Mimi Bartels is Head of Production of FilmOne Entertainment, which is the largest production and distribution company in West Africa. She is one of the top names in Nollywood in Nigeria and has managed to keep production going during the pandemic – a challenge that she saw as both personal and one on a national level. Her responsibility to try to keep the spirits of the public high and make the film business blossom as much as possible during a worldwide crisis kept her going, and today, she can see the result of her determination. Her film Fate of Alakada kick-started the Nigerian cinema business after lockdown, and Kambili: The Whole 30 Yards is a huge success on Netflix. We spoke to Mimi Bartels from her home office in Lagos, Nigeria, about how Nollywood is evolving and what part she plays in it.

How would you describe the film industry in Nigeria – or Nollywood as some call it – to someone who is unaware of it?

To describe Nollywood, it is a hustle and an evolving one. It comes with challenges. It comes with benefits. It comes with obstacles because we do not have so much infrastructure or investment as other developed countries – like Hollywood for instance. We have not had people or government invest in as much depth into the market – this is why I say it is still very much evolving.

Why is that? What makes it so different?

I don’t know where to start. In Nigeria, our motto is to “manage,” which does not really have the English definition for us Nigerians: it simply means, whatever situation you are in, you make it work, and there is no limit for us to work to produce greatness. I appreciate that Netflix and the other companies that are coming here to invest understand that we have our own way of doing things and respect that; they are not trying to change us but to work with us. Nollywood in itself is not just the structured companies like FilmOne, Inkblot, Ebony Life, etc. but the root of what partly birthed Nollywood (since Nollywood historically dates back to the 1920s) – Asaba filmmakers, the indie filmmakers, etc. There is a very different way of thinking here in comparison to those in the developed countries, which goes down to how we tell stories – and we have a lot to tell.

Does that mean that there is a lot of spontaneity and last-minute decision-making in a lot of film productions?

Yes. That is why the motto is: You make it work. You manage. There is a new trend in filmmaking with the new generation of filmmakers, who cannot afford spontaneity. But there is still a market for films that go straight to DVD, and those filmmakers still operate in this way – it is quite normal and there is still a need to do these films because there is still a huge market to cater to. These filmmakers shoot their film in say, four days, edit, get it to DVD and sell it to ‘marketers’. This is why I also used the other term to describe Nollywood, i.e., evolving.

How are your films different from Hollywood productions?

They are extremely different because mostly the aim is different. The main aim of Nollywood productions, especially those going to cinemas, is to get you to escape, while Hollywood films might focus more on wanting to teach a lesson, to change the narrative somehow, to qualify for award consideration, etc. The true purpose of Nollywood productions is to make you escape. If you read about the country, you see why people would want to escape sometimes, and honestly, our primary factory setting is happiness. Nigerians go to the cinema to focus on escapism, to connect, gather and be happy as much as possible. They want to forget about whatever they are worrying about and be entertained for the next two hours before they go home and face their reality. Also, Hollywood has an array of stars. We are working to build new stars, a new generation of standalone stars to keep the longevity of Nollywood.

You are Head of Production at FilmOne. Talk about being a woman in a position of so much power in terms of what gets produced in your company – does the fact that you are a woman influence your choices?

I try to cater to what the public wants and needs at a given point. I try to find out what they need but did not even know they needed. I have never really been a girl’s girl and I am still not sure if I am a feminist or not (chuckles). I never really felt that I was sitting in my position from the point of view of being a woman if that makes sense. My bosses/board didn’t see gender. Nobody has ever demeaned me because I am a woman and I have never felt I was treated differently because I was a woman, or even because I was a mother, in this organization, previous jobs, yes. I am truly thankful that my bosses gave me the freedom to just focus on what matters – content. But I did get this position at a fantastic time (I’ve been at FilmOne for 5 years but officially started this position in Jan 2020), when the public is demanding more female-driven stories, so it became an easier fit, because a man in my position may not fully grasp the details for female-driven stories. But I was not thinking, “I am a woman making a difference” – it was only later on that I realized that 60 percent of my office staff are women. I did not plan it but just thought that the people we hired could do the job; we did not see gender. I actually find it patronizing when people base workability on gender.

You are a top name in the African film industry. Are you well-connected in Hollywood too, and what is your relationship to Hollywood?

Yes, we do have connections to Hollywood. FilmOne exclusively distributes content on behalf of Disney and Warner in Anglophone West African cinemas, and we are building further relationships with other Hollywood bodies; we have been in that Hollywood space in terms of licensing, and now we are crossing over to developing content. We are also represented by CAA (Creative Artists Agency), so through them, we are very much connected with Hollywood. It should be noted that as part of our closeness to Hollywood, we currently supply a large amount of Nollywood content exclusively to the world’s global streaming giant, Netflix.

Is there a center for filmmaking in Nigeria?

Where you consider the center for filmmaking is very subjective. Just as you say that Los Angeles is the center for filmmaking in the US, you can also say that Lagos is the center in Nigeria, but you have other places that really churn out a lot of content, places like Asaba; a lot of content comes out of that place.

How long has the term Nollywood existed?

You will hear people arguing with passion about who came up with “Nollywood” or when it was birthed. I am not particularly sure who came up with the term Nollywood. People feel that the term kicked off in the 1990s when the movie Living in Bondage was released. But the truth is that Nollywood – the Nigerian film industry – was born in the 1920s with the first film Palava in 1926. This is the history that I choose to believe because in the 1920s Nigeria was still colonized by the British and the fact that there was a Nigerian film with Nigerians in it was a start for Nollywood. I think it was very important that in the 1950s, full copyright/IP rights were given to Nigerians to own their content. Now, it goes further because of the independence that happened in 1960 and in the 1970s, when the oil market boomed and then Nigeria was like Hollywood – it was boisterous, successful, it was amazing. Everybody was traveling abroad with ease, and money was flowing. So, the cinemas that were still owned by the British/foreigners were passed on to Nigerians and this is important to me, because this is when ownership truly began of not only content but of the means to exhibit, and that is when we started telling our stories with no restraints. But many people would say that the movie Living in Bondage was when Nollywood started.

Nigeria has become a big film nation. What do you do right?

We don’t allow ourselves to be limited. There is nothing that is going to stop a filmmaker from making a film. We don’t have grants, and thus for a long time, it has been every man for himself. We are true survivors. The banks now actively give out loans – and a big shoutout to Bank of Industry for having kick-started this in 2015. Another thing with Nigerians is that we always find a positive route – even when things are horrible, we are always smiling. I don’t quite get it, but that is how we are. There is a term: “Nigerians no dey carry last,” and we literally take that into everything that we do – it just means we must be successful. You can see that in the Nigerians that made it big in Hollywood, like David Oyelowo: our aim is to be the best at whatever we do. If we are not the best, at least you are going to know that we were in the building; we took all those characteristics and applied them to Nollywood.

What challenges do Nigerian films face in terms of being distributed worldwide?

When I know I have content that could cross over, the issue would be P&A (Print and Advertising) funding. The distribution companies are there, but the question is whether people can relate to our most successful content. Where Nollywood is trying to get to now, is creating international collaborations so that we can have more relatable and crossover content. People think that we are “scammers,” but that is not what or who we are, and we would like for them to get to know us; we are people of high integrity and pride. In 2021, the short film Lizard won the grand jury part at Sundance, and that made me so proud because it is a Nigerian film and at least we know it is possible and that we can make it happen. The companies who come here to collaborate seek to give us tools so we can make our industry better, take it worldwide, and that is a big step forward for us.

How significant is Nigeria as a film nation in Africa, and which countries are following in your footsteps?

I think we are very significant, and I think African countries see the sense in banding together now: we know we could do better if we unite, which is what we are trying to do now. We hope to work more with South Africans: we are trying to get into the Anglophone-speaking countries. Countries like Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, and Uganda are creating great, more content, and my dream is to work with as many African countries as possible to tell our stories internationally.

As Head of Production, you kept cameras rolling in 2020 during the pandemic, overseeing the production of seven films as the film industry struggled in general. How did you manage this?

It was the hardest thing – and I am literally tearing up now because it was a very hard time. First of all, my team had to handle principal photography during the pandemic because we felt a sense of duty to Nigeria to keep the cameras rolling, providing content to a country that badly needed that uplift in one of the worst times. I could not be there myself because I was pregnant at the time and I was very sick for the first four months of the pregnancy – I was bedbound, so I was working from my bed. But my team members gave me the strength; they really are my heroes. I had to be a leader in one of the worst times. and be strong for them, despite what I was going through; it was a very difficult time. I don’t know if it was all the stress of that but unfortunately, I gave birth prematurely, at six months. Then we released Kambili: The Whole 30 Yards in the theatres; 12 days after the release, my son, Micah Bartels, passed. So, it was a very difficult time. One of the things that keep me going is seeing people reacting to the content, and keeping them happy, because we were trying to just keep people hopeful, purposeful, happy. The lockdown was hard on everybody, so we just knew that we had to do this just to keep the country going. So, everybody who went out there to do the job was a hero to me and I just really appreciate them. The vindication was when Kambili came out and it received fantastic reviews, so that made me feel good and it felt like my son was with me.

How many years have you been in the film business, and how did your career in the film business start?

I have been in the entertainment business for about ten years. I was actually working in the music business in 2016 when I went for a pitch meeting – it seems I did well ‘cause afterward one of the employees of FilmOne approached me and asked, “why aren’t you working for FilmOne?” I applied for an assistant position and got it; here I am now, five-plus years later.

What was the first film you produced?

The first film that I have a full producer credit on is Kambili: The Whole 30 Yards – it just came out on Netflix. That is a film that I am very proud of, as it was the first film we decided to work on in FilmOne and the first greenlit film out of the West African Film Fund with our amazing partners, Empire Entertainment (South Africa) and Huahua (China). It is like my baby and I really fought for this one to get made: I became very involved in it from story development to producing, to editing to marketing. I read the logline and thought, “This is every woman that I know – we need to make this film.” I didn’t walk on to that set as a producer, but I left as one; the director introduced me as the producer. I was shocked because I only came on set in an executive producer capacity. That night, I had to go home and watch YouTube videos on what a producer does and that is how that happened – I just did the best I could on set. I will always be grateful for Kayode Kasum, the EP and Director of Kambili, who showed me I could be more. I have three producer credits now and about six others as either co-executive producer or supervising producer. Before, my job was primarily to work to green-light projects and supervise them. But now I am into the grit of producing. I’m currently taking some training on post-production powered by Netflix and Apost Lab.

Which films are you the proudest of having produced, and why?

I am particularly proud of Fate of Alakada because that was the first film that really kick-started the Nigerian cinema business after the lockdown. I felt really good about that. The script was written based on an idea I had, so I am very proud of that film. It was a slapstick comedy and Nigerians just needed to laugh if anything at that time. Also, very proud of Prophetess and Dwindle coming to cinemas on July 16, 2021.

How do you choose the projects you would like to produce? What are your criteria for a good project?

I think commercially and about impact as well. I have two arms of the business that I need to cater to, and those are the theatrical side and the streaming services. There are movies we know will make a splash at the box office and others that we know will do very well on a streaming platform. So how I think of a project is really based on how commercially viable it is going to be, and how much impact will it make in the box office and online; what bothers me a lot before I sleep is that Nollywood is now very much international. It was fairly international at one point where we distributed films in the Caribbean years ago, but now you have people in Europe and America who are looking forward to Nollywood releases; there was a Nigerian short film that won at Sundance Lizard, so there are more expectations from us now. I am not only in a position where I have a job, but I also have a duty to my country to present the best content that I can. I am just one person, but the best thing is working with a team/company/individual who has this as their primary goal too. Now, that international companies look towards FilmOne, I need to think about how I can encourage more investments into this country and how can I also make the audience proud about content that has come out.