(By Judith Duffy) – The Champagne Room is the
first Nollywood film shot in Scotland. Tonight it is being screened in
Edinburgh at the Bedlam Theatre as part of the British Film Institute’s
Nollywood Nights strand of the Black Star season, which celebrates black
actors. The film is directed by Olumide Fadeyibi, and was filmed on location in
both Nigeria and Scotland.
The Champagne Room follows the story of a journalist and
political activist seeking political asylum in Glasgow, highlighting issues
around domestic violence, human trafficking, drug crimes and immigration.
Fadeyibi said he believed it was the first Nollywood
film shot in Scotland – but it took longer to shoot than usual.
“It took about two-and-a-half years to get done – I had
a shooting schedule but it didn’t work out because of budget constraints and
most of the actors were volunteers," he said.
“A typical Nollywood film is done in about three or four
days – that is because there is very little budget as well, there is nothing
fancy and they just tell the story.
“The story is based on real life experiences of
harassment of press freedom, child abuse, human trafficking and immigration. It
is more like a docu-drama being acted out.”
The boom in Nollywood is thought to have begun in 1992
with the making of the straight-to-video film Living in Bondage, about a man
who is lured into a satanic cult - which sold more than a million copies.
