We were three women. Three friends. We had goals, hopes and dreams. We had careers. Two of us had boyfriends. We owned houses. We all had love. Then I made these… wigs. I gave them to my two friends. The three of us put them on. The wigs were supposed to make things better. But something went wrong. Like the nation we were trying to improve, we became backward. Instead of giving, we took.
Nigerian production company Fiery Film has released the first image from Hello, Rain, its short film adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s Afrofuturist short story (from which the above selection is taken) “Hello, Moto.”
Keira Hewatch (center) plays scientist and witch Rain, who hopes that her inventions, wigs that allow their wearers to wield influence and power, will help battle corruption. Instead, she watches her friends Coco (Ogee Nelson, left) and Philo (Tunde Aladese, right) themselves become corrupted, turning them against Rain as she attempts to make up for what she’s done.
Earlier this month, Fiery Film officially revealed the title of the adaptation via a short video:
In a recent interview with Pulse Nigeria, Hewatch spoke about her excitement in tackling a science fiction project for Nigerian audiences:
I think it’s wrong to assume that people are just stuck on comedy. The reason why it seems like they are stuck on comedies is because it is a tried and tested road that worked, so producers are playing safe and sticking to it, which is great.
Now, if other genres of films don’t really catch Nigerians, it’s probably because the story itself is not tied enough. It’s the same production quality that we use to do all the other films, so the only difference is ‘what is the content of the film?
I think that we are playing it safe with the comedy. I’m sure Nigerians can appreciate a wider range of storylines if they are done properly.
Hello, Rain is currently in post-production, with the plan to begin festival and screening tours in early 2018. You can follow the project @HelloRainMovie for updates.
via Pulse Nigeria
