Combining Passion with Professionalism in Movie Making: A Dialogue with Tunde Kelani

Abstract

The Nigeria film industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country today. From reports, it churns out over one thousand movies yearly. It has not only become a crucial source of employment for teeming Nigerian youths, it has also been contributing to the Nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last ten years. Although, there are many practitioners in the industry who use the nomenclature "Film maker" and who function either as Producer, Director or Cinematographer, only a very few stand out in their approach towards quality film making, especially in the pursuit of excellence and professionalism. One of these few is Tunde Kelani. This paper is an exploration into the professional life and artistic motivation of this great Nigerian cinematographer and film producer. Using the interview method, the paper examines how he combines passion with professional quality in his movies. The paper submits that Kelani is a legendary film maker whose works have not only been a source of inspiration to younger film makers, but ought also to be a subject of greater academic research and documentation