F or
two years, ageless beauty and veteran actress, Clarion Chukwurah took a
break from acting to tour three countries following her position as a
special UN peace envoy. She’s back in the country and upon her return,
she bagged a prestigious award in recognition of her contribution
towards the development of the Nigerian film industry.But in spite of
all these, Chukwurah still feels disappointed with a lot of things
happening in the industry. She bares her mind on the issues.
By SAM ANOKAM
You recently won ‘Legends of Nollywood’award. How do you feel being recognised as a legend in the industry?
I
was on location in Enugu when the award was held and as you can see,
‘Best Female Act, Mirror in the Sun, Clarion Chukwurah’. The award was
received on my behalf by my publicist, Cornell Udofia. This award is
yearly organised by Paul Obazele’s company, Royal Pictures. Frank
Rajah, I think was part of it as well as Zack Orji and many others. I
appreciate the award having been given this recognition for the role I
played in the now rested ‘Mirror in the Sun.’ But I think that the name
of the award and the work for which it was given is rather misplaced.
That
is because the award is called, ‘Legends of Nollywood’. Nollywood is
today’s euphemism for the Nigerian film industry. ‘Mirror in the Sun’
was the second national network soap opera. It was a television drama.
I understand that before the award was held, AMP president,Mr. Zik Zulu
Okafor and other stakeholders celebrated Nollywood at 20, which
witnessed an award ceremony called Legends of Nollywood Awards.
They honoured those whom they considered as foremost actors and cinematographers in the industry.
However,
when Paul Obazele set out to hold his own Legends of Nollywood award,
he gave people the impression that he was going to correct the
anomalies. I was expecting Zik Zulu’s ‘Legends of Nollywood’awards to
honour actors, producers, directors, cinematographers who have made
their marks dating back to late 1950s, till the advent of the new
Nollywood. That was my expectations.
They actually
wanted to give me an award for ‘Koko Close’, a TV drama I did in
Ibadan while I was an undergraduate in the University of Ife. I was
surprised, you are talking about ‘Legends of Nollywood’ and you are
giving me an award for a role I played in a TV drama. Are you not
confused here? I expected to see the likes of Chief Hubert Ogunde
being given a posthumous award, MKO Abiola who was the first Nigerian
business mogul to sponsor a multi million Naira technicolour Nigerian
film titled ‘Bisi Daughter of the River’.
I was
expecting to see Kunle Afolayan received a posthumous award on behalf
of his father, Sunday Omobolanle’s (Aluwe) first wife stepping out to
an award on behalf of her father, Moses Olaiya, Jeta Amata mounting
the stage to pick an award on behalf of his grand father.
That
was what I expected to see at the ‘Legend of Nollywood’ awards. But
whilst Zik Zulu and his partners deliberately refused to recognise that
there was a film industry before the production of teh movie, ‘Living
in Bondage’, Obazele’s faction proved themselves more ignorant by
lumping TV and everything together.
They are two
different things. I think it’s high time, the Nollywood practitioners
should stop feigning ignorance and face the truth that before Jesus
Christ, there was Abraham. Before Nollywood, there was a Nigerian film
industry and that is the main reason Nollywood is stagnant today. That
is why Nollywood is not growing. If a child doesn’t recognise his
mother, how can he grow? If you don’t know where you are coming from,
how would you know here you are going to?
No
doubt, you are a legend in the Nigerian motion picture industry. What’s
the difference between Nollywood of yesteryears and today’s Nollywood?
It
hasn’t improved at all. It is now a proverbial ‘ state’ that makes one
to weep. Everything has fallen to a disgraceful state. No standards are
left. I was on a location in Enugu last month and the production
manager was insulting the director of photography. I was shocked.
The
producer and the director were shouting at each other. I could not
imagine it. The artistic director would just walk away and actors are
not directed on what to do. Any greenhorn could hit the set and
believe that she could sleep her way to the top. She is pretty and
sleeps with the Executive Producer. It’s just sickening. And they say
to you, this movie is meant for the market and the cinema. It is not
for film festival, just do it anyhow because this is for inside the
market. That goes to show there are no standards. It is pathetic.
We didn’t see much of you last year in the movies?
I
was out of the country for two years. I came back in May last year and
I shot my very first movie in the same month. I shot about six movies
from May through December 15th when I returned to my home. Those
movies were, Last Family Reunion, That Fateful Night, Hustlers, The God
of the Ghetto and Apaye, Land of Canaan.
Why did you travel abroad for two years?
I
was appointed a United Nations international special peace envoy on
international peace day at the ECOWAS building in Abuja. I had two
years to travel to three countries in the course of my NGO because I
was given that appointment in recognition of my NGO, Clarion Chukwurah
Initiative International.
We have been dealing with
women and children. More over, I worked in Kenya, Tanzania and Los
Angeles. In those two years, I was travelling from Kenya to Tanzania
and LA.
It was wonderful.
For me,
I have achieved something that gives me a deep sense of satisfaction, a
feeling that I have an edge above all this issue of fame. I have risen
above all that. In Kenya, my initiative was supporting this community
school in a slum called Soweto Kayole in Nairobi. When I started
working in that community, I encountered school children who are
fatherless and whose mothers are HIV/AIDS patients. I had about 50 of
them, but before the end of October 2012, the number increased to 350
children. They increased when they heard I had a daily feeding
programme for the children.
They also had no
clothes. I put uniform on the back of every kid and sandals on their
feet. We had environmental sanitation, health aids and collaborating
with the UN Habitat and the Rotary. I am a member of the rotary club of
Nairobi. The bulk of the members are non Africans- Italians, Americans,
British and others.
They were bringing support to
help teach these children and of course, the Redeemed Christian Church
of God, East Africa, a section of which I am a member. Even when Daddy
Adeboye came for the East Africa convention, he saw my work and
commended it. Mummy G.O. also prayed for me.
For
their mothers, we taught them about basic personal and environmental
hygiene. We built toilets, cleared gutters and taught them how to
protect themselves against sex related diseases. We also put them on
drugs for HIV AIDS. Because the UN headquarters is there, there are a
lot of bodies to collaborate with for an NGO like mine which is
recognised. We started skill acquisition.
In Los
Angeles, I got support from the Church of Science in Hollywood to
produce some episodes on women empowerment and women related issues in
terms of what is happening in the Caribbean were men are killing their
wives and girlfriends. It happens in Kenya. The idea is to bring these
issues to the fore what African heritage men are doing to their women
so that we can look at these issues and find a way to re-orient the
women on how to handle them.
We also reached out to
the men to learn to handle things differently and this we sent to the
TV. The initiative representative in Canada, Nicola Rodney came to the
state for this programme so that she could take it back for informative
training to impact on the lives of women in the Caribbean especially in
Guyana.
This is an era where actors and actresses are producing their own movies; do you have plans to go into movie production?
I
do have plans for that but I don’t want to look at it as producing my
movies. I intend also to do a lot of collaborations. I talked about
how things are.
I intend to work in and outside the mainstream Nollywood world and to collectively move Nollywood forward.
What is the way forward?
The
mainstream Nollywood world is the one that caters for the populace, not
necessarily the cinema movies. And with the new distribution channel
that is coming, the important thing is for the professionals to come
into it and not say we can’t relate with this people. In order to make
things right, you have to go back in there with a determination to make
things right.
You are still looking beautiful after putting in several years in the movie industry. What’s the secret of your ageless looks?
The
secret is discipline. You have to be as my son Brian would say wellness
freak. You have to know when to exercise. You have to know the
importance of water, eating the right things. It is about healthy
living, healthy eating.
Aside movie making and your NGO, what else do you do?
I
have a clothing line. I still have the C3. We have a partner outlet in
Toronto, Kenya and the UK. We are doing well by God’s grace.
Are you not thinking of marriage?
Give me a break. Please don’t ask. Don’t go there. Please spare me.
