Kunle Afolayan talks “Phone Swap” and African Indie Film
Kunle Afolayan, director of the critically acclaimed thriller Figurine, discusses his new film Phone Swap and the state of African film as he feels it is advancing. Afolayan utilized the strength in film of Ghana and Nigeria to fill out roles and settings in order to produce a high quality story line that, he says, takes twists and turns you’re not expecting for the genre. Starring promising actors from both regions, including rising Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson and others, Afolayan is bridging the gap and bringing the true essence of Africa to his films – completely devoid of territorial divides.
Phone Swap is centered around Akin and Mary who meet for the first time at an airport via impact and inadvertently switch cell phones. What follows is a story line of mistaken identity as each party is sent (via phone text messages) to the location of the other and tasked with completing the objectives set out before them. With notes of comedy melodically paced over an undercurrent of family, responsibility, and fate Phone Swap, in Afolayan’s eyes, is an enjoyable film that lives up to his standard in filmmaking.
With international independent film becoming more and more a focus of mainstream cinema, it seems inevitable that the efforts of international filmmakers will continue to work their way into the American melting pot of innovative story telling. We wonder, though, which countries indie lovers most look forward to now and which are right on the horizon? Only time will tell where the general consensus lies.
