QUEER NIGERIANS PRODUCTION
REEL FEELING Akande’s unconventional approach challenges traditional narratives and embraces the sensory in storytelling
compassionate and respectful to the community she’d be filming.” Guided by Akande’s vision and captured by Macdonald, Queer Nigerians cuts between monochromatic and saturated sequences, with spoken word being the primary focus. “There’s always a division between sound and visuals,” Akande remarks. “The sound is always the centre, and the visuals create the world for that sound to inhabit.” She links this tendency to her own culture of oral storytelling and the immediacy of sound. “We live in a world where images are constant and invasive, but sound requires a more sensitive meditation.” Akande gravitates towards sensory storytelling and away from plot-driven projects. She attended the BRIT School, where she studied film and media production and English literature. There, she was introduced to the films of Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold. “I connected with their work because it had this level of sensuality about it,” Akande shares. “Their films were less about plot, action or narrative and more about expressing the sensations of being, touch and breath. With Queer Nigerians , I wanted to express something less about a story and more about an experience.” Appearing at London Film Festival, IDFA Festival and Norwich Film Festival, Queer Nigerians has seen its fair share of the circuit, causing Akande to acknowledge the benefits of festival recognition while also feeling detached. “It was such an intense and intimate process that, by the end of it, we were all thinking, ‘Whatever, I don’t care what else anyone has to say about this.’ The contributors had already seen the film and they were happy, so we knew we did a good job. That was the most important thing.” Queer Nigerians introduced new ways of “working with a team and learning how to trust – learning how to let go of ego and prioritise the work instead of soothing my own insecurities,” says Akande. “I’ve been coming to the conclusion that, for me, making films is a practice of living. Queer Nigerians was a spiritual experience for all of us.”
© MAXINE GORDON
At that point, I hadn’t put pen to paper,” she reveals. But telling others about the film held her accountable. “It would be so embarrassing if I didn’t do it. I had gone around telling everyone I would.” Akande sourced funding – including money raised through Kickstarter and the BFI Doc Society Fund – before assembling her cast and crew, many of whom were strangers. “I did a call-out on Instagram since I wanted to make it as accessible as possible. I got 50-60 responses from people expressing interest,” she recounts. When it came to finding a DOP, a film cooperative suggested Bea Macdonald, now a graduate of Slade School of Fine Art. “Our first meeting was serendipitous. I was confident in her capacity to be
IMAGES ARE constant and invasive , BUT SOUND REQUIRES A MORE sensitive meditation ”
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