Just about everything about Nigeria’s mushrooming movie industry is huge, apart from its latest generation of stars; a team of dwarf actors whose small statures belie their towering ambitions.
Leading man Ojo Adebayo, who is less than one metre tall, hopes one day to make it in Hollywood, but for now he is reduced to hawking his latest release amid the snarling traffic of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
His ninety minute fantasy epic, The Kingdom, is only one of around 2 500 films that will likely be churned out by Nigeria’s hugely prolific studios this year, and Adebayo does not want to miss his shot at the big time.
”Acting is my life, my career. Hollywood is my ultimate aim but the road to stardom is long and tortuous. I believe in myself and I hope in God to achieve my goal,” said Adebayo, who spoke in his Yoruba language.
”Although I am a dwarf, I have a tall ambition, just like my wife who is twice as tall as myself,” added the 43-year-old father-of-two, who has been entertaining Nigerian fans of stage and screen since 1977.
Adebayo is president of the Dwarfs Association of Nigeria (DAN), whose 30 members set off every day in two buses to sell their video CDs and VHS tapes to motorists crawling through Lagos’ incessant traffic jams.
It is a world away from the Oscar ceremony’s red carpet, but DAN’s actors have to work hard to fend off hunger and survive in an industry run by multi-millionaire movie moghuls and plagued by piracy.
”The decision to hawk our films by ourselves is aimed at fighting piracy, creating public awareness to the plight of the dwarfs and seeking sympathy and understanding,” said 25-year-old actor Maxwell Ekelonu.
”Our human rights are denied us as citizens of this country because of our physique. We are discriminated against and treated as second class citizens. So we decided to take our destiny in our own hands,” he said.
The dwarf film sub-genre — an offshoot of a west African tradition of midget entertainers — is part of the ”Nollywood” phenomenon, Nigeria’s home grown industry worth between $100 and $600-million per year.
Nigerian filmgoers have turned their backs on the US blockbuster and the slick musical fantasies of India’s Bollywood, in favour of tales of love, loss, crime and betrayal in recognisable African settings.
The films are sold on tape and on CD and shown in makeshift viewing centres and family homes. With up to 50 new titles per week, directors struggle to keep up with demand and to keep a step ahead of the pirates.
Nigeria’s films have also begun to develop an audience elsewhere in Africa, and South African satellite television has recently launched a channel dedicated to the genre.
It was a marketplace the ambitious dwarfs could not ignore, but in such a harsh business environment, they found safety lay in numbers.
Samuel Adeniyi Ajimokola (27) one of the shortest of the male actors, believes that they get more recognition by hawking on the streets.
”We are out to demonstrate to the entire world that we can contribute meaningfully to the development of the country and aspire to any social, political or economic level,” he said, adding that he dates a tall girl.
But despite their independent spirit, behind every dwarf is a manager, in this case Ichie Gordian Onuoha, executive producer of The Kingdom, full-sized actor and owner of movie distributor Ichie Matters.
In 1996 Onuoha was inspired by the life of a dwarf uncle to form the association, now the sole employer of its members.
Onuoha’s fellow managers, Uwaoma Uwasomba and Lawrence Igbang, say the actors decided to make their own street sales, because of ”the ill-treatment and short-changing meted out by marketing firms”.
DAN, by contrast, is ”grooming the artistes to make them international stars”, said Igbang.
All this under the association’s inspiring motto, emblazoned on its offices: ”We are not handicapped. We engage in entertainment such as film productions, novelty matches and dancing. Your happiness is our concern.” – Sapa-AFP