Ajayi-Lycett features in movie adaption of Wole Soyinka’s ‘Ake’ memoir

Wole Soyinka’s memoir, ‘Ake: The Years of Childhood’, has been adapted into a movie.

Dapo Adeniyi, executive producer and director of the movie, told NAN that the movie is now available on Amazon.

According to Adeniyi, the movie was put on Amazon to make it accessible around the world because of its international appeal.

He said: “Ake, as a novel, is read in secondary schools in California and many other parts of the world, and that kind of material with strong international appeal and acceptance must be made accessible to everyone.

“A distributor may not have the resources to market it to wherever it is needed in all parts of the world.

“People have been calling from all over the place to ask how they can get Ake film, and now under this arrangement someone can buy it online or rent it.”

Adeniyi said the Ake story was significant in Nigeria’s history and must be immortalised for reminiscence, especially for the younger generation.

He said the film adaptation “would send the readers of Ake back to the book and we hope we will really succeed in doing that”.

The movie was shot in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Lagos and East Grinstead, UK.

‘Ake: The Years of Childhood’, first published in 1981, tells the story of Soyinka’s boyhood before and during World War II in Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett, Yinka Davies, Lanike Onimisi and Gbenga Ajiboye featured in the movie.