PRESS RELEASE
IN a rare, perhaps unprecedented mode, The Man Died, the 105-mins feature film inspired by the “Prison notes” of the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, will be screened at three different sites between August 1 and 3 across two continents – United States and Europe. And this is coming fresh from its good showing on July 12 in Stuttgart Germany in the course of the 2025 African Theatre Association’s conference.
The film, which marked its first anniversary of release on July 12, will, over the weekend of August 1-3, be screened first by 8.30pm on August 1 at the AFS Cinema as part of the Third annual Pan African Film Festival in Texas, a presentation of the Austin Film Society. Established in 1992 by Hollywood veterans Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon), the late Ja’Net DuBois (Good Times), and Ayuko Babu (Executive Director), the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF), is dedicated to the promotion of Black stories and images through the exhibition of film, visual art, and other creative expression.
On August 3, in another state in the US, the film will be screened at 4pm at the African Diaspora International Film Festival, ADIFF, at the George Washington University Student Center, 800 21st St NW Washington, DC 20052. The screening will be graced by Abraham Awam-Amkpa, the Hollywood-based actor and director, who played the role of insurance magnate, Femi Johnson, the intimate friend and confidante of the protagonist, Wole, in the film.
On August 3, The Man Died will be screened at the House of the Culture of the World, HKW, in Berlin, as part of a three-day programme devoted to celebrating African renaissance in arts, culture and legacy, which will also have the film’s subject, Wole Soyinka delivering a talk. Director of the film, Awam Amkpa, who is also featuring in the programme, will be on hand to have conversation with the audience.
In capturing the essence of the film, the PAFF website summarises the synopsis on its website thus:
Based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, The Man Died is a powerful tale of resistance, courage, and the unyielding human spirit. Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s civil war, the film chronicles Soyinka’s imprisonment without trial by a brutal military regime determined to silence his voice. Through solitary confinement, torture, and deprivation, Soyinka’s resolve to fight against tyranny and injustice only grows stronger. Interwoven with flashbacks to his earlier life as a writer and activist, the film reveals the profound inner strength and unbreakable spirit that drive Soyinka’s resistance. As he documents his experiences on scraps of paper smuggled out of his cell, his writings become a beacon of hope and a call to action for others living under oppression. The Man Died is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that, in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished. Stars Wale Ojo and Sam Dede.
Written by a notable Nigerian script/screenwriter, Bode Asiyanbi, based in the United Kingdom, The Man Died, which aside the 105-minute version is also available as a 124-minutes (for academic exposition), stars a coterie of renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmond Enaibe as Commissioner; as well as international actors, London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, USA-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.
Synopsis: Produced by Zuri 24 Media, The Man Died, according to the synopsis on its website — www.themandiedmovie.com — is the story of Wole Soyinka’s 27 months incarceration by the Nigerian government in 1967 at the cusp of the civil war. He was famously seeking a truce between Biafra and the Federal Government to allow time for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. It is fundamentally a personal account. Essentially, the subject found refuge from the brutality inflicted upon him by retreating into and living within his own mind. At times, he drifted about the frontiers of madness, hanging on to himself by a thread. At other times, he pondered, listened, and watched, like only the truly otherwise unoccupied can. Importantly, he managed to scrounge paper and a pencil from time to time and record his journey of ‘motionlessness.”
Since release in July 2024 to mark the 90th birthday anniversary of the poet, dramatist, essayist, memoirist, polemicist and “global humanist”, the film has been doing well in global film circuits, as well as at educational circuits. It has been chosen as a star attraction at the upcoming African Theatre Association, AfTA annual conference holding in Stuttgart, Germany in July. It is also being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; at New York University, Harvard University, and at Ithaca College, all in the USA; at Oxford University, in the United Kingdom; as well as at the House of World Culture in Berlin, Germany, among others. This is as it is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms and international distribution channels.
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The Man Died… the journey so far: Though yet to be officially released to the market, The Man Died, since its “special-premiere” in July in Lagos to mark 90th birthday, began its global tour in London in July as part of the Wole Soyinka at 90 celebration jointly organized and hosted by the Africa Centre and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange, WSICE. It returned to same London in October as part of the African Film Festival, and also had an educational screening at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. It was screened on October 11 on the ‘Accra Streamfest’ bill of the “Labone Dialogues”, hosted by New York University, NYU Accra.
It has had a series of home runs including on October 5 at the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest 2024, Lagos; and the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF on November 14. It had earlier featured at the African Film Festival, AFRIFF, in November 5-9, where it clinched the Best Scriptwriting Award; and at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival, Enugu, – ENIFF , November 27-29, where it was voted Best Audience Choice Award. It also picked the Best Film That Tackles an Important African Issue’ at the Luxor Int’l Film Festival, Jan.9-14. It has been variously nominated at various other tines, including: Best Feature Narrative Award, Pan African Film Festival, PAFF – Feb. 4-17; and Best African Film; Best Editing; Best Film – Jo’Burg Film Festival, March 11-16
TOUR and AWARD OUTLINES
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AWARDS
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Note on the Director: The director of the film, an actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American professor of drama, film, and social and cultural analysis at the New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003), Awam is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. He has also written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoeiYA8vjrk&t=885s
Note on the Producer: The Producer, an accomplished storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar, Femi Odugbemi is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos, producers of the film. His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries. He was one of the founding producers of the daily soap opera Tinsel as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including Battleground; Brethren; Movement JAPA, and Covenant, among others. Also, producer of several award-winning documentaries and feature films, Odugbemi is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSqp6Z0XsuE