From “Kajola” to “Colours of Fire” The Problem with Niyi Akinmolayan’s Filmmography

When Culture Custodian interviewed Nigerian filmmaker and founder of Anthill Studios, Niyi Akinmolayan, in 2023, he outlined some of his guiding principles. This interview was held days ahead of the release of his ambitious project, The House of Secrets which was severely panned by Nigerian film critics. After working as a director for hire, working on independent projects under Anthill Studios was important to charting new territory. Artistically, it was also to separate himself as someone with a unique voice. Think Ryan Coogler, Steven Soderbergh, Barry Jenkins, and Kayode Kasum, Dare Olaitan, and Kenneth Gyang as the Nigerian counterparts. These filmmakers worked on studio-backed projects that don’t often carry their filmmaking idiosyncrasies to build their careers or fund their own passion projects. Thus, when Akinmolayan told Culture Custodian that his Anthill-backed projects will be marked by a relentless experimental ethos, he was echoing what filmmakers have often done. “The big question is, how do you separate yourself as someone with a unique voice from every other thing you do in the course of your career? This is why Anthill is a bit different. Anthill was built on a very simple idea, which is that we should be able to try new things with film.” Importantly, the filmmaker said, “If it’s an Anthill film, be sure that we are always going to experiment. We have a saying that ‘if it can (easily) be done, then we are not going to be doing it.’ Pushing the envelope is a major part of our ethos.”   

Akinmolayan has been truthful to that ethos. In 2010, he released his feature-length directorial debut project, Kajola dubbed “Nollywood’s first big-budget sci-fi action movie.” Kajola, a futuristic film, set in a dystopian futuristic Lagos in the year 2059 and follows a rebel leader from the impoverished slums who wages war against the totalitarian government controlling the wealthy, ultra-modern city. As Zikoko reported, there was excitement leading up to Kajola’s release . Nigerians queued for tickets at the Silverbird Cinemas Abuja for the premiere of this film that promised an action-packed dystopian sci-fi saga set in Nigeria, all made possible by groundbreaking CGI. “But almost 30 minutes in, people began storming out. Some approached the ticket handlers and demanded refunds. The movie’s director had expected this might happen. It didn’t make it any less heartbreaking.” From Kajola, Mikolo, The House of Secrets, to Colours of Fire, Akinmolayan has remained truthful: “We will always do the mass market films (for Inkblot and Ebonylife), but when it comes to an Anthill film, we will always make a statement,” he told Culture Custodian. But, taking a critical look at Akinmolayan’s oeuvre, what sort of statement has he made over the years? 

Akinmolayan is undoubtedly an infrastructural pioneer who cares about and prides himself in making commercial projects. His attention to the art might be lacking but, like a relentless venture capitalist, he’s excited and has spoken about the commercial possibilities of his films and the industry’s Frankly, when researching for this story, the most descriptive words attached to Niyi and his films are: ambitious and experimental. From reviews, interviews, to essays, there’s an acknowledgement of his penchant for experimentation either with genre, story, and technicalities. The filmmaker also rides on this experimentation wave that he can be likened to Niyi the Explorer. As award-winning Nigerian writer, culture journalist, film critic Jerry Chiemeke stated, Niyi and Anthill’s films have their unique quirks as they feature some attempts at doing something. Casa de Novia was about a haunted house, House of Secrets was shot in monochrome, The Prophetess was staged on the football field, and Day of Destiny is a time travel film. “Niyi Akimolayan has a penchant for testing stuff. You can liken him to a mechanic who likes checking out new tricks at the junkyard, or a precocious child who likes to play with toys. Whether or not these projects are landmark or pioneer projects, or whether or not they can be pointed out as examples of pioneer features, or start a set of emotions off with a beat can be debated.”

After making independent projects, what’s also true about Akinmolayan is his lack of taste. Nigerian film critic, Ini-Abasi Jeffrey opined that the filmmakers’s successes are tied to his previous, director-for-hire projects. Thus, his success is because he’s a competent work hand for these earlier blockbusters. Jeffrey agreed that there are intentions to make high-rate blockbuster films in his personal works. The problem is simple : he doesn’t have the writing and filmmaking skills to make one. And his films are proof of that. His independent projects are so panned by audiences and critics alike that one wonders how he still keeps making films. But, the answer still lies in that Culture Custodian’s interview: “imagine if Disney or Marvel had to listen to everyone’s opinion of a film,” he notes. “This is a business -and this is something that is hard for Nollywood audiences or even critics to understand – so for every time we make a film, between 60 to 100 people pay their utility bills, fund their medical expenses and sort out the school fees of their wards. It has to be a moving train.”

Cinema is a visual form but only a filmmaker who takes a literal meaning of this, as Akinmolayan has repeatedly shown, will be so averse to the other element of cinema: storytelling. This element is what has consistently been missing in Akinmolayan’s ambitious works. From a visual (The House of Secrets and, importantly, Colours of Fire), to technical (The Prophetess and Elevator Baby) perspectives, Akinmolayan tepidly shines. Colours of Fire is possibly where he invested more in visual storytelling with the totemic blue and red representing cultural, political, and economic divide. But, again, the problem here as with his other films is the absence of a story. Yes, there are moving characters, exchanged dialogues, established settings, and beautiful scenery. What’s missing is the storytelling element. From an institutional perspective, he’s been supportive – resource and finance wise, of young filmmakers. But, that’s where Jeffrey argues, it ends . “Niyi has been a mentor to people in the film industry. But in terms of working and learning under a filmmaker and applying their work, he hasn’t done that. He’s not paving the way for any better cinema to come. Colours of Fire isn’t paving the way for anything. If anything, it’s paving the way for very cheap AI copies of similar films to make.”

Commercially, Akinmolayan is one of Nollywood’s most successful independent and director-for-hire. He’s also one of its most “ambitious” filmmakers making blockbusters. There’s ambition in Colours of Fire and The House of Secrets. But being ambitious and commercially conscious shouldn’t erase the need to develop storytelling skills. When Jeffrey wrote about The House of  Secrets, he was kinder to him because he thought his ambition was going to push him to work. The critic doesn’t think being a blockbuster filmmaker isn’t a great aspiration. In fact, he suggested that blockbuster filmmakers are some of the most skilled filmmakers. Think Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and others are blockbuster filmmakers who often advance their skills and it reflects in their works. The same intentionality isn’t present in Akinmolayan’s blockbuster-leaning films. “Niyi and filmmakers like him hide behind the pioneers tag even if there’s nothing indicative of that in their work. We need to critically look at Niyi’s career and discuss the kind of work he has put out in the context of where we are right now. He tends to just cloak everything under the guise of ambitious filmmaking,” Jeffrey mentioned. As the film critic concluded, the films aren’t emotionally connected but aseptic, dull, and castrated. 

Chiemeke suggested situating Akinmolayan’s filmmaking back to Kajola in 2010. In that context, the filmmaker has been practicing for 16 years with little to no films, in his filmography, that can be deemed seminal. There might be a handful of features that tether along the line of excellence, they don’t arrive at the destination. These experimentations are mostly with the visuals with no attention to storytelling. Chiemeke likened this to a writer who can’t get the basics of sentences right. A good and bad story can be differentiated by the quality of its sentences amongst other things. “If you are making a film about a haunted house, the sequences have to be plausible. And when you want to suspend belief, it’s important that the story world is built properly,” he said. For the visual effects in Akinmolayan’ films, Chimeke opined that vital elements had to be pieced together properly. “In experimental visual effects, I think that attention should also be paid to the fundamental elements of a feature film including acting, editing, continuity, directing, and most crucial of all, the story.” With this in mind, the critic doesn’t think Akinmolayan is using pioneering or experimental taglines as an excuse to make bad films. Chimeke just feels like, for him, it would help him do some good to be just a bit more mindful.

American filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola reflecting on the intense pressure artists face when trying to create ambitious art said, “Nothing is so terrible as a pretentious movie. A movie that aspires for something really terrific and doesn’t pull it off is sh!t, it’s scum.” Coppola agrees with art and cinema being experimental and a subversion of reality. Arguably, cinema won’t have grown if we have filmmakers and artists apathetic towards experimenting. Cinema will still be inertia if we don’t have bold and crazy filmmakers ready to take financial and artistic risk. But, underneath that need for an experimental mindset, there’s an understanding that a story needs to be told and if a filmmaker is trying to complicate reality or be innovative with storytelling techniques, it should be in service of the story, not the other way round. But, this is what Akinmolayan has done for over a decade. He’s been so apathetic that watching and engaging with his films is a joke. As WhatKeptMeUp stated in its review of The House of Secrets, “Ambition as a filmmaker can be a double-edged sword, showcasing the vastness of their art and years of craft, while also exposing limitations. For renowned director Niyi Akinmolayan, ambition has been a driving force throughout his career, which he has more liberty to explore under Anthill, his home studio.” 

The ambition present in Akinmolayan’s vision has yet to translate to a  story of weight. We are constantly told that the stakes are high but it never feels like it. The films’ marketing boasts of a new and inventive experience and filmmaking language. Yet,  film after film remain  barren of those promises. “He loves attempting and experimenting. It may not always materialize in an excellent fashion but you can see he is making efforts.” But, as Coppola stated, “Nothing is so terrible as a pretentious movie.” Sixteen years later, we still remember Kajola as a commercial and artistic disaster. The same can  be said of the other films in the filmmaker’s filmography.