I’m happy my films won international awards, says filmmaker Tomide Bamigboye

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Tomide Bamigboye is a 23-year-old filmmaker based in Canada. She was born in Lagos but is originally from Kwara State. After studying Theater Arts at the prestigious Concordia University, she went on to pursue a career in filmmaking as a screenwriter and director. One of her short films “Out of love” has gone on to win a few Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival awards, including Best Student Film, Best Female Filmmaker, Best Director, and Best Short Film. “Out of love” also won the Emerging Artist Film Festival’s Best Drama award. She spoke with Olamide Fred-Ahmadu about her career and future. 

 

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How was life growing up in Nigeria?

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Well, I like to think I was more on the privileged side of life. So, a lot of things that would affect the average Nigerian child didn’t affect me. I was always inside when I wasn’t in school. If I ever went anywhere, it would almost always be with my parents. I never really used public transport and all that. I just had a pretty normal, guarded childhood that anyone with super-protective parents would have. My parents were devout Christians and I am a Christian as well. I attended Christian schools as well. For primary school, I went to Kingdom Heritage. For secondary school, I went to Faith Academy. I started my University education at Redeemers’ University but after my first year, I moved to Canada where I had to start all over again but well I didn’t mind.

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What did you study?

 I studied Theatre Arts and that is what I continued with when I moved to Canada. By the way, the university I attended in Canada is Concordia University.

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Interest

When and how did you pick up an interest in film?

Well, I guess I have always had it. My mum and sister have always told me that right from primary school, I had a knack for performing, acting, and such arts. My mum said I was always doing impressions and I was good at it. I would always participate in the fashion parade segment of my inter-house sports in primary school and I would always win. My dad is also an artsy person. He’s a good artist, loves to draw and all that. We are the artistic people in the family.

So I guess your family was very supportive of your inclination toward the arts

Oh yes, they were. Especially my dad. My parents are the “do what you want to do” type. They didn’t force any of us into any profession we didn’t want to be in. They have been incredibly supportive throughout my journey. When I wanted to start in Film, I wasn’t very enamored with the acting part. I was more inclined to the writing and directing parts of the industry. It was my dad who told me that it was important to learn the acting part as well so I could fully understand what needed to be done and what I had to expect from actors when I directed. That was when I decided to study Theater arts.

Do you have a role model in the industry?

Well, my dad obviously (haha). But in all seriousness, I have some people whose work I like from both Hollywood and Nollywood. So, from Nollywood, I like the works of Kunle Afolayan and Tunde Kelani (I grew up watching their works as well). From Hollywood, I like the works of Jason Reitman who worked on the 2021 Ghostbusters movie. I was privileged to work on that project with him for a day. Even though it was just a day, It was a whole experience.

What genre of film do you work in?

 Well, mostly drama, romance, and life. I am a huge fan of movies that highlight social and racial issues, mental health, and neurodiversity. I plan to bring more of these types of movies to life. I worked on one earlier in the year about the day-to-day life of an autistic young adult. It’s currently in post-production.

Motivation

Is “Out of love” your first film?

Honestly, I like to think of it as my first film but it is not really my first film. I have done two films before it. In the university, I had a film class where we had to make a short film for a project. So, I did that but you know what, it’s so horrible, I never want to see it. You know back then I didn’t really know a lot about filmmaking, directing, and all that so I like to just erase that from my memory.

Was “Out of love” nominated for these awards or was it submitted for consideration?

It was submitted for consideration as these film festivals work. Actually, for any award, even if it’s the Oscars, you always have to submit yourself. 

What was your motivation for “Out of love”? How did you come up with it?

I wrote and directed this film. Well, for me (and I’m sure it is the same for most film directors and writers out there), there is always a little element of my life in my work. Even if it isn’t your life, it could be the life of a loved one or an experience. For “Out of love”, it was vaguely about these two people I knew from high school (Faith Academy) who were best friends but the girl had feelings for the guy. He was one of the “big boys” and was always going for the “big girls” so he never looked at her that way. By the way, he wasn’t aware she had a crush on him. She eventually gave up on the crush for the sake of maintaining their friendship which she cherished. Years went by, they grew up, and he finally realized she had been the one for him but when he professed his love, she shut him out. He realized it too late. She had spent a lot of time trying to get over him and she wasn’t about to let him just waltz into her life like that. I’m actually developing a feature film about these two but it’s going to be exclusively about their relationship. I will be adding some other elements to it.

How does it feel that your “first film” has gone on to win so many awards?

I’m genuinely surprised because the whole process of making this film was tedious. We shot on a low-quality camera (it was a Sony FS5). I have just four crew members handling the sound, lights, and camera. It was really tough. Even when it came to post-production, I was looking at the film and I was like “what is this?” I almost didn’t submit it because I thought it was horrible but then I just decided to try my luck so I submitted it to a couple of festivals. Most of them picked me and I’m lucky to have won the awards. It definitely taught me a lesson that even if you are doubting yourself, just put yourself out there. Just take it one step at a time, you’ll never know.

When and where will we get to see “Out of love”?

Well, very soon it will be uploaded to YouTube. It just finished its festival route last week.

 

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