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Adetoro
Makinde: Adding flavor to the film industry
Source: New York Amsterdam News
Date: 1/11/2006
Author: Misani
New York Amsterdam News
01-11-2006
"Why are we always walking around with our hands out, constantly
waiting for someone to give us
opportunities and nothing happens?
We have to use our hands to make something happen!" Digesting her own proverb,
actress/filmmaker Adetoro Makinde went into action.
Using the money that she had just earned doing a movie, she formed her own
company, Backdoor Films, then went on to write, produce, (and sometimes act
and co-direct) a unique body of five short films, including "Whoa"
and "In Time," which premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film
Festival. "In Time" was
also selected for the 2005 HBO short filmmaker award and was recently
showcased on HBO (Zone) in December and will be repeated on HBO (Signature)
in January.
"I was not prepared for the success," says Adetoro, still amazed at
how fast her second short film took off. "As a result of that film came
the opportunity to go to France
during the Cannes Film Festival as a part of a competition where in 10 days
we had to cast, shoot and edit another film." The result of this was her third short
film, "Cop Block."
Additionally, as a result of "Whoa!" Adetoro was also
selected by Fox Searchlight to participate in a program inviting short
filmmakers to do another short for consideration for a feature film option
for Fox Searchlight. The outcome
was her fourth short entitled, "3 Minutes."
"All these were amazing opportunities," marvels Adetoro as she
reflects upon her magical, fast-paced, journey as a filmmaker.
Born in Northampton, Massachusetts to Nigerian parents who were attending the
University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Adetoro lived in a variety of places
including New Jersey and Indiana before moving to Nigeria at the age of 10
and remaining through the completion of high school at the age of 14 "Nigeria was quite a jolt,"
says Adetoro, who despite feeling ostracized within the American communities
in which she grew up as a child, more readily accepted her American
birthright than her African heritage. "During that era it was not as hip
as it now is to wear our hair in cornrows or braids or styles that are so
trendy and hot today, so I strongly resented being African," the
filmmaker recalls. The epic TV
movie, "Roots" had just come out around this time and Adetoro
remembers being called African booty snatcher, Kunta Kinte, Tarzan, and other
derogatory names. "I hated
the idea of being African. I didn't know how to embrace it. As far as I was concerned I was a
typical American child, who watched cartoons and who enjoyed doing all the
kid stuff. Being a child, I felt
I was born here, my birth certificate is American, my social security card
and passport says I'm American and so that is what I wanted to be. It just
did not feel like a good thing to be an African."
However, when she got to Nigeria,
she was also not the flavor and was initially called an akata (outsider) for being
American and for not speaking like an "American." "They had their ideas what
Americans should sound like, you know from television. I was very
confused." Adetoro's savior
was her great-great aunt with whom Adetoro, her brother and her mother, a nutritionist,
(who was by this time divorced from her father, a biochemist) was
staying. Having been born in the United States
where she had no relatives, Adetoro's great-great aunt felt it was important
for her to know her African roots.
"She wanted me to understand who my family was here and my
legacy," Adetoro states.
"The more I began to experience what it was to live in Nigeria
and to be a part of the custom and traditions, the closer I became to who I
was."
Treasured amongst the cultural traditions that have remained with her are the
naming rituals. "I got to
see how important it is to give a child a name and the significance of what
these names mean through the life of a child," explains Adetoro, whose
name means, "my crown will never be conquered." She was also fascinated by the all-day
engagement ceremonies where she "witnessed the beauty and patience of
courtship" (which is the back-story of her award-winning short, "In
Time" about a young American-Nigerian woman on the eve of her wedding
who has to balance the ancestral traditions that work and the ones that are
questionable).
The thousands of Yoruba proverbs are yet another cultural custom that stayed
with Adetoro, and would serve to color her work as a filmmaker. "Proverbs never tells you what to
do. They suggest something and then tell you to go away and think about it
and you have to figure it out," she points out. "There is the
tradition of the griot - which is very animated...the way these stories are
told and they always have meaning.
A lot of African storytelling is always about purpose message."
These things made an impression on Adetoro. "Basically it was beyond
Tarzan and whatever his monkey's name was. In the end it gave me a real sense
of deep appreciation of culture, position in society and status. It gave me
such an appreciation for being an African child that by the time I left the
simple things became a way of who I was and still am," says Adetoro, who
today proudly acknowledges her African and American identity, adding, "I
have to embrace all that is me." Breaking it down, Adetoro shares,
"The African in me is the person who honors nature, humanity and support
family. The part of me that is
very American is my confidence and assertiveness as a woman to speak my mind.
The American in me is that I am not going to back down. I'm not going to be
quiet. I'm not going to shut up, but I am going to do it with
diplomacy," says Adetoro, who at 14 was forced to leave Africa without her mother (who did not have a green
card). Accompanied by her 15-year-old brother, the adolescent fled to Washington, D.C. to
avoid an impending coup in Nigeria.
In D.C., Adetoro decided to repeat high school when she auditioned and was
accepted at the Duke Ellington School
of the Performing Arts, following which she attended Georgetown University,
where she majored in pre-law, while performing in the theatre
department. Upon graduation, she
opted for a career as a performing artist, moving first to New
York, and then to Los Angeles,
where she has appeared on such TV shows like "100 Center Street,"
"Homicide" and "Don King: Only in America." She has also performed in various
musical productions including "Sarafina," "Once On This Island" and "Julius Caesar."
As a filmmaker, Adetoro's unique voice is a beguiling breath of fresh
air. "As a story teller I
definitely want to tell the story and say, think about it. I want yes to
entertain, I want you to laugh, I want you to feel the emotion, but I want
you to walk away and think abut it. My stay at home in Nigeria gave
me insight to touching people's souls and these are the kind of stories I
want to continue to tell on a larger scale on a feature level," which is
one of her goals for 2006.
Embracing her Nigerian name, Adetoro continues to walk her birthright through
Hollywood.
"Eternal reign...that's what I am trying to live by and I know if I walk
with that name, I will be okay.
The name is a part of my purpose in life no matter what comes into my
path, be it yea or nay, I know I can walk through it."
Article copyright The Amsterdam News.
This material is published under license from the publisher
through ProQuest Information and Learning Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan. All
inquiries regarding rights should be directed to ProQuest Information and
Learning Company.
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