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Afolayan Kunle , director. October 1 . 2014. 115 minutes. English, Nigerian Pidgin, Igbo Yoruba, and Hausa, with Yoruba/English subtitles. Nigeria. GMEDIA. $2.00.
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The film October 1 by the Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan is an exceptional work of cinematographic expertise and creativity that is unlikely to be found among typical (conventional) Nollywood cineastes. With the successful productions of The Figurine (2009) and Phone Swap (2013), Afolayan is gradually registering his presence as one of the finest movie directors in Nigeria and indeed Africa. His recent films have inscribed a paradigmatic shift from the norm, gradually transforming the status quo into what Jonathan Haynes has authoritatively theorized as the "Neo-Nollywood," that is, an emerging movement by Nigerian filmmakers who are determined to involve themselves in producing highly technical and professionally made films. With the release of October 1, Afolayan seems set to make his mark as an emerging filmmaker of lasting substance.
October 1 is set at the threshold of Nigerian independence. Inspector Danladi Waziri is summoned by the District Officer Robert Winterbottom and saddled with the task of unraveling the mystery behind the murder of two women in Akote Town in Ibadan, before Independence Day. The inspector and...