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The screening of Half of a Yellow Sun as
the ttff/13’s opening night selection will mark the film’s Caribbean premiere.
It will also be only the second time audiences will get to see the film, after
its world premiere a few weeks prior at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.
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| Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton |
Half of a Yellow Sun is set in 1960s Nigeria;
the story brings audiences into a country torn apart by civil war and shows how
the interwoven lives of four central characters intersect during a struggle to
establish the independent republic of Biafra.
The film boasts
an impressive supporting cast that includes Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls, The Princess and the Frog), John
Boyega (Attack the Block), Joseph Mawle (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire
Hunter, The Awakening, Game of Thrones), Genevieve Nnaji, and Nigerian singer and actress Onyeka Onwenu.
Directed by
acclaimed Nigerian playwright Biyi Bandele, Half of a Yellow
Sun is a product of “Nollywood” —
the moniker bestowed on Nigeria’s booming film industry that produces over
2,000 movies a year and has become the third most valuable movie industry in
the world behind only Hollywood and Bollywood. Half of a Yellow
Sun is the country’s most ambitious and most
expensive film to date, with a budget of N$1.27 billion (approximately US$8
million).
Produced by Bafta
award-winner Andrea Calderwood (The Last King of Scotland) and Gail Ega (The
Constant Gardner), the film is a British/Nigerian co-production and was shot at
Tinapa Film Studio in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom.
“It’s a real honour to have Half of a
Yellow Sun invited to be the opening night film of the trinidad+ tobago
film festival,” said Calderwood, who will attend the opening. “The Festival has
always been great supporters of this project, and as a groundbreaking film from
top Nigerian talent telling this epic story on an international scale, this is
the perfect way to introduce it to audiences in the Caribbean as we take the
film out to the world.”
“We are proud that Half of a
Yellow Sun will open the Festival,” added Bruce Paddington, Founder and
Festival Director, ttff. “This continues our mandate to not only show films
from the Caribbean and the diaspora but to also celebrate films made in Africa,
one of our heritage countries.”
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