Kenneth Okonkwo Talks ‘Living in Bondage’ on Accelerate TV

The one and only ‘Andy Okeke’ Kenneth Okonkwo visited Accelerate TV to discuss all things Living in Bondage (the original film and the upcoming sequel). Okonkwo discussed the early beginnings of Nollywood prior to Living in Bondage, especially the controversy about it being the first Nigerian film (it isn’t).

“Before Living in Bondage came, Nigerians did not have the confidence in anything made in Nigeria,” he says. “If you go to video clubs, there was nothing like any local film. One guy in Ikeja, then, selling videotapes, he boldly wrote on his wall, ‘local movies are not allowed.’ But immediately Living in Bondage came, it destroyed the appetite of Nigerians for foreign movies and that was why they say this is the first movie that started Nollywood.”

The interview is quite the eyeopener; Okonkwo revealed the original film didn’t have a usual script, it was more of a story and there were a lot of improvisations on set. (Also, although it was shot in Igbo, the film was written in English).

In the original film, Andy Okeke broke free from the bondage and in the sequel, he is a priest, but the devil is still calling onto his lineage—his son, Nnamdi Okeke. The sequel Living in Bondage: Breaking Free opens in cinemas on November 8.

Watch the interview below.