Spotlight | 3 July 2010 01:23 CET

Nollywood twins:‘We want to get married same day’

By KATE HALIM

Chidinma and Chidiebere Aneke are identical twins who started out as ordinary girls in the movie industry. The sexy, and industrious sisters have proved their mettle through determination and diligence. Over the years, they have proven that hardwork pays and not fraternizing with producers and directors make stars. Today, they can stand tall among their peers and colleagues in the industry.

With their creativity, they have also joined the league of movie producers and production managers. Based in Enugu, where they are spreading their tentacles in movie production amidst financial constraints, the graduates of Mass Communication and Business Administration respectively are owners of Greenville production company. They set up the company to make their dreams a reality and to effectively manage their investments. They told us recently about their new movie, how their father's death shaped their lives and their marriage plans. Excerpts:

About our new film 'Ujuaku, the tigress'
The movie is about a man who married two wives, and was maltreating one of them because she didn't give him a male child. The second wife is wicked and heartless as she tries to disrupt the peace at home. She hated the first wife with a passion and turned her children against her and her husband as well. The movie is an eye opener on polygamy and its attendant effects, it will educate women on how to handle marital crisis without involving their children because it could be disastrous. The movie is also about the test of love because the polygamous man tested his wives to know who loved him more.

The story line
The inspiration for the movie stemmed from various experiences of married women when there is crisis in the home. A woman we know recently left her husband with her children, which will in the long run have psychological effects on them. A lot of women are not happy in their marriages and some of them even die in the process.

Lessons for viewers
We wish to instruct individuals on the dangers of polygamy and stick to one man, one wife rule. In addition, we hope to teach families how to wade through the crisis of life with relative ease. Women in particular have to learn to stick to their husbands no matter how bad the situation at home is, no condition is permanent. The virtue of patience and endurance comes to fore in Ujuaku the tigress.

Making impact with the movie in Nigeria
Yes. Nigerians believe in what they see than what they hear. The movie addresses salient issues affecting families and individuals making wrong choices, thereby educating them on being responsible for their actions.

The cost of producing Ujuaku the tigress

It costs a lot but we will not reveal the exact amount because we have sponsors. The cost of producing a movie is not a child's play. We are sure that we will reap our financial rewards despite the rate of piracy in Nigeria.

Venturing into movie production
This is not the first movie we produced. We have been doing that, but we want to make noise with this one because of its message. W

e will also market it ourselves under our company Greenville Productions, unlike our previous movies which we sold the right to marketers to market them for us. We hope to meet and discuss issues with different marketers on quantities they wish to distribute as well areas they wish to market them.

Our Nollywood journey
We joined Nollywood in 2004. Since then, God has been faithful to us and we are doing well. We are contented with the progress we have made so far, because a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. We may not be where we want to be, but we will get there with God on our side. Life is a process and for one to excel, that process has to be followed. We believe that patience, hard work, tolerance, being yourself and having a friendly disposition will help us get to the top.

Assessing Nollywood
It is a continous journey in search of perfection. Nollywood is growing, technically, and in terms of delivery by the actors and actresses.

Moving Nollywood forward
Practitioners have to sit down and map out strategies on how to improve the industry. The quality of movies have to be more creative, original and impactful. There has to creative rivalry which is healthy for the success of the industry. Seminars and conferences where movie practitioners would be taught the rudiments of film making as well as bringing in experts from developed countries to rub minds with them on how to be the best movie makers in the world is equally important.

Lack of moral values in youths
This can be attributed to the fall in the standard of family values. Parents have failed in their duties to bring up their children properly thereby giving rise to social vices and criminal tendencies. At times, parents lie in the presence of their children and expect them to be truthful always, it does not work that way. Children are taught by what they see and not what they hear.

Parents no longer provide an atmosphere of dialogue or discussion with their kids, they are left on their own. They have also failed in being role models for their children as they are no longer the source of strength for them. Mothers especially are guilty in discipliningtheir children whenever they go wrong, they wait for their husbands to do that, it is wrong. Correct a child anytime it is necessary and tell him or her why you are being strict.

Our career dreams
There are many plans in the offing which will have to be a secret for now so that it would remain original. When the time is right, we will unveil them to Nigerians, we are just starting as movie producers. We hope to achieve more in our acting and producing careers. We have not arrived yet as this is a starting point for us.

About us
Growing up, we were taught to be independent and that made us strong and determined to take our destinies into our hands. We decided not to look for white collar jobs, but work independently, that also propelled us to go into acting. We studied Business Administration and Mass Communications respectively so as to make a good team working together as actresses and producers.

How we react to criticisms
We believe in constructive and not destructive criticisms. Our movies are first criticized by our friends because we give room for improvement in everything we do. We are always happy to be corrected but not in a damaging way. We love criticisms.

Childhood memories
It was sweet and wonderful because our father loved us to bits. He would always take us to the market to buy clothes and insists on getting the same clothes and designs for us. If for any reason we don't get the same clothes, we leave the market and return another day.

We also played a lot of pranks with him because he couldn't differentiate us until he died. After his death, a lot happened that left us bankrupt . We started afresh in life to the extent that we started hawking akara and bread, pure water and mango. We were happy doing that because we knew that it won't last as no condition is permanent and because we know that our future is bright.

On marriage
We want to get married same day. We would like to marry twin brothers but God determines what is best for us because His ways are higher than our ways.

Our love lives
We do not wish to discuss that but we are happy. We love life and what it offers but our love life remains private.

Future plans
We wish to have 2 sets of twins of two boys and two girls. To have happy homes and live happily with our husbands.

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