only comedies would be hits but now we have drama, we have epics, we have diversity. I also believe in collaboration all the way. I understand that people can be protective of their own space but it will happen.”
On what’s next from BAP Productions: We are at work on a new film, Wire Wire which came from my thoughts around the Yahoo Yahoo phenomenon.
The evening came to a close with the introduction of the granddaughter of Funmilayo Randosme Kuti who incidentally is also named Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and then a vote of thanks by Professor Winston Mano who is curator of the series.
