‘I DON’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE FICTION’

              

With a bias for developmental stories, award-winning investigative journalist, Tobore Ovuorie, has delved into documentary film-making with the premiere of her first work, ‘Why Look At me.’ She shares with JOE AGBRO JR. her journey into film-making, her motivation and experience making the film. Excerpts

YOUR documentary film, ‘Why Look At Me.’ What is it all about?

‘Why Look At Me’ is a docu-story about stigmatisation and the need for us to stop stigmatising persons we feel are on the other side of health divide. It is geared at pricking the consciences of people to stop stigmatising fellow human beings who they feel are on the other side, especially medically.

When you say stigmatisation, what do you really mean?


I’m focusing on HIV, persons living with HIV.

What was the motivation for doing the film?

I didn’t spring up all of a sudden into HIV issues. I have lost someone to it before and I have other persons close to me who live with HIV – friends, close associates living with HIV. Then, I had my own personal experience not long ago. I was exposed to a hazardous situation which now required me to be placed on prophylaxis. I had to take the medication for a month to prevent me from contracting HIV.

And while taking the medications, my eyes opened up the more to what people living with HIV are facing. I was told at the hospital to simply choose a time in the day that I would take the medication. And when I start the medication, that time, I must not be late. You know workaholic na. Instead of me to have just jejely chosen a time in the night when going to bed, only for me to choose 5am. I didn’t know what I was about to go into. And at about an hour before I had to take the medication, I have to eat to reduce the side effects. I didn’t even bother asking what was the side effects.

So, taking the medication, I had to start setting alarm clock, to make sure that before 4am, breakfast was ready and I have eaten. It must not be later than that 4am. By 5am, I am taking the medication. The first time I was taking the medication, see me battling. I was drowsy. A lot was happening to me. It was like the ground was high. When an ophthalmologist gives you wrong glasses, you know how the ground would be high. That was how I felt. And throughout that one month, it was serious battle for me. I had to even travel that period. I almost missed my flight at the airport.

When you say you were exposed to an hazardous situation, is it that you felt you could contract HIV and took medication to conquer that?

I did not feel I was going to contract HIV and I had to take medication. I don’t do self-medication. Prophylaxis is not something you just pick across the counter and you start taking. So, at the hospital, after review of what I’m been exposed to and all that. It was blood contact and I had to be placed on prophylaxis to reduce the chances of me contracting the virus.

Is it an experience you’ll want to share?


No,no, not right now. It’s not a pleasant experience.

Was it related to your investigative journalism?

Yes. But not on the HIV series.

Coming from the angle of a print journalist, what prepared you to do this documentary film?

I’m known as a print journalist. Then I moved to online. As someone who is very curious, I believe in acquiring more knowledge and all that. I’ve always loved the creative industry and I actually wanted to study Theatre Arts but my father never agreed. I studied English. The film aspect has been in me. So, last year when I had to pitch the HIV series to Code For Africa and they agreed I could do it, I ended up doing multi-media. You know journalism now is really transiting. As a reporter, you have to be able to do so many things. I had to learn and relearn and unlearn and all that. I had to go out myself with the camera, the audio recorder, doing virtually everything by myself, editing videos. So, it’s not all material I got to use for the HIV series. I had so many others left.

However, that’s not just the reason I had to converting part of the HIV series into film. While on the field, I heard traumatising stories of persons living with HIV. This was already several months after the stories were published. I still find the experiences traumatising. You know, listening to kids telling me about their fear of fellow children stigmatising them.

And watching these kids cry before me while I was interviewing them. I don’t know if in journalism school you’re allowed to cry when also interviewing persons but for every time I watched anyone who has told me his or her story, I would get back to my room and the next thing you know is tears. So, when the stories were published, I recall NACA (National Agency for the Control of AIDS) got in touch with me and I subsequently did a documentary. I felt in Nigeria, people watch things more than they even read, how much more to read a long investigative narrative. So, I said let me convert into different kinds of docus and by God’s grace, we have a full feature length on this.

How long did all this take you?

I actually started last year. It’s not what we do in Nigeria that everybody gather together under a day. A whole lot of research into the pre-production, during the production and even post-production went into the films.

And how was the experience?

Hmm… the beautiful thing for me is that the crew I presently work with are great guys. It makes the work easier. And we’re all young persons looking ahead and knowing that we’ll all get somewhere and we’re helping each other. So, that’s the brighter side for me. When we look at the other side, as in on the field, men, filming in Nigeria (laughs). When you go to a location, particularly Lagos, once they see you with camera, they just feel that these people have so much money. So, from nowhere, different groups will start coming. ‘We’re the ones in charge of this place ooo. You have to drop.’ The job of a producer is a very thankless one. It’s like the job of a journalist.

How about the budget?

For one of the films, I recorded I spent over N800, 000 on it. And that film no even reach 30 minutes.

Do you think these kind of social issues are best addressed by documentaries?

That is why I said there are different kinds of documentaries. You know, there is docu-drama, docu-story?

What is yours?

They are different short stories. There is the docu-drama, there is the docu-story. But mind you, for every film, the foundation is the script, the story. If the storyline is faulty, if the scriptwriting is faulty, even if it’s a top notch director that directs such a film, it’ll be like the guy doesn’t know his work. So, no matter the creative act, the story-telling is the key.

Are you planning other documentaries?

It’s not just am I planning one. I’m working on others. I’m not a flash in the pan. The same way I have stayed in journalism, I’m going to stay in filming. So, there are others being cooked.

Would you share what you’re working on?

It’s also non-fiction. I do non-fiction. Right now, I don’t know how to handle fiction. I’m not a fiction person. It is exactly what happened or is happening that I bring into whatsoever I do. So, it’s also non-fiction. One of them has to do with the impact of domestic violence on just the parents but children. The other one, I would want to keep that one sealed.