D.C. filmmaker Matt Ogens is out along with his new documentary “Madu,” which screens at the AFI New African Film Festival on Sunday and Tuesday before streaming on Disney+.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘Madu’ at AFI Silver Theatre (Part 1)
He earned an Oscar nomination for his Netflix documentary “Audible” concerning the soccer crew at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, Maryland.
Now, D.C. filmmaker Matt Ogens is out along with his new documentary “Madu,” which screens at the AFI New African Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Sunday and Tuesday before streaming on Disney+ on March 29.
“It’s at all times significant to have the opportunity to share it with the neighborhood that I grew up with,” Ogens instructed WTOP. “I used to be born in D.C. and grew up there, simply exterior of D.C. in Maryland. … So to return with this new movie, which is basically close to and expensive and significant to me is nice. Family, associates, folks I grew up with, whoever desires to come, I look ahead to having the ability to current the movie and do a Q&A after. It means loads.”
The movie follows Anthony Madu, a Nigerian boy who turned a viral ballet sensation.
“Two and a half years in the past, my producer … despatched me a textual content in the course of the night time, a video of this 11-year-old boy barefoot doing ballet strikes within the rain,” Ogens mentioned. “The video ended up going tremendous viral, Viola Davis retweeted it and it actually spun out and obtained a number of consideration. … He simply mentioned, ‘Find this child.’ I used to be very curious. … Sometimes you simply get these tales that simply hit you within the intestine. I wished to know this child’s story.”
After FaceTiming with Madu’s household, Ogens determined to codirect the documentary with Nigerian filmmaker Joel ‘Kachi Benson, flying a Disney digital camera crew to Africa to movie in Madu’s home close to Lagos, Nigeria.
“He grew up simply on the outskirts of Lagos, a few two or three-hour drive away in an impoverished space that lots of people in Downtown Lagos don’t even know exists, however there’s this magnificence and love in his home, in his household, in his neighborhood,” Ogens mentioned. “Juxtaposed in opposition to a child who’s bullied and doesn’t actually really feel like he belongs as a result of he does ballet. If you’re a child in Nigeria, particularly a boy, you don’t do ballet — you play soccer.”
During the manufacturing, Madu was accepted into the Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, England.
“His mom will get a name from a really prestigious ballet college,” Ogens mentioned. “They get to know him and so they see and really feel his ardour the identical approach that we did and so they provided him a full seven-year scholarship, which is wonderful for him as a result of out of the blue he’s going to go to this new world the place he’s round folks that worth and recognize ballet. He’s not going to get bullied, made enjoyable of or mocked for doing ballet.”
Madu hopes to proceed to encourage others by dancing as his lifelong profession.
“His dream, as he states at the start, is to be a principal ballerina and actually symbolize Nigeria wherever he goes,” Ogens mentioned. “If he stays in England or comes to America or one other nation or comes again to Nigeria, it’s a win as a result of he’s bringing that again with him. Really, he desires to encourage the remainder of us on the planet that we will dream massive. Even although it appears inconceivable and up to now off and Mount Everest to climb, it’s attainable.”
Find ticket info right here.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘Madu’ at AFI Silver Theatre (Part 2)
Listen to our full dialog on the podcast beneath:
Get breaking information and every day headlines delivered to your electronic mail inbox by signing up right here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This web site shouldn’t be supposed for customers positioned throughout the European Economic Area.
