Nigerian-American filmmaker, Ose Oyamendan premieres ‘Other Voices’ in Israel
Nigerian-American filmmaker, Ose Oyamendan was in Israel recently to premiere his film “Other Voices” which is about Sderot and Gaza.
The film is about untold stories in the area which are often neglected according to the filmmaker.
Oyamendan in an interview with Times of Israel recently said the film took him a decade of filming, adding that a trip to Haiti where he met some Israelis influenced the making of the film.
He said: “And so in 2010, I went to Haiti during the earthquake and I ran into this Israelis. When we started talking I told them I wrote this short story. I’ve never been to Jerusalem. Can you help me with the geographical accuracy? So they read it, they said oh, it’s a great story, what do you want to do with it? I said, well, I want to publish it, I want to try to make a film or a TV series one day about something like this, something I’m passionate about. They said there is another story that is true. Have I heard of Gaza? And I said yes. Have you ever heard of Sderot? And I said no. They said Sderot and Gaza are next to each other and that’s where the war is fought for the most part. And there are people on both sides that want a return to the old times when they had peace there.”
Oyamendan in the interview said he had to travel to Israel for the making of the film with the help of the Israelis he met in Haiti and he also got a permit from the Israeli government and Palestinian government before filming.
The Nigerian-American filmmaker recalled he came against a lot of opposition while making the film but he did not look at the opposition but instead chose to see it as people expressing their opinions.
When asked about the protagonists in the film, Oyamendan said a lot of the people wanted to tell their stories. He also said because the film was shot for a long time, he was able to get all the people he needed to tell the story.
“I think there were a few people that were a little bit shy about it in Gaza,” Oyamendan added.
