“Not Supposed to Be Here”, the short film by Katung Aduwak explores a contentious exchange between an African and an African-American. Ferdinand Ekechukwu writes
The idea of short films was previously generally dismissed and seen as a waste of time and money in Nollywood. But now, it has become a staple and have found better acceptance and a way for directors to get their feet wet, cut their teeth and test their storytelling skills.
Although there are still some who seem to think that even a well-executed short film does not prove that the filmmaker is capable of directing a feature or even a TV series. For this, filmmaker and music video director, Katung Aduwak, would be excused having produced and directed the movies Unwanted Guest and Heaven’s Hell. Both feature films.
The reality TV star turned filmmaker is set to drop a new visual offering, a short film titled “Not Supposed to Be Here”. Co-written by Jojo Sillia and Aduwak, the former Big Brother Naija winner had announced that he was working on the project set to be released soon.
He recently unveiled the poster for his upcoming short.
Katung’s “Not Supposed To Be Here’ makes for one of the great things about filmmakers doing short films; they have creative autonomy to, as one noted, tell the story they want; cast who they want; and play in whatever genre they want; so you often find more interesting, original and sometimes more daring storytelling in short films.
Such is expected of Katungs ‘Not Supposed To Be Here’. Whatever impression audiences and critics have had of the Nollywood aesthetic from a decade ago, is slowly being stripped away by these new directors pushing boundaries and making statements with their short films work; some of whom have gone on to make feature films, as well as direct television and web-series like Katung did.
The short themed project explores a contentious exchange between an African and an African-American. The movie features ‘Tinsel’ star, Gbenro Ajibade and Jeremy Smith. They play the role of the African and African American respectively. The socially conscious two-character short will deal with social problems which the duo will trash in a duel that will finally lead to an eye-opening end.
Katung Aduwak, the very first Big Brother Naija housemate winner was 26 years old when he won the inaugural edition of the reality show and went home with the $100,000 prize money. H
is win was surprising since he came into the house after the second eviction and won about 80 per cent of the tasks.
He and his co-housemate, Sandy, were kept in isolation with no external contact and zero access to TV or news for three weeks before being introduced to the show. Katung proceeded to New York to get a directorial degree from the Digital Film Academy, after which he returned to Nigeria and worked on several projects.
He also directed a number of music videos for Chocolate City, Styl Plus, and starred in EbonyLife TV’s Desperate Housewives of Africa show. Heaven’s Hell, his first theatrical release was well received.
