Nollywood filmmaker, Daniel Oriahi, shared insights into his upcoming film, The Weekend, which is set to premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York City from the 5 - 16 June 2024, in an interview with The New York Times, published on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
Oriahi spoke to the American newspaper about making a big-budget Nollywood film, wanting many people to watch his films and the culture of dysfunction in Nigeria.
He said, “I haven’t had the opportunity to make necessarily big-budget films, and in the Nigerian landscape, The Weekend is seen as a high-budget film. Such films are rare to come by. But I pride myself as a filmmaker who wants to make films that are seen, so I’ve made a lot of stuff for local streamers. Over time, I have discovered I am drawn to narratives that have dysfunctional family dynamics. I come from a country where it’s very dysfunctional, to be honest.”
He was asked in the interview about how he keeps the tension level high given that the film starts slowly before the plot gets more intense.
In response, he said he instructed his actors to be less dramatic and more reserved than normal for Nollywood. He wanted the actors to maintain suspense.
“So the acting orientation in the Nollywood space is very dramatic — it comes from television, so you have to be dramatic, melodramatic, use your body. I told everybody: restraint. Just hold it back. And when they are having a conversation with another person, they should be aware that they are holding onto some information. So don’t give it away by body mannerisms or tone of speech. That influenced my casting,“ he said.
The drama thriller film follows the story of an orphan girl, yearning for family, who visits her fiancée’s seemingly idyllic family and discovers their sinister secret.
The film is produced by Uche Okocha and executive produced by Babatunwa Aderinokun and features Aniunoh, Bucci Franklin, Meg Otanwa, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Gloria Anozie-Young and Damilola Ogunsi.