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Meet Adze Ugah, a director who dabbles in writing and sometimes producing. Adze is the director and producer of the movie Sierra’s Gold.
Rahab: What do you consider your artistic process when it comes to making a film
Adze: I am not sure I have such a thing as an “artistic process”, a lot of my process is intuitive, so it’s quite exploratory and not very rigid. I usually love unpacking scenes with the cast and the key crew, breaking down the emotional beats and impulses suggested by the scenes of the script, and then exploring how we can land on them till they inform a choice pathway. Then I look for the quickest way to reach the end of the path with the resources available, such as the camera, lighting, performance, and even post-production.
Rahab: Why did you start making films?
Adze: I started making films simply because I loved films. I was that child who could not walk past a TV screen without stopping to see what was happening, especially if it was a fictional narrative. A lot of my energy went into watching films, and it only made sense for me to make a career out of it, as I said earlier, I enjoy sharing emotions, and filmmaking, for me, was by far the most effective way of doing that.
Rahab: If you could produce a film in any African city you haven’t worked in yet, where would it be and why?
Adze: I would love to shoot a film in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC, for me, is just a melting pot of magical medieval and post-modern madness, the whole world is trying to understand this mishmash. Capturing what it feels like to exist in that context would be a dream come true for me.
Rahab: Any advice to those starting out in the film industry ?
Adze: My advice for those starting is just to be courageous and tell stories that reflect your authentic self. The most important thing is to write what you want to produce, no matter how long it takes you, and revisit and refine it as often as you can till it reflects your authentic self. Don’t create in a vacuum, ask others what they think or feel about what you have written or created, and use that to fine-tune your creation. Watch plenty of movies, enjoy being around people, and soak up humanity in all the various ways it shows up in your personal and professional life. Pay attention to what the great filmmakers before you have accomplished and read as many books as you can, don’t seek to imitate, but feel free to reference from all the available art forms at your disposal and never let yourself be censored, people might forget what you say, but no one ever forgets how you made them feel.
