2nd June, 2011
A-list actress, Uche Jombo, speaks with NollywoodReel on her new look and projects
You’ve been very busy on location lately. Tell us about what you’ve been doing?
I have been working on Damage, a production on family violence. A look at the kids that grow up in this environment, their reflection on life and because I intend to tour with it like I did with some of my films, I am celebrating young Nigerians doing greatly with their brands for the good image of Nigeria. I am celebrating them at the opening scene because there is an award ceremony. Basically, we are just telling a story through people and looking at the effects this kind of lifestyle can have on two different kids. For the girl, it is psychological and for the boy, it is violence.
This project must have cost you a lot, what prompted you to embark on it?
First of all, it is a new thing and I’m also trying to encourage young people. It is riding on the bedrock of the youth advocacy thing. We have other productions on human trafficking and drugs too. They are movies that I feel I can relate with. The good thing about getting to this point in your career is doing the kind of films that you as a person would like to watch. As for me, movies are supposed to inform, educate and entertain. I actually wanted to do it as a home video, but one or two things changed and had to go on tour with it, so we want to make a theatre and online thing for now. Whichever way it is, there are still people representing this country very well, so if I want to show Nigeria, I will rather show it in a good light. I remember that as a child, I always wanted to go to America because of the films I have watched. That was because America was already branded with Hollywood and that is what we are yet to realise here.
Do you have partners on this project?
It is an Uche Jombo Studios production. I am the executive producer and producer. However, I have some co-producers on this project, people that believe in me like Julie Odia, Tonto Dike and Moses Ewang.
What is your relationship with Emem Isong?
I am a director in Royal Arts, which is a collection of filmmakers. We do our things and sometimes we do some collaboration. At this moment, Emem is working, while Desmond Elliot has just finished a production. So, when we have a huge project, we come together to do it. Sometimes, it is not the size of the production that determines that, the truth is that we just believe in one another.
Do you think that Nollywood films are improving or nose-diving?
It depends on the personality. The fact that there are good Nollywood films doesn’t mean there are no bad ones. But it is just an individual thing. Lately, the projects I have been part of were those in line with the new Nollywood movement stuff. I think there is hope, but we are still at that point where we still don’t have the public sector believing in the industry.
What is your definition of a good production?
Watch my recent productions and you will understand that better. I don’t want to sound as if I’m boasting here, but when you see, you will believe.
What is your stake on the rivalry tussle between Nollywood and its Ghanaian counterpart?
We have been doing a lot of collaboration lately.
But they recently enacted a law that any Nollywood personality working in their country must pay a fee?
I’m not aware of that. I didn’t pay anything when I worked in Ghana and their actors too pay nothing when they work here.
You’ve shed a lot of weight, what informs that?
I actually did that because of a movie role and the reaction I got after the job encouraged me, besides, it took hard work to achieve this, so there was no need to go back to that old stature.