The founder of the EbonyLife group, Dr. Mo Abudu, has emphasised the significance of authenticity in Nigerian stories.
She urged filmmakers and storytellers to preserve authenticity while portraying Nigerian culture and striving for worldwide recognition in her keynote speech at a conference hosted by the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).
Mo Abudu placed a strong emphasis on identifying one’s marketplace and comprehending the distinction between local and global audiences.
She recommended that Nigerian storytellers refrain from attempting to be someone they are not and instead strive to be true to their stories.
“The first thing is to understand that there is a difference between a local audience and a global audience and that is nothing wrong. Once you define where your marketplace is, you hold it on and work in that space, but if you decide that you want to work in the global space, there is a guideline I would like to suggest for you to thrive. One of them is that we are authentic to the story that we are telling and I find that as Nigeria we are quite authentic but we try to move into spaces that are not ours. We are trying to be who we are not and that may be distracting from who we are, people understand this is real and this isn’t. So, I think it is very important that we tell our stories as Africans and Nigerians that we remain authentic to those stories we are telling.”
Mo Abudu also highlighted the need for high-quality productions and collaboration to achieve international standards.
She said:
“Another point is understanding that there are universal themes that should be part of the stories that we are telling. Things like love, ambition, resilience, justice, who is the cool guy, who is the bad guy, all of these things are part and parcel of what will get us to that global stage.
“Most important is investing in high-quality productions. It is important that we understand that there is an international standard and with lots of our filmmakers having restricted budgets, which is why we need collaboration. You can’t do everything, you can’t do it all by yourself, imagine we put our resources together to make a global blockbuster, it is going to travel a lot further, and earn a lot more.”
