An Interview With Simisolaoluwa Akande

Simisolaoluwa Akande is a UK-based filmmaker and creator of Dudu, which has been featured at BFI Future Festival. This experimental short film explores the issues of colourism and its effects on self-identity by layering spoken word poetry over a series of evocative images. In this interview, Simisolaoluwa tells us about the benefits of intertwining poetry in her in her filmmaking, as well as her creative plans for 2021.

Congratulations on your film, Dudu, being part of BFI Future Film Festival! What does it mean for you to be part of this festival? 

Thank you so much! It is such an amazing opportunity to be in the midst of such incredibly talented young people. Starting off making films can feel rather isolating when you don’t have that community around. But seeing so many passionate people one realises that there is in fact a community out there and they are diverse and encouraging. Most of all being a part of such a prestigious festival is very affirming. I turned to film after realising that people like me weren’t really welcome in front of the camera, it was an opportunity to have a say in who gets seen and who gets to tell their stories. Making Dudu is directly related to this and it is so affirming that such an institution like the BFI recognises these stories as possessing value. 

This film is such an important work, as it explores colourism and how this affects individuals. Why did you choose to use evocative images in this film to advance your ideas and themes? 

I am a dark-skinned woman and with that comes a very painful experience of life. I never used to want to talk about it because I felt that it was petty. But as I grew up, I realised that the shame I felt in recognising my experiences was a white-preferring-world trying to gaslight me into thinking that this experience was somehow self-generated. 

Some images were a celebration of my loved ones, depicted in a way that I wish I had seen when I was younger because it could have changed a lot. The other darker images attempt to represent how the world traps us and suffocates us with our dark skin. It speaks to memories of me running back from primary school trying to wash my dark shade away because a peer of mine had asked if I could. 

Still from Dudu

I absolutely loved the experimental nature of this work, with its use of spoken word poetry layered over the images in the film. Why did you choose to use spoken word poetry, rather than a linear narrative, as a backdrop to Dudu? 

Thank you so much for your kind words. I do not think that at the age I was when I was making this film, that I had truly understood the extent of the damage done by colourism to be able to fashion it into a whole narrative. The spoken word poetry was the perfect place to scream my uncompleted thoughts into. It is a form that does not ask any more from me than my presence and my willingness to speak.  The more I watch Dudu over, the more I realise how much pain I was when I was writing it and how brave I was to make the film. 

Still from Dudu

This film highlights such a vast range of emotions, joy, hurt, confliction, hope. What is the creative process like for you – how did you come to be able to represent such a deepness of emotion in your work? 

This was my first film so hearing you say this means a lot. One of my close friends after watching my work told me about the power of making and representing what you know. This is a philosophy that I use to understand my work. I was simply making what I knew. But as simple as it may first seem making what you know is incredibly political. As a black female filmmaker to archive your personal experience is an act of protest to a society that aims to erase your history. To represent the beauty of our skin is a powerful rejection to a world that makes us feel that we were made wrong. So, I guess the creative process began when I called my experiences by its name, colourism. Then it moved to talking with my friends and family about their own experience. This conversation is a key stage in the creative process as this is where my experiences were validated for the first time and I was no longer alone. Then from this community comes the strength to be vulnerable, to attempt to tell my story to others. No story can be told without a village of people. 

Finally, do you have any upcoming projects in 2021 that you’d like to tell us about? 

I am currently working on my first narrative piece (very nervous/excited) about a Nigerian girl who has her first lesbian kiss on her way back from getting some milk. The project follows the ripple effect such a monumental event can have on one’s perception of themselves. I am very excited about it because it is a twist to the western queer coming of age movie, where in my case she is guided by Yoruba spirits into reconciling with her sexuality and it is framed around her relationship with her sisters. 

Where to find Simisolaoluwa -

Instagram - @simi.notes