Jacob’s Cross Actor to Develop Feature on Thomas Sankara

Jacob’s Cross Actor to Develop Feature on Thomas Sankara

Vanessa Obioha

Fabian Adeoye Lojede who played the enigmatic character Bola Abayomi in the Pan-African TV series ‘Jacob’s Cross’ is set to produce a feature on the Burkina Faso’s Pan-African leader Thomas Sankara.

The actor revealed recently in an interview that he paid a visit to the family and received their blessings to go ahead with a feature on the former president of the country.

“I visited his family house and his village and it was an amazing and humbling experience. It left me with hope that if we could produce one of him, we can produce more.”

Sankara is renowned as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution. Through him, the West African country fought imperialism and corruption. He was seen as a man of the people who pushed for a united front of African nations.

Lojede’s project on the iconic leader is part of his Pan-African creative network that will see collaborations from African creatives.

“Collaborations is the only way to go. In as much as Africa is not a country, it is a continent, but somehow we have shared experiences. And we have far more in common than we actually realize. And I believe the more we’re able to distribute our content in a more structured manner across Africa, obviously, the more marketable commercial it becomes, the bigger the market.

“And at the same time, what that does is it allows more African creatives to be able to monetise their work so it’s really important that we reach out and recognise that we have to trade with each other both creatively and otherwise. We used to trade before white people came to Africa so I don’t see any reason why we can’t continue to do that and look at Africa as one holistic market,”he said.

Already, his co-produced film ‘Comatose’ which he starred in alongside South African, Nigerian and Black French speaking African talents premiered at this year’s Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) to great ovation. The film is centred in the global debate of euthanasia.

Through this initiative, Lojede aims to tell original African stories that can travel. Other projects he is working include a documentary ‘Omo Egun’ and a short film ‘Eje’.

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