Kemi Adetiba eyeing Oscar award

Music video director, filmmaker, and television director, Kemi Adetiba, revealed during an interview as a guest on CNN’s African Voices, that she is looking forward to winning an Oscar as a director in the next two to five years.

Kemi who started her journey on the screen as a young child where she headlined two national television commercials for the iconic detergent brand OMO, made the comments against the backdrop of the commercial success of The Wedding Party (a movie she directed).

Released in 2016, The Wedding Party, her first feature film, quickly became the highest grossing film in Nigerian history and also brought to the fore the swift progression she has made in her directing career.

Describing what this success meant to her, Adetiba told African Voices, “I knew it was going to break the record, I knew it was going to do very well, I felt it, I sensed it… The greatest thing you can do for yourself is every time you have the opportunity to handle someone’s project, knock it out the park, and that is what I live by every day.”

Known predominantly for her successful career directing television, music videos and film, African Voices heared how Adetiba began presenting on radio and television, before moving quickly down a new career path.

Explaining why she originally moved behind the camera, Adetiba told CNN, “I was questioning my longevity in front of the camera… I’d also find it intriguing when I would go off for shoots with the cameramen… I said, ‘Instead of just wasting a couple of years, how about I learn a new craft while I’m doing that? What is the thing that I want to learn now? What is the thing that will take my career to the next level? – being a director.’”

Explaining to CNN why she launched her Kings Women project, Adetiba, who in 2007, left Nigeria to study at the New York Film Academy to learn the ropes of directing as well as producing, said, “The reason why I developed King Women is because I wanted women to see these role models of the earth, these women that we draw inspiration from that we put on pedestals, I wanted them to see them in their glory, but also understand that they have also gone through life, and life for them was not easy… People need to hear these stories, and I’m so grateful to everyone who gave me their time to make this series.”

Looking to the future and her upcoming projects, Adetiba said she still had her eyes set on international success, telling African Voices, “I honestly do believe that winning an Oscar is going to come very soon, I’ve given myself two to five years.”