Board Film Refute Media Report, Group Launch Online Campaign

More than one month after the film adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun, an award-winning novel by Chimamanda Adichie, was scheduled to open in Nigerian cinemas (April 25), movie fans and literary enthusiasts are still awaiting approval by the National Film and Video Censors Board.
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Joseph Mawle, Onyeka Onwenu and OC Ukeje, among others, the film was first premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada before it was released in the United States a few days ago.

Apparently worried by reports in the Nigerian media that it banned Half of A Yellow Sun from circulating within the country, the NFVCB recently issued a public statement declaring its position on the development.

The statement, signed by the Acting Head, Corporate Affairs, Caesar Kagbo, said, “The attention of the National Film and Video Censors Board has been drawn to ongoing misrepresentations with respect to the status of the feature film, Half of a Yellow Sun.

“We wish to categorically state that there is no truth in media reports that the board has banned the film. However, the management of the board under Patricia Bala has stated that certain aspects of the film have some unresolved issues which have to be sorted out in accordance with the law and laid down regulations.”

But the explanation is clearly not acceptable to the author of the novel and the director of the film, Biyi Bandele.

Writing in the New Yorker, a US based magazine recently, Adichie – whose third novel, Americanah won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award – described the NFVCB’s delayed response as “more disappointing and surprising”.

The writer wrote, “There are no major memorials, and it is hardly taught in schools. This week, Nigerian government censors delayed the release of the film adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun because, according to them, it might incite violence in the country. The issue in particular is a scene based on a historically documented massacre at a northern Nigerian airport. It is now up to the State Security Service to make a decision.”

Also, in an interview granted to the CNN, Bandele dismissed the speculation that the Nigerian distributors of Half of a Yellow Sun, FilmOne, might have been late in submitting the film for certification.

Bandele said, “This is not true. Most films that are screened in Nigerian cinemas are shown to the censor board only a day or two before the films open to the paying public. In documentations that have been shown to me, there are instances even of movies being shown to the censor board days after the movies had officially opened to the public. Half of a Yellow Sun was scheduled to open on April 25. It was submitted to the censorship board at least two weeks earlier.

“I am yet to meet a single Nigerian who has seen the film, who came out of the cinema thinking that they had just seen a film that would incite anyone to violence. If anything, more than once, I’ve been accosted by cinema-goers – some Nigerian, but really, people of all races – who have been profoundly moved by the experience of watching the film. The refrain I’ve heard from them is, war is nasty, isn’t it.”

Interestingly, previous films adapted from novels in Nigeria – including Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest, Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine, Cyprian Ekwensi’s Jaguar Nana’s Daughter, and Femi Osofisan’s Maami – to mention but a few, sailed through the NFVCB’s certification process without any hindrance.

While the delay persists, there is renewed interest among Nigerian readers to read the novel. Although the publishers of the book in Nigeria are reluctant to admit it, it is certain that readers – perhaps encouraged by the suspense created by the delay and attracted by the new cover design of the book – have been yearning for copies of the book.

“The suspense created by the NFVCB’s delayed response, it is believed, could eventually lead to a scramble for the novel among those who did not read it previously.

“This will in turn impact positively on the reading culture in the country,” says Chike Ofili, former chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

Meanwhile, the publishers of the Nigerian edition of the book, the Farafina imprint of Kachifo Limited, have noted that the development has affected the sales of the book.

A representative of the outfit, Eghosa Imasuen, made this known in a text message to our correspondent. He said, “There has been a small increase in sales, especially with the release of a film tie edition. But this has been tempered by the delay in its release to cinemas.”

Meanwhile, a group has launched an online campaign towards getting the film approved.

Punch