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Interviews By Akudo Abengowe, Myke Pam and Patrick Chilaka
Seven years ago, the franchise reality show Big Brother Africa berthed in Nigeria as Big
that was mainly because of the interesting crop of contestants in the game. Katung Aduwak
was one of them, he was fun, entertaining and unpredictable. He eventually emerged winner
of BBN and went underground. The KadunaState born dude has been very busy, directing
or
music videos, presenting on radio, handling PR for major music labels and running his farm
in Abuja. Now, Katung is set to make mega waves as the director of ‘Heaven’s Hell’, a big
budget feature film, which will change the face of movie making in Nigeria. He was all too
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happy to talk to us about the movie and BGL, the financiers for the movie.
HF: You have come a long way since Big Brother Nigeria, which was about
eight years ago?
KU: Actually it was seven years ago, Big Brother Nigeria was a long time ago.
HF: So what has happened to you within those years?
KU: I was a radio presenter before BBN and after Big Brother Nigeria, I went
back to radio, because I love radio. I left Cool FM for Rhythm FM, I am also
a condom ambassador for NACA. I did some charity work which made me a
UN Ambassador for Peace. I was also running marketing and PR for Chocolate
City, which we started in the University of Jos. My contract with Storm ended
two years after Big Brother, so I left for film school in New York. I did a film in
New York called ‘The Unwanted Guest, it got nominated for four AMAA awards
though it did not win any. Then I moved back to Nigeria and so far I have
directed Everybody Loves Ice Prince(E.L.I). I did a couple of music videos for Ice
Prince, Gabriel Afolayan, Style Plus and now Heaven’s Hell which we have been
working on for a while.
HF: That is massive, so though you haven’t been in our faces, you have
actually been busy.
KU: Quite Busy.
HF: So what else have you done, did you get married? Do you have children
right now?
KU: There are two kinds of busy in Nigeria, there is busy for really being
busy and busy for people to feel that you are busy so that you can attract
other things. Whichever way you choose to do it, busy is busy. I am getting
married in August, I met her while I was schooling in New York and she is from
Chicago. She came to test the waters in Nigeria, and she’s been here for a year
now. She is an only child and we are getting married in Chicago, because her
father can’t travel due to ill health. We will come back to Nigeria and do the
Nigerian version for my family.
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HF Magazine Edition 1, Volume 1.
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Brother Nigeria. Though short-lived, it made a lasting impression on viewers regardless. And
for Business
Pleasure
KATUNG
ADUWAK
HF SPECIALS
HF: Let us talk about the movie ‘Heaven’s Hell’. We have heard amazing
things about the movie. As the movie director, what’s your perspective of it?
KU: Heaven’s Hell is a story that will literarily affect everybody that watches
it. The basic message is about domestic violence among families. It’s about
emotional and physical abuse, which might be happening to you or someone
you know. Women and children are the major focus irrespective of their
status, they are mostly prisoners in their own homes, yet they keep quiet
about it because of the stigma that comes along with it. We want people to
know that they do not deserve to be abused that way. There is no need for them
to waste and add to the statistics of dead people when there is help that can be
accorded to them. The movie is an eye opener for people to know their worth.
They say the way you set your head na him barber go barb you. If you are not
weak, do not appear weak. People take advantage of insecure people, if you
have unhappy mothers, you will have unhappy children, and they are supposed
to be leaders of tomorrow.
HF: As someone known for having a magic touch, what are those things you
brought to Heaven’s Hell that will make everyone applaud it?
KU: I am a guy who choose story over style because when you have a good
story you will have everyone on lockdown even if you d o not shoot it very well. I
chose story over style. And then I decided to depict a picture that is not regular
in anyway. We shot with Sony F55, this is the first time it is been used in Africa
as a whole. The Sony F55 is what Hollywood is calling the revolution of the
21st century. It shoots 4k, which in layman terms is eight times the quality of
HD. My director of photography and assistant cameraman are from Hollywood,
they have worked with Will Smith, Al Pacino, Rihanna and Michelle Pfeiffer. We
brought excellence both in cast and technicalities in order to tell a good story. In
Nigerian movies,audio sound are always faulty, I brought a guy who does not even
speak English, he’s name is Aleon Mbo. He is Africa’s number one sound guy, his
brief was to ensure our audio was hi-tech. We want to show that it is not about
churning out quantity, we can also give quality movies. We have aerial shots of
Lagos, we brought guys from South Africa to do it. Some people are already doing
some good movies in Nollywood, which is why people like me can come in at this
stage to up the ante. I have put in my best and given it my all, if this movie does
not make it, you will see me in Ajah selling DVD on the streets (laughs). The actors
were superb, they delivered because I went through sessions with them. So with
their efforts, the crew, what I have done and what God is going to do for us, there
is no stopping this movie.
HF: How would you rate this movie with your other works and secondly it
means this is feature film?
KU: Starting from the first question, the only other feature film I have done is
the one I did in New York. I shot on a 7D, which doesn’t shoot on the level of the
F55. In comparison, that feature film, is on a scale of 1, and Heaven’s Hell is on
a scale of 110. That is the difference. These people are too hungry to blow your
trumpet, if you don’t blow it, no one will and it is the truth. With the Sony F55 I
have limitless options as it has about 16,000,000 color settings. The quality of the
actors was also key. I did not believe that I could draw this much strength till it
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