Children of Mud is written and directed by Imoh Umoren, and produced by
Ify Egbera
In Conversation with Michael Oblowitz Director of Confidential Informant
Confidential Informant stars Mel Gibson, Dominic Purcell, and Kate Bosworth
Film
Date: 29th April 2019
Director: Imoh Umoren
Producer: Imoh Umoren, Ify Egbera
Writer: Imoh Umoren
Lead Cast: Matilda Obaseki, Liz Benson, Bassey Ekpenyong, Raphael Jackson (blind boy) & Mariam Kayode.
Runtime: 82 Minutes
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Q: What is your film about?
Imoh Umoren: Children of Mud is a story about two orphaned kids Emem and her blind brother Miracle who are thrown out of the house by their Aunt and they go in search of help. It’s a story that examines the so-called “witch-children” who are abandoned by their families and have to fend for themselves.
Q: Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Imoh Umoren: Children of Mud was a selection at the American Black Film FESTIVAL in Miami where it got rave reviews, it was also selected for the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival in Canada, The Arise Film Festival in South Africa and the Eko International Film Festival in Nigeria. It garnered 4 nominations at the AMVCA and one for Best Picture at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in New York. We are currently locking down distribution overseas for it
Q: Do fill in the ‘Dramatic Feature’ below?
- Director: Imoh Umoren
- Producers: Imoh Umoren, Ify Egbera, Wale Borge
- Budget: $30,000
- Financing: Co-financing
- Production: Rucksack Productionz/Grand Explorer
- Shooting Format: 6K
- Screening Format: HD/4K
- World Premiere: American Black Film Festival, Miami
- Awards: 8 nominations and counting
Q: Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Imoh Umoren: Film: Children of Mud
Synopsis: Children of Mud is a story which follows two orphaned kids who go in search of a miracle. Emem and her blind brother Miracle live with their Aunt Aniesin in a little town and have to endure abuse from Aniesin and her husband. Verbal and physical abuse. Taken by a televangelist they watch one day on their way to the farm Emem decides to go to the city with Miracle to get the televangelist to make her brother see.
Children of Mud is an intense drama about Love, Hope and overcoming difficulty.
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Children of Mud is in parts inspired by the works of Danish Aid worker Anja Lauren and the film has recently been selected for the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival and The American Black Film Festival
Children of Mud is directed by AMVCA-winner Imoh Umoren whose works include the critically-acclaimed The Happyness Limited and recently directed the successful series Oghenekome on Mnet
Q: Development & Financing?
Imoh Umoren: Making Children of Mud was very difficult for me personally. I had been filming a 40-part series called Oghenekome which took a toll on me because of the immense cast and crew I had to work with a producers who were breathing down my neck, I wanted to make my own film in the off-season so I commissioned someone to write it for me but when I saw the first draft I wasn’t happy about it because all the basic ideas we had developed in the synopsis was gone.
So when I wrapped the series I decided to write it myself and within a month and a half I had my screenplay ready. I co-financed it myself and got my producing partner Ify Egbera who also invested in it and we got to work. The story itself was so intense that I occasionally found myself sober in the hotel every night after shoot. Soon as I wrapped I released the trailer which was quite massive and shared by so many people and so we began exhibiting it on limited screens since the mainstream distributors didn’t want to take it but we licenced it and made a tidy profit
Q. Production?
Imoh Umoren: So once the script was ready the first thing we do along with my production manager is break down all the elements of the scripts. We do it both ways; automatically and manually. Manually we go over each scene to see how long I need to shoot it and what I need specifically in terms of art design and equipment and se we decided principal photography would take 12 days and we were filming out of town so we had to make sure every piece of equipment we needed were hired or created.
After that my production manager went and contracted all the locations we were going to use and made sure they all knew and were committed to the dates and then we contracted the actors. We had a small problem with our two child stars because of school but thankfully school had just started so we asked for a few days off for them, drove out to Abeokuta and started filming. We lost some footage when we had finished but thankfully it wasn’t an important scene…was one of those luxurious scenes where you flex your cinematography.
I usually record my audio on location but we had to do ADR for some scenes because a HDD crashed. Editing 6k was quite difficult but three editors later we were ready.
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Q: Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Imoh Umoren: For the festivals. Since we had already been putting word out it was easier because people had already heard about the film and we got on withoutabox.com and filmfreeway.com which are amazing resource for festivals
Q: The Release?
Imoh Umoren: We did limited screenings and then licenced it to VODs & TV.
Q: Advice from the Filmmaker?
Imoh Umoren: Schedule will save you money. Do not go on set till you have scheduled every day and every page of the script. Lock down your location way in advance. There’s nothing compared to a brilliant location manager and a thoroughbred Production manager. Don’t be in a hurry.
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