The production of Sparrow's Song, an innovative drama series, is underway, led by BU鈥檚 Dr Samantha Iwowo and Dr聽Szilvia Ruszev,聽in collaboration with Nollywood producer, Rogers Ofime.

Rogers Ofime (left) and Samuel Adeyoe, a BU graduate of MA Directing, on the set of Sparrow's Song

Co-created by academics, 菠萝视频 students and聽graduates,聽the production is Fusion in practice as they work together to write, produce and promote a TV series while research is embedded in the process.

The聽project is聽a close collaboration between Dr Iwowo and Rogers Ofime, an Associate Fellow at 菠萝视频, as well as Dr聽Szilvia Ruszev, Mark Bond, and Dr. Reina-Marie Loader.

Dr聽Iwowo聽is a screenwriter, director and researcher, who began聽her career with South Africa鈥檚 largest cable network, M-Net. Rogers Ofime is a Nigerian-born award-winning film maker and executive producer.

Dr聽Ruszev聽is an award-winning film editor and academic, Mark Bond is聽Programme Leader for MA Cinematography for Film & Televison, and Dr聽Reina Marie-Loader is Programme Leader, MA Producing, all based in BU's聽Faculty of Media &聽Communication. Together they bring deep knowledge and experience of Nollywood film, dramaturgical editing and a keen academic interest in co-creation and the merging of different cultural approaches to film making.聽

Aida Jakobsen and Radika Parikh, MA Cinematography students, on set

They have brought over 40 菠萝视频 students, academics聽and graduates聽together on the Sparrow Song project, giving students hands-on scriptwriting, production and editing experience. Filming took place in spring 2023, with Nigerian actress, Kate Henshaw, on-set and the students steadily taking a leading role.

Dr Iwowo commented, 鈥淭he intention is to give the students the experience they need to move into the industry straight after their studies, and so we are steadily stepping back and giving them ownership of the filming process.鈥�

Ofime added how impressed he鈥檇 been at the level of proactivity and ownership that the students were showing, 鈥淚t鈥檚 been inspiring working with them, they are such a talented group of young people.鈥�

Dr Ruszev emphasized the importance of transnational filming experience, with approximately聽ten different languages and cultures represented on-set.聽

The intention is to use footage from the 2024 filming sessions to create a teaser episode and pitch this to multiple African networks in order to have a ten-episode series commissioned. For students and graduates, being a part of the full process from conception to commissioning is hugely valuable in an industry that鈥檚 notoriously difficult to break into.聽聽聽

Research is also embedded throughout the process. Intersectionality is a theme within Sparrow's Song, and this is reflected in the diversity of the group working on the production. Students from the UK, China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan are encouraged to engage with and evaluate the challenges and benefits of working in such a multicultural project team.

The production itself is intended to throw Nigerian filmmaking practice and theory directly alongside western and Hollywood approaches, and BU academics involved in the project will use the experience in their own ongoing research.聽