Landline is Dele Doherty’s debut feature film. But, for the filmmaker, it is the culmination of years spent watching films, studying auteur filmmakers, experimenting with friends, watching filmmaking-related reels on Instagram, and searching videos on YouTube, that has culminated in the making of Landline starring Zainab Balogun, Gabriel Afolayan, and Bucci Franklin. Courtesy of his uncle who constantly purchased movie CDs, his interest in filmmaking took root early. Yet, at the time, pursuing a career in film wasn’t an option. At age 15, Doherty was admitted into the University of Benin to study Structural Engineering, but by his second and third year, he began to “fall apart”. As inferred during our conversation, his academic struggles stemmed largely from his growing passion for filmmaking. In 2019, he decided to quit school. Remarkably, his parents understood but insisted that a University degree was essential. Doherty returned to Lagos and decided to study Theatre Arts at the University of Lagos, the closest academic path to his filmmaking aspirations.
Describing himself as a self-taught filmmaker, Doherty has enjoyed the unreserved repository of online research. All these lessons came into making Nice to Meet You, his debut short film. The opportunity to pitch Landline came in 2022 during the Nigerian International Film Summit. At that time, Amazon Prime was new in the market and was scouting for films and filmmakers. Doherty pitched the idea in July 2022 and got accepted in October of the same year. A long period of silence followed without the film getting made. During this waiting period, he made a short film based on the idea and posted it on LinkedIn. Unknown to Doherty, Ayanna Lonian, Prime Video’s Director of Content Acquisition and the Head of the Worldwide Major Studio Licensing & Strategy Team, saw it and referenced it during subsequent meetings. Frustrated by rumors of Prime Video exiting Nigeria, the director sent an email and received reassurance that his film would be made. He signed a contract in March 2024 and began shooting in July. Currently, the filmmaker is studying Film in the United States at Bluegrass Community and Technical College
This interview with Doherty has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The film’s theme is laid on an interesting premise. An interesting style and language. What are the possible inspirations?
I am a Nollywood filmmaker but my filmmaking style and language are heavily influenced by Western filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Paul Thomas Anderson, and other masters. The concept of looping, time-bending, and non-linear narrative are elements I learned from watching films from these masters. In my film career, I am not sure I will ever want to tell a non-complex story. There are scenes from the films that sample scenes in Nolan’s Inception, Kubrick’s The Shining and Ethan Hawke’s The Black Phone. My visual and narrative styles are influenced by these complex and non-linear films that demand attention to details. For me, it isn’t a show of intelligence but just my style. It was Quentin Tarantino that said you should make the kind of films you want to watch.
Outside this, I made Landline because I wanted to make something that I could control and be over-ambitious about. I wanted a contained space where I could play with the acting, dialogue, editing, and sound.
Were you concerned about the reception? And, so far, what has been the reception so far?
While writing, I was scared of how people would respond, especially since it was my first feature film and its uniqueness in the Nigerian film space. I am sure I would have gotten negative responses if I had pitched the film to some of Nigeria’s mainstream studios. It’s not a perfect film but I was concerned about the audience understanding the film. There have been mixed reviews with more positive ones so far. For some of the reviews saying there weren’t answers to questions, the answers are there all through the film. Answers are in there in the subtext of dialogue, motifs that guide you in the story.
In my review of the film, I mentioned how storytelling isn’t just in the writing but in the directing, editing, shooting, art direction, and even casting. Can you walk us through some of these technical choices in the film?
Firstly, it’s a loop film. The film happens over and over again. Sound was one of the technical aspects of the film. We had to switch from calls to normal voices throughout the film. Another technical aspect is the point of views (POVs) used in the film. We experienced the tragedy, first, from Shalewa’s perspective and the subsequent one from Kola. I used a lot of motifs and recurring patterns, sounds, props, and framing. These were technical choices because I didn’t want to spoonfeed the audience. So, I placed answers in dialogue, subtext, motifs, props, and sound design. Also, I wanted the camera angles to convey the characters’ sense of distortion so that the audience can strongly feel the character’s, especially that of Kola, confusion. These are some of the technical choices that I and the team planted into the film.
The film has understated cultural, gender, and mostly political undertones which makes for a thoroughly enjoyable watch. In terms of screenwriting and shaping the story, how do you build all these tones, themes, and emotional intensity into the film?
From the writing perception, the political undertone ( the End Sars massacre) was written into the film. But, that isn’t what the film is about. For me, the film is majorly the story of a man trying to prevent a tragedy from happening to his wife. This isn’t to say the unanswered questions aren’t important but they aren’t of primal importance.
The political undertone is just to show that Kola is caught in the web of a corrupt military political system. There is the theme of betrayal, greed, and others woven into the film. But, ultimately it’s a story of a man trying to save his wife from impending tragedy.
Zainab Balogun’s performance is a lot more internal than physical. As the director, how did you find that internal journey with her?
That credit should be given to Zainab and the other actors. I am a technical director whose script is always filled with notes of what I expect from actors. Once I tell actors the psychological headspace, I allow them to do their thing. Of course, I block and stage their performance. I must have done a great job of explaining the characters’ psychology and traits during table reads. But, in finding the characters, that work, in Landline, was heavily done by Zainab, Gabriel, and Bucci. Zainab did enormously well. There are scenes that were one take. I was very intentional in casting the actors. Thanks to my amazing crew members too.
How do you ensure that as an independent filmmaker, you don’t compromise your voice and craft as a filmmaker that wants to operate in Nollywood?
First, not all my films will be time-looped. But, there will be complexity surrounding my narrative structure. I will try my best to keep my film language and style. I am going to be very stubborn and firm about the kind of things I will work on. I started working on my next feature already and I have two short films as proof of concept already. It’s about altering memories, brain control, and all. It’s a sci-fi and Afrofuturism leaning story. Film is my life and I am going to do everything possible to stay faithful to my style and language.
Also, my goal is to reach a global audience. It will surprise you that there are people in the US who haven’t seen a Nigerian film. But, as Nigerians, we are consuming French, Russian, Korean, Spanish films and we are carrying these cultural data on our head. This isn’t to say, as an industry, we aren’t making good films. But, our films are still just tailored for the local audience when there is an untapped global audience and market. Ultimately for me, I want to make a film that can be viewed and discussed globally.
What do you hope people will feel once the film is over?
I want them to feel multiple emotions and have questions that prompt multiple watches. I want them to think and pay attention to the dialogue because every answer they are looking for is in the dialogue. An aside, there is no part two of Landline. The loop has ended for the audience; it’s just the characters that are stuck in it.
Lastly, if you check the behind-the-scenes videos, you will discover that the film was made by young filmmakers like myself. And what we want to tell the industry and Nigerians is that we are just passionate storytellers who love cinema.
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