This one is for Obianuju Iloanya whose courage and voice made me badly want to do this.
And her mother, Hope whose strength inspired mine. And her stoic father. And her brave brother.
And everyone who found the courage to open up and share the powerful stories they did with me over the one year of making this film.
“If no one encourages you,” Hope Iloanya said in one of the film’s most powerful lines. “Encourage yourself.”
I spent months looking for a director for Awaiting Trial. I sat with some of the brightest talent. But it just wasn’t working out.
Until the universe whispered to me ‘Do it, yourself Chude’. Do it, alarmed, afraid, and vulnerable. Do it, despite the voices that will question your bonafides as a director. Do it, because the only way to become brilliant is to begin. Do it, because this matters to you.
So I overcame the fright. I steeled myself for the judgement. I silenced the voices in my head.
Our first film.
The continent’s biggest prize.
And we haven’t even released the film officially.
Thank you, Micheal Akinrogunde – this is as much yours as it is mine.
Thank you, Stephen Kobams
Thank you, Biola Williams
Thank you, Damola Morenikeji
Thank you, Bolu Akindele
Thank you, Ifeanyi Dike Jr
Thank you, Remi Ogunkayo
Thank you, Sanmi Adeola
Thank you, Adebola Williams
Thank you, Francesca Uriri
Thank you, Olumide Makanjuola
Thank you, Mfon Ekpo
Thank you with all my heart to the partner who made the resources available.
Thank YOU, my audience and my community, for making it easier to walk this path less travelled.
We are already in production for our second documentary, a scary-big-budget shoot across three continents, and by God this one frightens me witless.
But you and me? We are just getting started.
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