Marianne Trailer
A young Nigerian man travels to a remote, African pentecostal church with his ailing wife.
Tomisin Adepeju, a 26 year old Nigerian/British film-maker has just launched his Graduation film, Marianne, which premiered in London on June 19th as part of The Short Sighted Cinema.
The film follows the story of Moses, a young Nigerian man who travels to a remote, African Pentecostal Church with his ailing wife. The film explores very strong themes that Tomisin felt needed to be highlighted in a filmic framework as there are not many films that deal with or explore the subject of faith healing in the context of African Pentecostalism. It is an incredibly important topic that Tomisin felt had to be explored in a narrative short film. Essentially, the film is a love story about a man who would do anything to save the woman he loves.
Tomisin told us:
“I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria; a place I personally consider to be the home and birthplace of African Pentecostalism, thus, faith and religion has always been a very important and consistent part of my life. It is a subject I feel incredibly drawn to and have always explored in my work. For as long as I can remember, I have always found the idea and concept of faith healing incredibly fascinating, the belief that God can heal someone who is dying of a terminal illness raises a lot of important questions and naturally spurns a lot of arguments and debates.
“Thus, I felt compelled to explore this idea in a filmic, narrative context; I came up with the idea of a young Nigerian man who takes his terminally ill wife to an African, pentecostal church because he truly believes that God can cure her illness. I felt I could utilise this film to explore this idea of faith and healing but also, and equally as important; love and death. At some point in our lives, we have all experienced love and death, it’s something that’s universal and connects us all, regardless of culture, race or religion.
“This film is a deeply personal piece of work, it is the most ambitious film I have ever undertaken as a film-maker. The idea of a man who passionately wants to save the woman he loves is a powerful, universal and relatable theme that I hope will emotionally resonate with anyone that watches this film.
Tomisin is currently working on a feature film adaptation of the short.
