Actor Fabian Adeoye Lojede plays Bola Abayomi, the ruthless and unstable son of Chief Abayomi in the South African TV series, 'Jacob's Cross'. He owns I Take Media, a pan-African TV production, media and marketing communications company which specialises in feature films, advertising and documentaries. Lojede is one of the producers of 'Man on Ground' described by the Toronto International Film Festival as, “A bold and exacting portrayal of rising xenophobia in South Africa.” He tells us about the film and its objectives via e-mail from the Rainbow Nation where he resides.

What informed the collaboration between the three of you?

The three of us have decided to come together as Nigerian and African filmmakers to tell our own stories for a global audience, a lot of filmmakers say that, but it is hard to make films... getting funds etc.

We are what I have tagged the 'AFROPACK'. We all have very Afrocentric views both politically and culturally and I think our Afrocentrism is our connecting force over and above our love for film. 'Man On Ground' is meant to be the first of our many collaborations together. I have a project called 'Naija for Life' in final script stage and Akin and I already have the next project lined up for the AFROPACK team. It's going to be a bio flick on Wole Soyinka. It will be a dream to play the man himself. We've spoken to him to acquire the rights to 'The Man Died'. These are the kind of stories that the three of us want to tell the world and we shall.

What do you hope to achieve with this movie?

Two things. Firstly, from an artistic point of view to show the world that as Africans and Nigerians, we understand the artistic medium of film and we can match any filmmaker anywhere in the world vision for vision and shot for shot. This movie was beautifully shot and it looks amazing.

Secondly but most importantly, we want to get the message of tolerance across. It is xenophobia in South Africa, it was Hutus killing Tutsis in Rwanda, it seems as if we Africans consistently look for reasons to self-divide and destruct. The old colonialist no longer need to be present to divide and rule us, they've outsourced to our own tribalism, xenophobic tendencies and religious bigotry.

How was the experience co-producing and acting in the movie?

Co- producing was the most liberating thing I have ever felt, knowing we were telling this story the way we wanted to. This project started in 2008 and when we rolled camera on June 1 this year, my birthday by the way, it was the greatest present I have ever received in my life.

Why did you decide to feature in it in the first place?

I didn't decide to feature in this movie, the three of us decided after the 2008 attacks that we had to do something and this was it. So it was more about making the movie then featuring in it.

Did you have to undergo any special training to play Femi in the film?

Special training no, but being part of the process from concept to script to producing, I had been playing it in my head for years.

What attracts you to a script as an actor?

The story as whole, would I watch this film if I wasn't in it, (though I don't watch myself anywhere) And then I ask myself would this role challenge me or can I make it memorable. Some characters make a film and some films make the character so it all depends.

What lesson do you think this movie is passing?

Tolerance

Did you take anything away from co-producing and starring in this movie?

That you just have to take a gamble on your own ideas, you can't be too rational about it. If we had, we wouldn't have shot this movie, we would still be waiting for the big budget that will never come and we wouldn't be at the Toronto International Film Festival.

What makes a movie a good movie in your own perspective?

It starts with a great story, then a great script, you can have a great story badly written.

Then a great directorial interpretation of the script and included in that interpretation is cast and crew. Because you could have all these things and if the director's cinematic interpretation is crap, you'll have a bad film and this includes his choice of cast and crew.

Have you ever featured in the same production with Kae-Kazeem before?

Hakeem and I are brothers from another mother and father. This is our first time working together on a feature; we've been friends for a long time. I think we felt more like we were building something together versus just acting together....AFROPACK baby... watch out world we're in town.

Why the large number of collaborating producers?

It's not really large by international standards. The three of us came together as lead producers on the project in 2008. Akin owns a production company called T.O.M pictures and I own one called 1 TAKE MEDIA our two companies plus Hakeem came together and brought in the other producers.

Rosey (Motene) joined us this year. AK (Tshabalala) came in just as we were wrapping up and saved the day with funds. We also have a host of associate producers who are friends as we started the project with crowd funding...this is where you get friends and family to donate something to your project. You can imagine if you need $500,000 for a movie and $500 people give you a $1000 each.