TOLULOPE AJAYI
BIO
Tolulope Ajayi is a film / TV director, producer and creative professional. He has a 22-year background in Advertising; working for agencies like SO&U SAATCHI & SAATCHI and INSIGHT PUBLICIS in Lagos. He began a career as a director on MNET’s Tinsel (2008) and has worked on other series – NDANI’s Gidi Up, Ebony LifeTV’s – Paradise Way MTV SHUGA Season 6 (2017) & 7 (2019). Tolu’s films explore a wide range of social and human issues and have garnered critical acclaim and recognition. His short The Encounter, a Biafran war story, won AMVCA Best Sound 2017 & AFRIFF Jury Selection 2010. Closed, a short film that depicts a young man’s journey to enlightenment, won a Bronze Loerie in 2018. Thirst, an underwater parable was a finalist in We Art Water film festival, Spain. Training Day won “Best Director” at ARFF, Amsterdam 2020. Over The Bridge is his first feature film and makes its Spanish premiere at AFRIKALDIA.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Ad astra per aspera “Through adversity, we reach the stars”. This echoes the central theme executed in the film. It speaks to perseverance, deep emotional struggles, and the plight of men to reach towards the heavens. It is also about deep personal reckoning and a singular pursuit to do better for self, ultimately for the benefit of all. Over the Bridge embodies this journey through the character of its faltering protagonist, Folarin Marinho and his arduous path to completeness.
Cinematically, I wanted the film to have a compositional design that framed the character within the world of the film with an element of symmetrical discomfort even within elegant scenarios. The story spaces are filmed at different levels of elevation. One being the “Heights” – general lofty views of Lagos filmed with grandiose low angle shots of the unattainable positions we aspire to. The shots of the underside of structures in society in the course of the character’s descent. I envisioned this story as a modern allegory so meaning and symbolism were very crucial in making this story that also speaks our current social situations. Over the Bridge is a modern parable that will take you from rustic and rarefied scenes in a fisherman’s boat to the duels and double dealing of the corporate boardroom. I want the audience to be transported into this alternate, very slanted Lagos, glimpse the lives and homes of these characters and leave the experience richer for having watched Over the Bridge.
TOSIN ODUTEKO (PRODUCER AND SCREENWRITER OF OVER THE BRIDGE)
I was drawn to this theme primarily by observing my environment, a deep interest in the journey of our minds and my own experience in a high pressure consulting environment. Embarking on a story, I am initially drawn to the character, who (inevitably being a representation of all those experiences and observations), directs where the story goes. In particular I am empathetic to the fact that issues of mental health are endemic in our society and among a certain male demographic. Culturally this is often stigmatized or not talked about, further compounding the challenges.
Art and it’s power to reflect our thoughts is one of the themes in the movie – our main character Folarin often finds himself getting lost in the images of another world, a place he ‘wants to be transported to’, his place of escape – and art does that. It offers a reflection of things we may not be able to express. Art has always formed the natural tapestry of our culture and way of life. Both the Director and I hoped to use this form to convey not just its visual beauty but it’s ability to tell the same story from another angle.
In writing Over The Bridge, I found that my personal experiences in navigating both a physical and spiritual world found its way into the telling of this story with the alternative life/world that the main character found himself in. Just like art is used as a motif for reflection, I also explored this through nature and matter subsequently with the themes of water, the bridge (the divide not just across but above and under) – these parallels became natural references in the script and a palette from which we could build upon.