After a successful outing at the Quramo Festival of QFest 2024, in Lagos, Nigeria, “The Man Died,” the feature film inspired by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s prison memoir, continues its run of the festival circuits across the world.
Though yet to be formally released to the theatre or streaming platforms, the film, written by UK-based scriptwriter, Bode Asiyanbi, directed by Abu Dhabi, UAE-based Awam Amkpa and produced by Lagos-based Femi Odugbemi for Zuri24 Media, has been enjoying outings at key theatres, including the Africa Centre in London in July.
“The Man Died,” is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27-month incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war.
He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the federal government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.
It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind.
“The Man Died” is a powerful tale of resistance, courage, and the unyielding human spirit. Through solitary confinement, torture, and deprivation, Soyinka’s resolve to fight against tyranny and injustice only grows stronger.
Interwoven with flashbacks to his earlier life as a writer and activist, the film reveals the profound inner strength and unbreakable spirit that drive Soyinka’s resistance.
As he documents his experiences on scraps of paper smuggled out of his cell, his writings become a beacon of hope and a call to action for others living under oppression.
“The Man Died” is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished.
Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1934, he is an author, playwright, poet, and political activist whose prolific body of works includes “The Interpreters,” his debut novel that was published in 1965, and “Death and the King’s Horseman,” a play that was first performed in 1976.
The October 5 screening to a full house at the grand ballroom of Eko Hotel Lagos, was the third since July 12 when the film had a “special premiere” at the Alliance Francaise, Michael Adenuga Centre in Ikoyi to symbolically mark the 90th birthday of the Nobel laureate.
Before hitting the global circuits, however, “The Man Died,” which stars a galaxy of notable names in the Nigeria film industry, is being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Johannesburg, South Africa, as well at Ivy League institutions – New York University, Harvard University, Oxford University and Ithaca College.
The director, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi.
The producer, Femi Odugbemi , is an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar.
