It was recently announced that Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah had been picked up by HBO for a mini-series featuring Lupita Nyong’o as lead. NETFLIX also just released a statement announcing their collaboration with John Boyega’s production company, Upper Room Productions, to “develop a slate of non-English feature films..”
African, and in particular Nigerian stories are gaining mainstream acceptance, and who better to tell these stories than Nigerian themselves.
We have selected a number of stories by Nigerian authors that we would like to see adapted into movies.
- My Sister The Serial Killer – written by Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister The Serial Killer has been described as “morbidly funny”. The book tells the story of Korede, who is stuck cleaning her sister, Ayoola’s mess – killing off her boyfriends. It’s all fun and games till Ayoola starts dating a doctor in the hospital that Korede works as a nurse. To top it off, Korede happens to be in love with said doctor.
A movie like this, sprinkled with enough of real-life Lagos, promises to be full of drama, love, and just enough character flaws to keep viewers interested. We would definitely love to see it.
2. The Famished Road – Ben Okri’s novel will most likely be better as a mini-series than a 2-hour movie. The story is as endless as the Road and also sucks the readers in. The many (mis)adventures of Azaro, and his friends and family cannot be consumed in one sitting.
Ben Okri deploys the metaphysical, supernatural and exaggerated in this book, but only to tell a simple story of an Abiku child that is loved beyond measure but causes more trouble than his parents can possibly endure.
The book will be perfect for a mini-series because it will allow for character development. Non-central characters in the book also have their stories told and their voices heard. While set in a traditional but unknown part of Nigeria, The Famished Road which was written in 1991, also presents the political realities of the time.
Really a microcosm of what Nigeria is, with different stories coming together to become one, it will be interesting to see how this story comes alive. Sign us up.
3. Everyday Is For The Thief – Teju Cole’s book title, taken from the popular Yoruba proverb “Everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner” tells the story of an “I just got back” in Lagos and his experiences.
This will make for a fast-paced, funny but reflective movie that will allow people to think about some of the abnormalities of being a Nigerian that we have come to accept as normal, while also enjoying a good laugh.
4. Everything Good Will Come – Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come is a coming of age story about the struggles of a young girl going through self-discovery while growing up in Lagos, in Postcolonial Nigeria. A country going through its own discovery of self.
This is a story that will resonate with young Nigerians, a classic tale about finding your voice. But it also will remind Nigerians of some of our history. Not enough of Nigeria’s history is told in the movies and series around now. It will be nice to see some of that on the screens.
5. Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe’s third instalment story will definitely make for an epic Igbo flick. (Probably a chance finally at the coveted Oscar’s?) Arrow of God tells the tale of a village and a people in the middle of a transition facing the struggles of colonialism.
The Indirect rule which the colonists tried to enforce did not work in the SouthWestern part of Nigeria and this naturally led to a lot of tension. Arrow of God will be a visually pleasing movie and an opportunity for Nigerians to again, learn about the effects of the Civil War.
We know that definitely, more of African stories will be told in the next couple of years, we hope that truly inspired stories that reflect the realities of our lives will be told.