By Ramson Acheme
Veteran Nollywood actor and scholar Dr. Sam Dede has encouraged Nigerian youths to be diligent in their studies.
The Isakaba hero who dominated Nollywood films in the 1990s has also been committed to his academic career as a lecturer in theatre arts and film studies.
Being a superstar and lecturer, Sam Dede has also taught some Nollywood superstars in the classroom at the University of Port Harcourt. In this interview with Ramson Acheme, the veteran Nollywood actor and academic scholar speaks on the trends in the Nigerian movie landscape.
Question: Being a thespian and academic are two demanding things; how do you cope with the two?
Well, we will just be grateful for good health and the energy to move on. Otherwise, it is a though one. But more than anything else, the joy of it is that I gather experience with which I train my students. Apart from the academic aspect of it, my students get hands on experience about the industry.
Question: Being a superstar how do you handle stardom, especially when teaching in a class and the students know you are a movie star? Are you not distracted in the classroom?
Initially, there is the problem of students not paying attention; they just stare at you like you are larger than life. But with time we get used to it, even I get used to it. Especially with the freshmen, when they come, they just want to take pictures with you but with time they get used to it and you also get used to it.
Question: Did you start your career as a thespian or you began as an academic?
No, no, I started as an actor on stage because that is what I studied in school I studied theatre arts. I have been in the academics for almost thirty years now. It all started almost at the same time. So far, I have enjoyed handling both.
Question: What is the most misconceived thing about acting that you would like to correct?
Ehm, the actor and the character are two different people. You are only giving life to a non-existent character. It is the actor who gives the character life. The actor gives the character a voice. You know, the actor gives the character a soul. Because I am someone who insists that the character must have a soul, otherwise it will remain an uninteresting person that you see on the screen. It is the soul that gives that character the believability.
A lot of people thought they can just show up and act in a set because we act in our daily lives. No, that is wrong. You have to nurture your skills to build a character that will make your viewer believe in the character you are portraying. The viewer must be able to suspend disbelieve the moment he is watching you. Apart from the misconception of the spectators having a misconception of the actors, the actors themselves also have the misconception of the craft. We need together a whole lot of things to bring out a great production.
Question: The University of Port Harcourt seems to be a breeding ground for movie stars in Nigeria. Aside Richard Mofe Damijo who studied at the University of Benin, Ansa Etim who studied at the University of Calabar many Nollywood superstars like Ejike Asiegbu, Bob-Manuel Udoku, Francis Duru, Rita Dominic, Victor Osiagu, Monalisa Chinda and you all graduated from the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Port Harcourt. What is the university doing differently?
Laughs. You just mentioned three of my past students from this department. I taught three of the names you mentioned, here. I think it’s the training; it is the training that gives the discipline to forge an edge, to add more depth to what you are doing. It is not just enough to have talent. Like I said, that talent has to be nurtured. To a large extent, the training and discipline that comes craft in our department, helps a lot. When you go through the school system, it is not just about beating drums, singing and making noise.
We in the theatre arts do a lot more than the regular students on campus, because after the practical we still go back and read our books to pass our exams. We don’t just dance and get graded for the performance; we do what the average student in other faculties do and more. That discipline gives us the leverage to stand at the top of the industry.
Question: For those enthusiasts who had already studied a different course but are interested in acting, do you have any programme for such people where they can attend crash courses to learn the fundamentals of acting? If you have, where can people access such programmes?
Yes, there is a whole lot of proliferation of theatre and film academies here and there and many of them are good. But, the University of Port Harcourt has an outstanding programme that people are becoming aware of. It runs the Uniport Film Workshop. We do that once a year, it is a short course design for aspiring actors. You need not come for that programme if you think you have the requisite acting skills.
We are targeting those who think should polish their craft to depth. The department of film and media studies also has a one-year certificate course in theatre practice. Where they give intensive training in theatre arts. It is a basic programme we call the basic certificate course in acting and it is ongoing.
Question: The youths are seen as being desperate, restless, and somehow frustrated in the country these days. What is your advice for them?
It is a though one, I think about that every day. In the absence of jobs, can’t we think deeper about harnessing our talents and potentials? The attitude of sitting down and depending on the government to create jobs is not helping anybody. Incidentally, that is how our problem began, because everybody is seeking for paper qualification because we dwell so much on it. Look around you, wherever you see job notice they write ‘we need good university degree’, look, it is not just about the degree, it is about what a man can do.
We need to focus and be thinking on what they can achieve on individual basis, and take others along. If you want to change the narrative, we must be deliberate and intentional about the creative economies. Because that is one area to look at.
We don’t have to depend on oil and gas. Most times government focuses on the oil industry, agriculture and others and then left the creative industries to float on their own. We must be deliberate and intentional about what we want to achieve. The value of the fashion and textile industry globally is about 1.7 trillion US dollars and guess what, the entire African continent contributes just one percent to it.
That is incredible, it is not good news we hear at all. We need to deliberately pay attention to that industry. Look at what I am wearing on my neck, one of my students made the ornament from seashell. When I travelled to the U.S. people admires it and asked how they could get one.
The interesting thing is that anyone can get the shells from the seaside here in Port Harcourt free. These are common crafts and skills the youths can work, all they need to do is to think about it, they are all there. When you give these creative things some time to ponder on, they become clearer to you. Our artists are filling the online platforms globally with millions of views.
There is the trend of making money from this, for every one million views the artists get about two to three thousand dollars and some artists have millions of views. They can post contents on the Internet and earn income for views. It is now time to monetize our crafts. When we were in school, they told us ‘The show must go on’, but now with all the experience and skills, I have to be paid. It is a trade, a profession, something I attended school to study. As a PhD holder in the field, I deserve to be paid as a professional.