Making money is not our priority for ‘Eyimofe’ — Chuko Esiri
Eyimofe: This Is My Desire is a 2020 drama film that has been on quite an expansive tour of international film festivals. Finally making its debut in Nigeria, the filmmakers and twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri hosted a press screening of the acclaimed film; where they revealed that making money was not their priority for Eyimofe.
Speaking at the event, Esiri said that they did not have any specific expecations at the box office. He said, “We don’t have a set amount that we plan to make at the box office. Obviously, we want the best for the film. But we’re trying something new and you won;t know until you make an attempt.”
Esiri further explained that their main goal for the Eyimofe was not money. He said, “The intent of this film is to draw you into the lives of these two people for a short moment in time and you see how they live and you get to go on that small journey with them. But when we want is when people leave the theatre, they continue to speak and think about the film.”
“You start the journey with these characters and you take it home and the idea is that you try to watch it more than once and when you watch it again, you notice some things that my brother and I put into it.”
‘Nigeria has no film industry…’
Esiri further spoke about the need to expand the range of Nollywood films, which has been mostly limited to the comedy genre. In fact, Esiri lamented that Nigeria lacks a film industry. He said, “What we need is a full and complete industry and as far as I’m concerned, Nigeria does not have a film industry. We only make one genre of movies. What we would love is to add another strand to that and that’s what a complete industry looks like.”
Esiri continued, “With regards to return on investment, maybe this film won’t be a commercial success. But we’re currently speaking to distributors outside of Nigeria based on the festival it has been on. We’re pretty sure it will get the reception we’re going for. Imagine a situation in which 5 or 6 of these kinds of films are made here every year, they get to play and get real releases and theatres in Europe. That’s what a full-fledged industry looks like.”
Eyimofe: This Is My Desire hit theatres on Friday 23 April, 2021.
