City Flame | 16 June 2007 12:29 CET

WHY I CREATED BOB TV – AMAKA IGWE

Popular movie producer and director, Amaka Igwe, has the reputation of paying a lot of attention to details when directing a movie or working on her artistes. She has been able to prove this with her popular and intricate soap opera Checkmate, which was popular between 1990 and 1995, and the 1998 film, Violated, which she wrote and directed and which starred Richard Mofe-Damijo and Ego Boyo.

Since then, she has written and directed numerous films and television dramas, among which are Fuji House of Commotion and Rattlesnake 1, 2 and 3. In addition to her writing and directing works in the film and television industry, Amaka is also involved with the Best of the Best Television Programmes Market (BOBTV), an event showcasing African film and television programmes for international buyers. The initiative was borne out of Amaka's experience at film markets and festivals around the world.

She once said: "Nigerians had to apologise for the films they screened at events like the Southern African International Film and Television Market Initiative," said Amaka who added "We didn't gain business-wise at these festivals, but we got a lot of exposure, like training and seeing what other people are doing.
After a while, I realized that Nigerian films were becoming popular, but South African films dominated the scene. I saw that we needed to create our own film market, so that everyone who comes to it knows that they are coming to purchase Nigerian films and television programmes."

BOBTV is also a training ground for Nigerian film makers. Training is a strong component of BOBTV, Amaka reasoned "I feel that rather than sit down and complain about the problems and the quality of our television and film productions, we should get film-makers to attend courses."

In between all her other commitments, Amaka still finds time to follow her passions of writing and directing, and she has another film in the offing: Rattlesnake 4. And though she is confident that viewers will be dying for Rattlesnake 4 after seeing the movie, she says she has reached the end of the road with the series. Her words: "I actually made two parts of the movie-parts one and two-but each part was made of two tapes which is why the series comes in four parts. But I am not making another part to that movie."

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