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James Omokwe is not a strange name in the entertainment industry nowadays. If by some otherworldly chance you aren’t a fan of epic series — two of which James Omokwe has been in charge of in recent times, you must have heard about Showmax’s psychological thriller Diiche, where comedy merges with thrill, detective fiction with romance and suspense with the good old battle between good and evil in a modern whodunit.
James Omokwe had been interested in cartoons, comics and animation as a young child. Growing up, he realised he wanted to tell his own stories and sought to study directing for film and TV, but that dream didn’t come to fruition for some reason. So, instead, he ditched his degree in Urban and Regional Planning in the first year to pursue a degree in Creative Arts from the University of Lagos.
I used to love cartoons. I kind of always wanted to be an animator when I was younger. I always used to draw comics a lot. But as I got older, I went to university, started getting into films and realised I wanted to tell my own stories.
My first degree, which I didn’t finish, was in Urban and Regional Planning. I did that for one year and I was like I didn’t have any passion for it. Then I went into Theatre Arts, which was called Creative Arts at the University of Lagos.
James Omokwe and Showmax share a passion for telling African stories. This comes to the fore as the critically acclaimed Africa Magic epics, Ajoche and Riona, became successes for their depiction of the culture and history of untold ethnic groups such as the Itsekiri and the Idoma. Omokwe no doubt resonated with Showmax’s vision to be Africa’s most loved digital storyteller and to take African stories to the world. This is echoed by Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice CEO of General Entertainment and Connected Video.
“We are leading the way and taking African audiences into the future. We believe in telling African stories in local languages that touch lives and celebrate our past and future,” she said.
Though he was brilliant at the helm of Ajoche and RIona, James Omokwe, a filmmaker par excellence, also likes to hold his audience “spellbound” and keep them thinking. No wonder Showmax’s Diiche, which he co-directed, has been reigning supreme.
Diiche is the first Nigerian original limited series and it debuted on September 29, 2022, exclusive to Showmax. True to providing premium entertainment, Showmax’s Diiche features car chases, bare-knuckle fights, lovey-dovey scenes, plot twists, psychological thrills and an unsolved murder. Beyond that, it explores themes that Nigerians can resonate with.
Commenting on its release, Executive Head, Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Dr. Busola Tejumola described Diiche as a journey into culture on a grand cinematic scale.
“We were very intentional about telling stories Nigerians will love and identify with. The story of Diiche is one of fate, culture, beliefs and the battle between good and evil. We believe the story and our stellar production values will draw audiences in. We’ve co-produced with Feemo Vision on this first limited drama series with many more authentic Nigerian productions in the pipeline”, Tejumola said.
Before his time on the thrilling and suspenseful Diiche, before his excellence steering the Africa Magic epic series Ajoche and Riona and before his time as an in-demand filmmaker from fantasies to thrillers, Omokwe had had to surmount financial challenges, validation, the intricacies of transitioning between genres and the realities of being a successful filmmaker.
Speaking with Netng, James Omokwe unpacked truths about the obstacles, the trajectories, and opportunities of being a filmmaker, what it took to co-direct Showmax’s psychological thriller Diiche and other pertinent issues in the Nollywood industry.
Had you always been interested in film?
Yes, I was obsessed with cartoons at a young age and I knew I wanted to tell my own stories. I studied Creative Arts at the University of Lagos, even though it was not necessarily what I wanted to do. But on the side, I was still learning one or two things about filmmaking.
After school, I started working for Linus Idahosa at the Oyo Creative Academy and then they brought New York Film Academy teachers and we did something together. That was where I got a scholarship and studied directing for film.
After that, I made my first film. That was where it all began.
How did your family feel when you told them about your interest in pursuing film?
So, my parents are separated and my dad lives in the UK. When I told my dad that I would just come and study film & TV, he was like “people don’t come to London to come and study film & TV and I should do something else with my life” (Laughs).
But my mom supported me. If I told my mother I wanted to be a ballet dancer, she would say “as long as you’re happy”. Eventually, though, my dad was like “do what you want to do”.
At the start, what were the obstacles you faced as a filmmaker and how did you overcome them?
My first film, which is called The Awakening, came out in 2013. When you’re making your first film, you have to hustle for money and I had to take a loan from some people which we couldn’t pay back. We had this grandiose idea that if we made this movie, countless people would come to watch it at the cinemas. But I think we probably made like 1.4 million naira in that theatrical run and we borrowed about 5 million naira or so.
So, after that time, for about three years of my life, I did a lot of TV stuff. Amidst all, financing was the biggest issue. It was crazy. I had this vision of being a top director. But the finances were not there to back it up. I think the whole thing was that nobody believed in James. Who would give you that kind of money? What’s your track record? What have you done? So, for three years, it was a struggle. And I almost gave up in 2014.
It wasn’t until I started working with IK Osakioduwa that things changed. He used to have a show for Africa Magic. He hired me as consulting producer first, and then I became a series producer. I did that for about three years. Through that show, I put my foot through the door and I got my first TV show from Africa Magic called Head over Heels. From there, I got the opportunity to do another show called Ajoche, and then we did Riona. And then there’s Showmax’s Diiche and then now Itura. So, finance was my biggest struggle.
What was the experience like transitioning from Epic series like Riona and Ajoche to a psychological thriller like Diiche?
My favourite genre is Thriller. That was the genre of my first film. I like to hold people spellbound. Drama is great stuff, but I like things that keep you thinking.
On how I got into epics, the company I was in at the time, Feemo, wanted to tell authentic African stories. Everybody wanted to tell the action and I felt like there was nobody that was touching the African series. A year before I did Ajoche, we had shot something called Ojuri, a Yoruba epic fantasy. I did a proof of concept — a three-minute proof of concept — and put it on Instagram.
A year later, I got called for a workshop. And then one of the ideas that Africa Magic tabled was to do an epic folk tale type of story. And it just got me excited. So, I was like we could do it and I showed them what I had done with Ojuri.
Behind all of that, I was still interested in the thriller genre. So, when Diiche came, it was my kind of show. Showmax wanted to confuse the hell out of people. You think you’re watching something in episodes one and two, but by the time you get to episode six, you realise you’re watching something else.
Diiche was one of the projects that got me excited between 2021 and now. Because we were playing in our comfort zone. So the transition wasn’t a difficult switch-up. In fact, the epics were a switch-up, but Diiche was homecoming.
How much do you think Thriller series is redefining Nollywood?
I think that TV series are a way of expanding a world that you are trying to build and holding people for longer. You can tell more complicated stories. With films, you have your three-act structure and the movie is supposed to end in less than two hours or so, right? But with series, there are more characters you can explore, and more threads of the story you can take.
I think that’s why a lot of streaming services like Showmax are now spending a lot of money doing TV shows because people are more invested in franchises. Series make a lot of business sense which is why I do more TV shows than films.
What was the most challenging thing about bringing Diiche script to life?
I won’t say challenging; it just took a lot of creativity. There was a lot of hand-holding in terms of making sure that the story that we were telling is good enough. And you know Showmax won’t create something that isn’t impressive enough for screen. Therefore, we had to have six drafts of the story. By six drafts, I mean that there was the need to correct and rewrite and then when you think you’re about to shoot, you have to go back and rewrite. And we did it six times even while we were filming.
At times, I was always scratching my head but we knew we had to do it right. The team understood that we were striving for perfection so that made it easier.
What was the rationale behind casting up-and-coming actors and known faces for Diiche?
The more you use known faces, the more you take away the suspension of disbelief. By the time you see one actor play a role and you’ve seen him in 20,000 movies, it takes away from “the shine” of what story you’re trying to tell.
Beyond that, I’ve also always believed that there are younger talents out there that are amazing and can put on a show on this level. So, part of the things that Showmax did was put these new talents forward and then support them with heavy weights.
It’s also Showmax’s way to train talent because most of these other actors are going to phase out tomorrow and you’re going to find new actors anyway. That was the reason why we went with that casting. And more people are coming on in the other episodes of the show — people who you haven’t seen before.
What are the social issues that Diiche highlights?
One of the major social issues that Diiche explores is police reform. Usually, when you watch anything Nigerian featuring the Nigerian police, there’s a telling of how corrupt they are. But in the real sense, Nigerian police are not as dumb as you think they are. So, we had one character who was that “relaxed” policeman, while we had the other who was doing a proper investigation.
Americans show you what they want you to see about their culture all the time. So, it may be a far-fetched dream but who says there aren’t great Nigerian police officers out there?
Other issues explored are how society paints marriage as an ideal for the girl child and how childbearing could make or mar a woman in Nigerian society, especially in the Igbo culture.
There are a lot of those cultural and social issues that we highlighted in the story.
What is your take on the place of nudity in Nollywood?
If a movie is supposed to be mirroring society, then why can’t we talk about nudity? The thing about nudity in film is that it can be used so far it helps to drive the story forward. So, for instance, you can’t just have a nude scene just because you want to.
In Diiche, for example, the nude scenes like the one at the strip club in episode two set the tone for how dark and gruesome the whodunit is. Thus, nudity is necessary only if it is used to move the story forward, which is how Hollywood does it anyway.
What are your words for aspiring filmmakers?
Work hard, study and work hard. Most importantly, be humble.
You also need a lot of collaboration and for you to collaborate, you need to be humble.
What is your all-time favourite movie?
I think that every film affects me differently. But I love The Matrix Trilogy because of how innovative it was. To tell you how badly I loved it, I used to dream about the film before I watched it. You know we used to go to video clubs to borrow films. So, before I could borrow the film on tape, I used to dream about the film.
I love Avatar too. They literally built technology to make the film.
The post James Omokwe: From Taking a Loan for His First Movie and Almost Giving up on Film to Becoming a Sought-After Filmmaker appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
Source: TheNet
