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Cast:
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Joseph Mawle, John Boyega, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Genevieve Nnaji
Production:
Slate Films, Shareman Media, British Film Institute (BFI), Lipsync Productions
Program:
Studio Cinema -
Saturday, April 12, 2014 - 20:00
Studio Cinema -
Sunday, April 13, 2014 - 17:00
Original title:
Half of a Yellow Sun
Section:
Written by:
Biyi Bandele
Synopsis:
During the mid-to-late sixties, twin sisters Olanna (BAFTA Award winning actress Thandie Newton) and Kainene decide to return to Nigeria after their education in England. Olanna moves in with her lover, the “revolutionary professor” Odenigbo (Academy Award nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor), while Kainene takes over the family businesses. As the Igbo people struggle to establish Biafra as an independent republic, the sisters become caught up in the shocking violence of the Nigerian Civil War and a betrayal that threatens their family forever.
Director:
Biyi Bandele was born to Yoruba parents in Kafanchan, northern Nigeria, in 1967 and, during childhood and adolescence, he was most at home in the Hausa cultural tradition. He moved to Lagos to study drama and in 1990 he left for London, where his literary talent was recognized immediately and where he resides to the day. Bandele is one of the most versatile and prolific of the U.K.-based Nigerian writers, having turned his hand to theatre, journalism, television, film, and radio, as well as the fiction with which he made his name.
Statement:
The directorial debut of acclaimed British prose writer, playwright, journalist and commentator, of Nigerian origins, Biyi Bandele benefits from a screenplay based on an award-winning bestseller (probably the most evocative literary account of the bloody Nigerian Civil War that devastated the country between 1967 and 1970, the homonymous novel was adapted for the screen by Bandele himself) and from an Academy Award cast (with memorable performances from Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose and Chiwetel Ejiofor). The film offers a surprising family saga, an emotional romance and a powerful drama, which moves, suddenly and brutally, from the political level to the personal level.
Festivals, awards:
- Toronto IFF 2013; London Film Festival 2013
- AFI Fest 2013; Dubai IFF 2013
- Glasgow Film Festival 2014