I Won’t Do Pure English Film-Kunle Afolayan

Kunle Afolayan

Award-winning Nigerian filmmaker and director Kunle Afolayan has a unique way of using languages in his films.

In his last two films tilted ‘The Figurine’ and ‘Phone Swap’, he made extensive use of Ebo, Yoruba, Pidgin English and Twi languages.

Definitely it didn’t only make his stories rich but appealed to different film enthusiasts.

He recently told  NEWS-ONE in an exclusive interview when he came to Ghana that he would never do a pure English film.

“I always do multi-lingual movies because that is who we are. It has to be original. I won’t do purely English film because we don’t speak English all the time. And I believe that the audience, the people relate better with films they can actually understand the depth in the language. There are things I will say in my language that I can’t interpret in Yoruba, I mean in English. So I will rather retain the originality and also allow the people out there to learn part of what we are and who we are,” Kunle Afolayan said.

At the last African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), he dropped a hint of his upcoming movie titled ‘Dead Alive’,” and he is likely to explore his language use.   

Kunle is often described as one of Nollywood’s technically inclined movie producers and directors of high repute. 

He is a product of New York Film Academy and is best known for his work ‘The Figurine’, which grabbed five awards at the AMAA in Bayelsa State in 2010 after garnering 10 nominations.

The awards included best actor which was won by Ramsey Nouah.

Also an actor, Kunle is the son of the famous theater and film director and producer Ade Love, a Yoruba.

He is a trained economist but has been making a name for himself in Nollywood since 2005.

In the movie ‘Phone Swap’, he featured Ghana’s darling actress Lydia Forson and he made Lydia speak Twi it.

credit: NEWS-ONE