By David Ajiboye
“I made Blood Diamond in Sierra Leone.”
Teco Benson, Nollywood’s film director of repute, is just one of the few Nigerian film directors who have had the opportunity of working outside the shores of Nigeria, a rare opportunity his hard work and experience in churning out first class movies provided. Noted for his knack for action movies, Taco, an avid critic of the failings of Nollywood, maintains that one of the biggest problems in Nollywood is that it parades mediocre in the mold of professionals. He spoke with AfricanMovieStar. com on this and other issues. Excerpts.
On Nollywood, celluloid format and international film standard.
In Nigeria, we make our film on video because the films are only watched in the homes. It doesn’t make sense making a film on celluloid and at the end of the day you still transfer it to DVD. When the cinema culture died, what was known as the first film industry, which solely fed the cinema sector died too.
The attitude of the typical Nigerian man apparently protecting his family for fear of getting corrupt or being attacked by armed robbers also contributed immensely in killing the cinema culture. Thus, Nigerians saw the advantage of television and decided to start making movies on video with the coming of VCR. They realized that they can actually shoot these films and sell them on video compact discs and cassettes.
All the cinema houses in Nigeria died and got converted to churches and some of them to warehouses. You see people are having false impression about Hollywood. My last movie was done in 35mm and that’s the highest. Next to that is HD which is aiming to take over in the next five years. George Lucas shot on HD and a lot of people are doing HD. Steven Spielberg is contemplating making his film on High Definition.
HD is virtually the future of film in the world. I’ve made a future film on celluloid and I am planning another one on 35mm which is the film I said I was making for the international market.
Any plan to relocate to Hollywood?
I am not desperate about going to Hollywood to shoot. Though I would have enjoyed working in their well equipped studios because it will in no small way enhance the input in the kind of movies I am noted for, that is action films. Everything I would need to come up with a blockbuster action movie are on ground there. Here we struggle because of the technology gap. We use the little we have to achieve what we have been able to achieve.
In the movie King Kong, the machine that was installed inside the animal had a remote control which controls the mouth and all parts of the body. If they wants him to open his mouth, they use remote control. I tell you the truth, I believe in this country, I don’t believe I have to run away or travel out of this country for my film to make meaning. Can you see the machines that we use here, we can’t even create ordinary razor blade. That’s the only thing I enjoy when I get there. I can stay here and make a movie if I get the support. I can get all the experts that will help me achieve the technical support.
My own vision is not to go to America to make movies because they are jealous, they are so protective of their industry, that is why it was difficult in the past for any film from other countries to win the Oscars Award.