AFRIFF Diaries: Day 1

I mean, it’s officially Day 2 but it’s my Day 1 and you might get this email on Day 3.

Last year, around this time, I got an offer to cover the African International Film Festival. It was a simple tweet I sent out, half joking and half serious, asking a publication to basically take risks and succeed. It worked. An editor who has always supported my career reached out and asked how much it would cost to get me to Lagos. Excitedly, I shared all the details and we began to put plans in motion but man proposes and the University of Calabar disposes or however that saying goes.

At first it was one assessment, I could risk it, my resolve was still steeled but then like a ploy to beat hope out of me, another assessment was fixed. I texted the editor with the bad news and moved on quickly not because I wasn’t invested but because I had to study, no time to wallow in sadness. I can’t even remember my scores for those assessments so they weren’t memorable successes or failures: an apt summary of most of my university academics.

I don’t know why I’m giving this backstory, in trying to set up my presence at this year’s AFRIFF I’ve kind of ruined the vibe by talking about school. Anyway, enough about that because this year I got another opportunity to cover the film festival for What Kept Me Up. Everybody cheer!

Day 1 of the festival spanned across two cities for me. I had to fulfill an academic obligation by 9AM (last school mention, I promise) and then rush home, pack my bags and catch a flight to Lagos. I felt like I was leading an exciting double life: dental student by day, film critic by night. I was like Hannah Montana but poorer and without a father (If you follow me on Twitter you know I have to get in a fatherless joke one way or another). I rushed to the airport, avoided being taxed by any of the workers and finally settled at the departure lounge hungry and out of breath. Now, I shall share a few observations and things that happened from the moment I sat down till when I boarded the flight and landed in Lagos.

• Remember I said I was hungry, yeah. I had to buy meat pie at the airport which cost me 1700 naira and nothing about that meat pie inspired any good feeling. It felt like an affront to God, like the maker was poking at God for some sort of punishment. I might seem dramatic but I want my money back.

• So many private schools advertise at airport lounges. I guess it’s because their target market frequent these places but I just imagined myself running to catch a flight—clothes disheveled, eyes red with fear and heart pounding imagining the money I paid for a ticket—and going: hmm, I think I should send my first son to Top Faith.

• One man pecked the cheek of the guy checking our boarding passes and it made him blush. That was cute.

• I was on the same flight with a former crush and immediately started creating delusions around an airport romance. Safe to say the feeling wasn’t mutual as all I got was a half smile and a weak wave.

I landed in the city of situationships and immediately headed to the AFRIFF venue in a race against time because I had a film to catch. My friend Bolu organized airport pick up for me in an act that reminded me of the ways my friends support everything I do. On my way, I listened to people call into a radio program and complain about Nigeria which reminded me of the time I and my mother called into a TV program as a joke and just laughed all through the call. She tries to be supportive of this alternate career, cautiously asking me if I was missing classes for this, of course I lie. I don’t ever want her to worry about me choosing to not pursue a career in this degree I’m studying for. That’s a worry for another time, the postponement continues.

My first film of the festival was an advanced screener of Captain Ex, Mavin Record’s foray into filmmaking. I sat at the KFC outlet in Palms Mall with my friend Tobi and watched the film on my iPad. I don’t want to share my thoughts here, you can find everything on the WKMUp website but let’s just say thank God they have Ayra Starr.

My second film was The Man Died, an account of Soyinka’s time in prison during the Biafran war. The film has a run time of two hours and forty minutes and about thirty minutes into the screening, we ran into technical issues and had to switch screens. It was slightly annoying because the film ended up finishing around 11pm and getting home was a hassle, but it was a good film. The film shows Soyinka having an affair with a nurse, Morenike, and it was funny seeing him find time for that even while he was suffering. A true Nigerian man.

I headed home tired and hungry but buzzing with excitement, so many films to see, so many people to meet up with and so much to write. Let’s get to work then.