| 'I WANT TO MAKE A STATEMENT WITH SPELLBOUND' - MORRIS SESAY |
| Written by Bola Aduwo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 23 August 2010 17:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Meet Morris Sesay, the Sierria Leonian-born, American based, Nollywood film producer and actor who journeyed all the way from the U.S to be part of the Nollywood movement. An amiable, cheerful young man, Morris is a die-hard Nollywood film addict that has been in Nigeria for awhile now, producing, acting and soaking up the Nollywood/Naija experience. We at Nollywwoduncut caught up with him on location and had an interesting chat.
NWU: Hi Morris. MS: Hi Bola! Great to be with you! NWU: Tell me about your love affair with Nollywood films. MS: Okay… I first came across Nollywood films in Freetown, Sierria Leone. Sierria Leone is where I originally come from though I live in America now. I remember watching Glamour Girls and being enthralled by that movie… seeing Liz Benson, Eucharia Anunobi, Gloria Young and I said to myself, “That is what Im going to do one day”. NWU: Is it acting or producing? MS: Both! I wanted to be part of Nollywood in any way I could and so here I am! NWU: So what movies have you done? MS: So far I have produced three; ‘Spellbound’, ‘Frozen’ and another that is still untitled. They are not yet out so people have not seen them. They are still in post-production. NWU: And who were those that acted in the films? MS: In Spellbound; Monalisa Chinda, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Uche Jombo, Desmond Elliot and in the other film Frozen, we had Yemi Blaq, Mbong Amata and Uche Jombo.
MS: Very, very interesting and rewarding! Actually, these are not the first films I produced. I had produced one earlier but unfortunately I was duped. However, that did not deter me. It made me even more determined to make it. The successful production of my next two movies was largely due to the help I got from Emem Isong. She has been a mother, a big sister, adviser and friend. I cannot thank her enough. I was introduced to her by Chioma Chukwuka who I had worked with previously, and she assisted me greatly to make sure I was able to come out with what I have… and she is still assisting me (just incase she thinks the help is over!) (laughter!) NWU: That’s good. So how have you been enjoying Nigeria? MS: Nigeria is great… Lagos is interesting…. Fast-paced, noisy, busy. The people are very friendly, humorous and helpful. But we are Africans. We are one. NWU: So did you act in any of the movies? MS: Yes I did. I acted in all three. NWU: Whats the movie industry like in Sierra Leone? MS: Its growing… its still young but it is certainly growing. One of the things I want to do in Nigeria is see how we can strengthen that industry too.
MS: No. Unfortunately some of us still have our day jobs! (laughter) I work in a Care facility in the U.S. NWU: Tell us about that. MS: Well, I basically do home health care where I help take care of patients with Alzheimer ’s disease and other such illness. The work has made me very compassionate with people that have it and I hope to do a movie on it one day, because I have seen people with traces of it in Africa but they don’t know they have it. NWU: What! Tell what exactly it is? MS: Alzheimer’s is a degenerative illness of the brain where the person with it loses his memory gradually. First he forgets things, then places and people. This includes family and the ones they love. There is no cure. NWU: How long have you been doing this? MS: About 5 years now though I have been in the U.S for 8years now. I was in Ghana previously before that sierra Leone. NWU: I hope you weren’t in Sierra Leone when the war broke out? MS: I was! NWU: Oh no! You experienced the war? MS: Yes I did …from beginning to end. NWU: No… Im so sorry… how was it? M.S: It was… bad. I lost a lot of friends and family. A young boy, a neighbor of ours was shot right in front of me … and we couldn’t help him because we were all afraid of being shot too. We stayed in doors while we heard him crying for help outside… NWU: Im so sorry Maurice. How did you get out? MS: We got out… into Ghana as refugees. I was there for about 5years before some missionaries took us to The United States. NWU: Im so sorry Maurice. MS: Its alright. Stuff happens to people in life. You deal with it and move on. NWU: Youre so brave… and such a happy soul! (laughter) Its hard to believe you went through all this. What makes you so positive? MS: God… and my mom. She’s my biggest inspiration. She is ready to support me in anything that I do and I just want to make her proud of me. NWU: Thank you for sharing your story Maurice. I wish you the very best in all you do. MS: Thank you. I wish you the same.
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| Last Updated on Monday, 23 August 2010 19:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
That Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry has continued to influence people not just from Nigeria but from other African countries is in no doubt. People from far and wide come in to learn, research, act and generally be part of this great African Film Movement. 
NWU: And what was the experience like?
NWU: So are you a full time film maker?
i wish u all the best Morris....
