Yinka Olatunbosun
A 1:20minutes movie titled ‘Conversations in Transit’ is set to change the status quo for film setting in Nigeria. Produced by Native Media in collaboration with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the romantic drama is set on an 8am train from Lagos to Ibadan. The production company behind this one-of-a-kind flick had produced popular movies such as ‘Oloibiri,’ ‘Voiceless’ as well as television series such as ‘The Johnsons,’ ‘Hotel Majestic’ and ‘The Mystic River.’
Directed by Robert Peters, the movie highlights themes such as love, betrayal, abuse and forgiveness. The producer, Rogers Ofime expressed his delight at this movie project starring Richard Mofe-Damijo, Rahama Sadau and Uzee Usman in the lead roles.
“Conversations in Transit is a love story- a story I fell in love with from the first hello with the script,’’ he said. “This is one beautiful story and I will like to tell it so bad and tell it to the right people.’’
‘Conversations in Transit’ is based on a short story from Ummi Aisha Baba-Ahmed developed into a screenplay by Writers Ink Concepts- that is the duo of Temitope Akinbode and Diche Enunwa. The pair had been writing together since 2015 and had co-written screenplays for movies including ‘Namaste Wahala,’ ‘Thin Line,’ ‘Cold Feet’ and ‘When Love Happens.’
“Conversations in Transit was initially a short story. The producer sent the story and we made a feature film out of it. We got involved in the lives of three couples and the challenges within which they live. The entire drama starts and ends on the train. It happened within a few hours. We took the train to Ibadan and actually experienced the ride and when we returned, we were ready to write,’’ Enunwa explained.
The duo was nominated for the AMVCA in the best screenplay in comedy category in 2015. Akinbode revealed how their partnership in writing began. “We are friends. We attend the same church and we have worked together in church. We wrote scripts for stage plays in church. When we wrote the first script, ‘When Love Happens,’ which was our first film that went on the big screen, it was just natural to continue working together,’’ she said.
In his remarks, Engr. Fidet Edentalen, Managing-Director, NRC, represented by Mr. Niyi Ali, Director of Operations, expressed his excitement at the project which shows the development in the Nigerian Railway sector in good light.
“NRC is open to any project that demonstrates the development of the sector. A lot of trending music videos are done on our railway facilities. The NRC has always supported the arts in Nigeria and will continue to do so,’’ he said.
