‘WHETHER OR NOT THE FILM GETS APPROVAL, NIGERIANS WILL WATCH IT ON DVDs’ -- Director of Half Of A Yellow Sun, Biyi Bandele Blasts On NFVCB

 

The continued delay in the approval for public viewing of the movie, Half Of A Yellow Sun enters week five as authority at the Nigeria film board and producers of the much talked about flick have started trading blames on why the delay went on for so long.

 Director of the movie, Biyi Bandele who opened up for the very first time on the issue lashed out at the boss of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Patricia Bala for her attitude towards the issue, after all the same Patricia Bala have watched the film when it was shown in Canada recently.

 According to him (Biyi), “It is now nearly eight months since Patricia Bala, (Director General of Nigerian Censorship Board) and her team first saw the movie in Toronto and a few weeks since she and her board have failed to issue “Half of a Yellow Sun” the certification that it needs that the law requires it obtains before it can be shown in cinemas in Nigeria”. “In the past months I have been informed on Twitter, Facebook, and by email with rumors, innuendos, half-truths, and downright lies, disseminated sometimes directly from the censorship board (they have issued at least one press statement), about why “Half of a Yellow Sun” still hasn’t been issued with a ratings certificate”.

“The board claims that is has not banned the film but certain aspects of it have some unresolved issues which have to be sorted out in accordance with the law and laid down regulations.”

 “It was also claimed that Film One, the Nigerian distributors of Half of a Yellow Sun,” might have been late in submitting the film for certification. That is not true. Most films that are screened in Nigerian cinemas are shown to the censor 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 days after the movies had officially opened to the public. Half of a Yellow Sun was scheduled to open on April 25 2014.

 It was submitted to the censorship board at least two weeks earlier”. “I have also heard that the censorship board’s inability to make a decision about a ratings certificate for my film has been brought upon it because of a sudden concern that a movie that depicts scenes from the Biafra war might provoke “tribal violence” in a country that has in recent months been besieged with terrorist bombings and profoundly shaken by the abduction of over 200 school girls by Boko Haram”.

But since the Toronto premiere many months ago, I have seen Half of a Yellow Sun at other film festivals in all corners of the globe. And Nigerians being the ubiquitous people that we are have been present in the audiences, quite often in great numbers, at each of these festivals. 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 have heard from them is, war is nasty, isn’t it?”

 “Whether or not the film eventually gets a ratings certificate in Nigeria, Half of a Yellow Sun will be seen by millions of Nigerians. The question now is, will they be allowed to see it in their local cinemas and on legally acquired DVDs or will they be forced to watch it on pirate DVDs and through illegal downloads?”

 “If the biggest film that’s ever been made in Nigeria is available to Nigerians only in bootleg form, the censorship board will be doing to the Nigerian film industry what Boko Haram is trying to do to Nigeria, drive a stake through its heart. I sincerely hope they both fail.”
Also launching an attack on the film board is Multi-talented actor and former President of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Segun Arinze. The actor expressed his displeasure at the manner the issue is been handle.

“Please tell Madam Patricia Bala, the DG Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board to release the movie, Half of a Yellow Sun, she has no reason to hold on to the movie. She has no right to censor the movie, her job is only to classify it. She saw it in Canada and even partnered with the producers during the premiere. What she is doing now is an embarrassment to government and a big insult to our dear industry, Nollywood. We are not in a military regime. She should kindly resign."

Mr. Ceaser Kagbo Head of corporate Affairs NFVCB who spoke with ENCOMIUM Weekly on Friday, May 23, 2014 explained that the process of film certification may take an unspecified time frame and that the producers of the film should be patient. In his press release also made available to Encomium weekly the board said, “It’s all true that we attended the screening at Canada during our World Tour but we never approved the movie, we only supported our work. All movie produced in Nigeria must follow the rules of NFVCB but unfortunately the fate of Half of a yellow sun can only be decided by the SSS because the movie is derogatory to the unity of Nigeria”.