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THE PLOT
Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.’
Wole Soyinka, born July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria to a clergy father and trader-activist mother, is a poet, playwright, memoirist, essayist and political activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
"At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to his self by a thread. At other time, he pondered, listened, watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can."
Executive Summary
- Project Description – FEATURE FILM (150MINS. PRODUCED 2024)
- PRODUCTION COMPANY – ZURI24MEDIA LIMITED
- SCREENPLAY BY – BODE ASIYANBI
- PRODUCED BY – FEMI ODUGBEMI
- DIRECTED BY – AWAM AMKPA
- PROPOSED PUBLIC PREMIERE : 12TH JULY, 2024.
SYNOPSIS
WOLE is out in the night, hunting – an expedition which brings back memories of the times spent with his grandfather who amongst many words of wisdom, taught him to face his fears and never to turn the other cheek. From a written note in Wole’s car, it’s established he has been warned to stay out of circulation, so when he shows up at FEMI JOHNSON’s customary weekend soiree, an alarmed MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, who had sent him the warning note, warns him to go undercover – the army is looking to arrest him and possibly kill him; notifying him that his office had just been raided.
The duo of FEMI JOHNSON and BOLA IGE forces a reluctant Wole to heed the warning but as he sets off, he remembers he needed to disband a group of activists waiting on his command to start an anti-war rally and despite the attempts of the concerned trio to sway him, he insists it is only right he disbands them so they do not endanger their lives by rioting when they don’t see him. As he drives through University College Ibadan, he is arrested by a lone police officer. A tussle for his body begins between the military governor in Ibadan, Governor Adebayo and the federal might of Lagos.
Lagos wins and Wole is transferred to Lagos where all agreements made to Governor Adebayo to bring him (Wole) safely back to Ibadan are broken. He is interrogated by the ruthless officer, YISA who has been given the mandate to frame and liquidate him. The interrogation reveals Wole’s offence – his visit to the Biafran warlord – Emeka Odumegwu -Ojukwu in Enugu under the aegis of the THIRD FORCE. The visit had rattled the military government as they believed Wole, with his international clout is capable of giving both armed and diplomatic advantage to Biafra. Wole refuses to implicate any of the Third Force members, angering Yisa. Despite Wole’s insistent he was there just to find a way to end the joke of a war; he is chained and sent to Kirikiri where he rejects an offer from the government to implicate an Easterner for a cabinet position. Wole manages to smuggle out a letter to comrades in the university encouraging them to keep on the fight and informing them that he remains committed to the cause only for the letter to end up in government’s hands, setting off a dangerous chain of events that will see Wole framed and subsequently marked for liquidation. It will take partnership of his lover MORENIKE and the rallying together of the prison community regardless of tribe, tongue and creed to unite to save Wole from imminent death – a probable metaphor of what makes a nation.
Cast
Wale Ojo
As Wole Soyinka
SAM DEDE
As Yisa
NOBERT YOUNG
As Superintendent
SIMILOLUWA HASSAN
As Emeka Ojukwu
Cast
CHRISTINAH OSHUNNIYI
As Laide Soyinka
ABRAHAM AMKPA
As Femi Johnson
SEGILOLA OGIDAN
As Morenike
TEMILOLU FOSUDO
As Bola Ige
Gowon's Governing Council
Meet The Director
AWAM AMKPA
Awam Amkpa is a professor of drama, film and social and cultural analysis at New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American. Awam Amkpa is the author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003). He is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. Amkpa has written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.
SCENE SNIPPETS
The Producer
Femi Odugbemi
