Chika Anadu

As a filmmaker you make your films with the audience you want to attract in mind.

film mind want

There was no way I was going back to school to study anything for another three or four years. I was done with that. So I tried working on other people's projects, but didn't find any where I felt I could learn what I needed to learn.

people years school

I have loved filmed from when I was a child, but I never considered it as a future career.

future-careers careers children

Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry. However none of the 'New wave' of directors in Nigeria would know what was possible without the Nollywood model, so I'm grateful to them for showing us that our stories are of interest to people other than Nigerians. I would describe myself as a filmmaker, period.

grateful directors people

It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'. Having said that, we are all many things - for example I'm Igbo and Nigerian, a director, a filmmaker etc., but I feel what affects me the most, especially the way people/society view or treat me, is the fact that I'm a woman, and I'm fascinated by that.

decision views people

I definitely don't intend to only make films about Nigerians or Africans. I want to make films about people, any people.

film want people

I prefer to discover new talent by holding open auditions.

new-talent auditions talent

Three directors whose work directly influences mine are Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and Susanne Bier (her Danish films). You'll notice that they all don't make feel good movies, same as me, and their films are always visually simple but beautiful (and I hope mine are!).

feel-good simple beautiful

There are a lot of filmmakers I love whose work doesn't inspire mine at all. For example: Quentin Tarantino. From his films you can see that he has a wicked sense of humour, and I love that!

wicked example inspire

I would describe myself as a filmmaker, period.

describe-myself filmmaker periods

Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry.

genre industry film

The audience I'm targeting doesn't care about the language spoken in the films they watch. They're interested in more important things like story, performance, cinematography etc.

important stories watches

My favourite films are in languages I don't understand.

favourite film language

While my work is usually about the Igbo woman experience, there are many aspects of my female characters that women everywhere can and do relate to.

aspect female character

It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'.

deliberate film decision

I entered the film industry sprinting, but not for long.

industry film long

I was having tea with a guy I was introduced to, about the possibility of working with him at his production company. He asked me if I'd written anything, and I said yes. Then he said 'why don't you just shoot it'? And I thought, "duh!" Best advice I ever got.

guy tea advice

While I was doing the residency in Paris, I found out that I was chosen as one of the five winners of the Focus Features Africa First Program. All this happened less than a year after I made my first two short films.

paris two years