By Damilola Fatunmise
Adetokunbo Shittu is a trained film and theatre producer, director, actor and writer. He started his directing journey at the Dramatic Arts Department of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife where he graduated with a B.A (Hons) degree, majoring on Play Production and Directing, over a decade ago.
Since then he has handled productions, which include Femi Robinson’s Ajantanla sponsored by the Lagos State government for the Centenary Celebration of Nigeria in 2010; George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man for Sightlines Productions; Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Nshona’s The Island; Gboyega Àjàyí Bembe’s Towo Omo for the Lagos@50 Celebration; wrote, produced and directed Dokitor Omolere and Beggars also for the stage.
Some of his screen works include Iya L’omo (Nursing Mother), a Nestle Foods’ sponsored miniseries on breastfeeding advocacy for rural women, Ajenu (still in post) and the latest, Atunwa.
In this interview, he opened up on his youthful days, career and challenges among others. Here are excerpts:
How did your journey into entertainment begin?
As the youngest in a family of nine, I grew up in Ilesa, Osun State, and Zaria, Kaduna State where I attended primary schools. At Ilesa, the Egungun festival and Iwude Ogun gave me my earliest exposure to performance, as I and my immediate elder brother mingled freely with the itinerant audience until our feet could go no further. The TV serial, Arelu also fired my zeal and aspiration to one day be part of the theatre and film business. My family later relocated to Zaria where I started school afresh because of some policies I was too young to understand. Zaria then was cosmopolitan, with people of varying ideas and orientations from across the country mixing freely with the native population with little or no frictions. Being a time when entertainment for kids was so limited, my friends and I had time to play outdoors, inventing our games and sports. The only available television station was the NTA, which opened at 4pm, with cartoons programmes. These formed the mental template of our creativity. Our notebooks became drawing pads on which we visually retold our dramatic scenes from the last cartoon episodes we watched. Soon, we began to make cutouts of these characters and playing them against light sources to observe their shadows at night. This, we soon developed into a shadow theatre, where we charged tokens from friends not so artistically inclined.
I was an animator and made quick bucks for goodie-goodie then. That childhood experience formed the bedrock of my pursuit of visual and performing/film arts at both secondary and tertiary levels of education, and made me an outstanding director during my university days.
Tell us about this movie that is about to be premiered?
Atunwa is a modern fictional drama inspired by the story of a mythical character, Eleko Idere, in Irosun Meji of the Ifa corpus. She reincarnates in the 21st century Lagos Island suburb to pay off the debt of Karma she acquired in her past life as a successful merchant. The story exposes human interconnectedness and the inevitability of rewards for every action. It reflects the African concept of life, death and rebirth.
What were your initial challenges when you started and how did you overcome them?
My initial challenges were quite many. I come from a family where the key sponsor then never believed in the arts. This really slowed down my journey, but actually made me more resolute and bolder to keep on. The challenge was further worsened by the fact that the film industry is saturated with outstanding talent all jostling for the few available spaces. When people who doubted your sanity of wanting to be a filmmaker don’t see you on the screen, or notice your name on the credit strip, they simply tell you to get a life and stop being useless. But, with persistence and focus, that tiny space will open someday and the story will change. So, staying focused and being dedicated to my art kept me going.
What lessons did you learn from your days of humble beginning?
In the beginning, it was rough. There were days of free and next to free gigs just to improve efficiency and prove that one can do it well. At first, I focused all my attention on live theatre production; wrote, published and staged quite a few. Along the line, an actor friend advised me to switch to screen since it’s part of my training. I joined a Yoruba film production company where I ghostwrote, acted and provided unpaid advise on directing and shot conception. Acting in a scene or two in the film was always my reward, but it helped me acquaint myself to the processes and players in the field.
Did you see yourself becoming this popular from the onset?
I never saw myself as anything other than a person with strong and unquenchable passion for the arts, and would even practice on empty pockets than abandon it. Of course, one had to do some side hustling to keep the face fresh; but fame, which I’m still hoping to have in this lifetime, is usually a reward for competence and not quitting. James Cameron and Ryan Coogler are humans, after all.
How did you come about your cast’s selection?
The cast in the film include Tina Mba (Kemi Oye), Jide Kosoko (Tunji Oye), Yomi Fash-Lanso (Dare), Kehinde Bankole (Bisi Oye), Okey Uzoeshi (Wale Oye) and Alvin Abayomi (Lolu Oye). Others are Gbugbemi Ejeye (Linda) and Emem Ufot (Sunday). The casting was done based on the artistic requirements of the script and the visualised audience range. It’s a deeply Yoruba story which must also speak to all other cultural and linguistic sections of society. So, with the co-producer, associate producer, and of course contribution of the casting director, I opted for the actors based on their capabilities.
What do you think you did right to get to where you are today?
It’s hard work and keeping a positive disposition towards life. Tyler Perry once gave an illustration on success with digging a well. According to him, a man who continues digging will someday reach water.
Looking back at your life and career, what do you think you did wrong that you will like to make right given the opportunity?
The head is designed to face forward for a reason. Everything done wrongly in the past, to me, is part of the learning process, and I’m not sure if I’d want to do anything differently. Would it still be me if I mounted a time machine and went back to fix those imperfections? I doubt it.