- Title: British-born Nigerian actor hopes black skinhead film will "heal" pain
- Date: 22nd October 2019
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (OCTOBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GUESTS ON BLACK CARPET MOVIE BANNER WITH INSCRIPTION READING (English): 'FARMING' VARIOUS OF GUESTS POSING FOR PHOTOS VARIOUS OF ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE AND GUESTS POSING FOR PHOTOS VARIOUS OF GUESTS GETTING TICKETS HAND OF GUEST GETTING TAGGED (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH ACTOR, ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE, SAYING: "It's a personal story about you know my upbringing in Britain at a time that they were very hostile to blacks growing up there under the process of farming. It is an important part of British history as well as Nigerian culture, so to be able to bring a story that I have harboured for so long, home to the Nigerian audience is just you know a wonderful sense of accomplishment." VARIOUS OF GUEST ENTERING CINEMA HALL VARIOUS OF GUEST SEATED AT THE CINEMA HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SIMI DREY, BROADCASTER, SAYING: "It was a very gripping movie and it was difficult to watch in some instances but I am really, really grateful for actually getting to watch it because when it comes to racism, when it comes to what black people went through back in the day, we normally focus on America but it was nice to see what actually happened in the UK (United Kingdom)." (SOUNDBITE) (English) T-CENT, CINEMATOGRAPHER, SAYING: "We look at these people and we say yeah they are very, very privileged but then everyone as their internal struggles, so it's really good to see something come out from someone that has achieved so much. I mean he is like our star and he is coming out to tell us the story of his internal demons and struggles. It is really inspiring." VARIOUS OF GUEST SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH ACTOR, ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE, SAYING: "I'm hoping that it would create a dialogue and a collective therapy for those that are still suffering and a healing because many of the Nigerian farmers don't actually go back for the children that were fostered, so perhaps this can provide a healing in some sense but ultimately a re-evaluation of our child rearing processes and you know just a more harmonious family network."
- Embargoed: 5th November 2019 14:21
- Keywords: Film Nigeria Premiere Racism Farming
- Location: LAGOS, NIGERIA/ UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: LAGOS, NIGERIA/ UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA002B26H0T3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: British-born Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was taken into foster care by a white family near London as a baby in the 1960s. As a youth, the unthinkable happened: the black boy joined a gang of violent white supremacists.
Now an award-winning actor, he has brought his story to cinemas in his country of origin - Nigeria. He hopes his directorial debut will be part of a "healing" process for people who sought foster care to give their children a better life.
Farming, the film's title, takes its name from a term used to describe the practice of Nigerian immigrants fostering their children to white families in Britain so they could work, study and save money. It refers to the idea that the children were "farmed" out.
The aim of the practice, mainly prevalent from the 1960s to 1980s, was for the immigrants to eventually return to Nigeria.
As a six-week-old baby in 1967, Akinnuoye-Agbaje was left in the care of a white family in Tilbury, a southeast England town around 20 miles east of central London. And, as a youth, he joined a gang of skinheads - a far-right subculture often associated with racist violence in Britain.
Membership in a gang that previously tormented him, ended when his biological father, who had relocated to Nigeria where he worked as a barrister, paid for him to attend a private school in the affluent English county of Surrey.
That step was taken after he was contacted by Akinnuoye-Agbaje's foster mother.
"It's a personal story about you know my upbringing in Britain at a time that they were very hostile to blacks growing up there under the process of farming. It is an important part of British history as well as Nigerian culture, so to be able to bring a story that I have harboured for so long, home to the Nigerian audience is just you know a wonderful sense of accomplishment," Akinnuoye-Agbaje told Reuters at the film's Nigerian premiere on Saturday (October 19) in the country's commercial capital, Lagos, after first being screened in London last month.
The film - which cost 3 million pounds ($3.89 million) to make and stars British actor Kate Beckinsale as the foster mother - was greeted with cheers and applause in a packed cinema hall in the upmarket Lagos district of Lekki.
"It was a very gripping movie and it was difficult to watch in some instances but I am really, really grateful for actually getting to watch it because when it comes to racism, when it comes to what black people went through back in the day, we normally focus on America but it was nice to see what actually happened in the UK (United Kingdom)," said Simi Drey, a guest at the screening.
"We look at these people and we say yeah they are very, very privileged but then everyone as their internal struggles, so it's really good to see something come out from someone that has achieved so much. I mean he is like our star and he is coming out to tell us the story of his internal demons and struggles. It is really inspiring," said a cinematographer who goes by the name T-Cent.
Thousands of Nigerians leave the west African country each year in search of a better life abroad - often in Europe and the United States. Some of those who attended the screening said it was interesting to see a depiction of life overseas that differed from their expectations.
"I'm hoping that it would create a dialogue and a collective therapy for those that are still suffering and a healing because many of the Nigerian farmers don't actually go back for the children that were fostered, so perhaps this can provide a healing in some sense but ultimately a re-evaluation of our child rearing processes and you know just a more harmonious family network," said Akinnuoye-Agbaje. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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