Efe Irele: Nollywood needs more emotionally inclined movies

Nollywood actress and producer Efe Irele has quietly built a reputation for depth both in acting and her approach to storytelling. After nearly a decade in the industry, with over 15 TV films and series to her credit, the actress stepped into a bigger arena with her recent cinema debut, My Mother is a Witch. For Irele, the project is more than just another movie; it is a personal journey, an emotional excavation, and a bold attempt to tell stories that mirror the hidden corners of African homes. In this interview with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN, she opens up about choosing a story rooted in real experiences, the emotional feedback that surprised her the most, and why she believes Nigeria’s cinema culture needs to evolve to become more accessible. Excerpts…

What prompted your decision to produce your cinema debut, ‘My Mother is a Witch’?                              

I’ve been making my own movies since 2016/2017, and I’ve always loved it. I think that came from my own background of having a master’s degree in human resource management, so I kind of like the entire process of bringing people together and actually see a product come to life, but specifically for ‘My Mother is a Witch,’ I feel like at some point after doing over 15movies for TV and also series as well, I’m like I want to do something for the big screen. I want to challenge myself further because this is a bigger budget, and that basically was a challenge for me and I wanted to make sure that it was a story that people would relate to and connect with, because I love stories that people can connect with.

What would you regard as the one feedback that blew your mind from those who saw the movie?

One feedback would be challenging to pinpoint, but I will say the most common thing that a whole lot of people said to me was ‘you told my story – thank you so much. I feel like I healed from watching your film,’ I did get that comment from a whole lot of people. I didn’t realise, even when I was making the film, the number of people who would connect with it, and seeing it is mind-blowing for me. So that’s always the connect that will get me, because a lot of people actually went through this either personally or through someone, and having that put together is such a big deal for me personally.

Most Nollywood stories are based on love or similar cliché stories. Do you think producers should tell more emotional stories?

Well, I will say that I will give it up for a lot of filmmakers now. I feel that we are all trying to push the bar. Yes, we should make a lot more movies that would have an emotional side, but you cannot force the filmmakers at the same time, because we have to make money, so we have to make more films, make commercial films. We have to make films that people would want to come to the cinemas and laugh and scream. However, I will give kudos to all the filmmakers who are pushing much further, like Daniel Etim with The Herd. It’s crazy how we are all doing movies that are so relatable. So yes, I pray that more people will come out and do emotionally inclined films, but at the same time, we can’t force those who don’t, but I’m also hopeful that the viewers will switch. Yes, it’s nice to go to the movies and laugh, but some other time, let’s watch things that would water our minds like a plant.

How were you able to connect with the different characters you played in My Mother is a Witch?

For me, as an actor, I always find a way to go into my character, either through my own personal experience or through someone’s experience that I’ve heard. For My Mother is a Witch, it was a personal experience with my mom. My mom is a tough-love type of mother, so I literally took back even from when we were working on the script, I knew that a lot of times I shared my experience. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was a hard place to go to because since we brush up our shoulders and say it all part of growing up in an African home, it was a hard place to go to because there are some wounds that you would not even realize have not been healed completely, but for me, it was like I had a wound that had been healed, but I had to literally scrap it off, and go back there and that has always been a tough thing for me as an actor – going to places that I don’t want to go back to.

Would you say African mother overreact, or is it due to the capacity of their knowledge?

I would say that it’s a mixture. I don’t like to say people are one-way; they are a combination. Not every African mother is the same. It’s part of the things that made us strong the way we are now. We are goal getters, we are pushing boundaries because of how tough our mothers were with us, but at the same time, some mothers take it overboard, some mothers believe that it’s their way or nothing else. I just feel like I wouldn’t say that African mothers are too tough. I feel like if they know better, they will calm down and know that there’s a thin line between extreme love and you just being an overbearing parent.

 What is one new quality you recently discovered about yourself?

I would say my strength, I know that’s very broad. I didn’t realise I could do so much, and finding that part of me, especially with the content creating that you just mentioned, it’s getting interesting because I’m still creating content. I knew that I was a strong woman, but I didn’t realise how far I could go.

What do you think of the cinema culture in Nigeria right now, and do you think every movie is cinema-worthy?

Of course not. I can’t say all movies are cinema worthy because we have to put different films, different budgets at different points in time. Even in Hollywood, you see the films going to the cinema, and I think we always forget that they have films as well in Hollywood that don’t go to the Cinema but just on TV.  So it’s the same way we have it over here with movies on YouTube, TV and the cinema. I do believe that the reason we have so many movies in the cinema right now is because we don’t have as many options anymore. Before, once you did a film, you could just take it directly to Netflix or other streamers.

There are films that are directly made for streamers, but now, we are at a point where you either keep the film that you have already made for the streamers in your hard drive and what happens? And the joy of a filmmaker is for people to see their film. We are just hoping more streamers come, but thank God for Kava, we see a whole lot of films streaming on Kava, and My Mother is a Witch is streaming on Kava.

What is your opinion about the need for more cinemas in Nigeria?

Yes, we need more cinemas – that’s one thing I realised while promoting my movie. If we have more accessible cinemas and also if we don’t make the cinema culture more of something like a whole event where you have to dress up to go, it will really help our industry. Cinema culture where someone can easily throw on a T-shirt and jeans and just take a stroll down your street knowing that they’re going to a cinema that will be so much better. I feel like with that it will be affordable. 

Has the influx of female filmmakers affected the quality of films produced in Nollywood lately?

A lot of the female producers that people are seeing now have always been producers. Somebody like Bolaji Ogunmola has been producing films as far as I know for at least 5years now. I’ve been producing films for 8years, but I think it’s because we are just coming to the big screens, and maybe because there’s also YouTube and more people have more access to YouTube, we’ve been producing films for ROC and iRoko for like 8years. I might be wrong, but I do feel like women are a bit more detailed in storytelling, so seeing the number of female storytellers that are coming out makes me so proud. I’m also seeing collaborations like what the ladies have done with Ginger. It’s such an amazing thing.

What do you think about collaborations among women?

I’ve heard that when women work together, it gets messy, but I think we are all women, it’s not about being a woman. We are all different individuals; regardless of who is collaborating, there would always be rifts or whatever it is. H,ow you handle the situation is what matters.

It’s been seven years of active acting. How have you been able to handle fame?

This thing called fame, I think a lot of people look at it differently. For me, it’s what you make it. Obviously, it’s very different now that you can go out and people recognise and try to come close kind of. It was weird at first, it was very weird even for my family, my dad (may God rest his soul), he would freak out when people would call because he was very protective of me, but it was weird at first, but I kind of got used to it like yeah, this is my new life.

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