Award Winning Writer and Film Director, Biyi Bandele,Features On CNN African Voices

This week, African Voices, CNN’s International weekly half-hour programe highlighting Africa's most engaging personalities will feature one of Nigeria’s foremost writer and Film director, Biyi Bandele.

...as he talks about his skill and passion for directing a film about one of the most intense periods in Nigeria’s history titled “Half of a Yellow Sun”

Airs Friday: 28 February at 0930am; Saturday: 01 March at 1630pm; Sunday:  02 March at 1000am & 1930pm; Monday: 03 March at 1130am & 1830; Tuesday: 04 March at 0630am

The interview with CNN’s Isa Soares will showcase the defining moments that have helped shaped Bandele’s career.

A man whose passion for telling stories has taken him from the depths of Nigeria’s South East Jungle to the bustling streets of Lagos, Bandele recounts the idea behind directing one of Nigeria’s turbulent times to the silver screen titled “Half of Yellow Sun” which was originally written by Nigerian Author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chronicling the Biafran war for 1967 -1970.

“I had always talked about wanting to see a film set during that period of Nigerian history and what really particularly attracted me to 'Half of a Yellow Sun' was that for the first time, there were these characters, middle, upper-middle-class characters, educated characters, Nigerian characters who I suppose had been seen in quite a few novels set in Africa, written by Africans but they had never been seen in any movie set in Africa and I felt it was a great opportunity to bring these people to the big screen,” he said.

Passionate about telling stories that would positively influence people’s lives, Bandele talks about the third series of “Shuga” a television drama helping to break the stigma of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
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