“I entered the film industry sprinting, but not for long.” LongFilmIndustryFilm Industry Author:Chika Anadu
“It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'.” FilmDecisionDeliberate Author:Chika Anadu
“As a filmmaker you make your films with the audience you want to attract in mind.” WantMindFilmAudienceFilmmaker Author:Chika Anadu
“The audience I'm targeting doesn't care about the language spoken in the films they watch. They're interested in more important things like story, performance, cinematography etc.” ImportantStoriesCareFilmLanguageWatchesAudiencePerformancesImportant ThingsEtcCinematography Author:Chika Anadu
“Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry.” FilmIndustryGenreFilm Industry Author:Chika Anadu
“There are a lot of filmmakers I love whose work doesn't inspire mine at all. For example: Quentin Tarantino. From his films you can see that he has a wicked sense of humour, and I love that!” FilmExampleInspireMinesHumourFilmmakerWickedQuentinTarantino Author:Chika Anadu
“Three directors whose work directly influences mine are Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and Susanne Bier (her Danish films). You'll notice that they all don't make feel good movies, same as me, and their films are always visually simple but beautiful (and I hope mine are!).” FeelsBeautifulFilmThreeSimpleInfluenceMinesDirectorsFeel GoodGood MovieDanishDarren Author:Chika Anadu
“I definitely don't intend to only make films about Nigerians or Africans. I want to make films about people, any people.” PeopleWantFilm Author:Chika Anadu
“It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'. Having said that, we are all many things - for example I'm Igbo and Nigerian, a director, a filmmaker etc., but I feel what affects me the most, especially the way people/society view or treat me, is the fact that I'm a woman, and I'm fascinated by that.” PeopleWayFeelsSaidFactsFilmDecisionViewsExampleDirectorsTreatsFilmmakerEtcFascinatedDeliberate Author:Chika Anadu
“Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry. However none of the 'New wave' of directors in Nigeria would know what was possible without the Nollywood model, so I'm grateful to them for showing us that our stories are of interest to people other than Nigerians. I would describe myself as a filmmaker, period.” PeopleKnowsStoriesFilmInterestIndustryPeriodsDirectorsModelsGratefulWaveGenreFilmmakerNigeriaFilm IndustryDescribe Myself Author:Chika Anadu
“While I was doing the residency in Paris, I found out that I was chosen as one of the five winners of the Focus Features Africa First Program. All this happened less than a year after I made my first two short films.” YearsFirstsMadeTwoFilmFoundFiveFocusHappenedProgramChosenWinnerFeaturesParisShort FilmsResidency Author:Chika Anadu