By Benjamin Njoku

Almatel Eyengho  is a model, actress and an entertainment writer. She has sojourned in the movie industry  since 1996, starring in movies such as “Irony”, Native, ‘Blood on my Hands’ amongst others. Recently, she co-produced an Itsekiri language movie, “Oma Tsen Tsen’, with her husband, Alex Eyengho in which she denounces the way young girls exchange their bodies for monetary gains. In this interview with HVP, Almatel bares her mind.

Did your husband in any way influence your decision to go into acting?
No, he didn’t. But strangely, we met in the industry. I joined the industry in 1994 before my husband did.
I was invited for an audition  of a soap opera by Jododo, together  with a friend of mine. When we arrived the audition venue, I saw him. He was already on the set.

Upon sighting me, he quickly inquired to know who I was from the producer who was also my high school teacher. My husband was the Assistant director of the soap. He also played a major role in the soap. That was how we met. The rest is history as they say. He did not bring me into the industry. Rather we met in the industry.

Again, somebody introduced me into the industry and in my first movie, “Blood on my Hands”, I played a minor role alongside Emeka Ike.  Also, there was another Itsekiri movie that I did the same year. In 1999, I was involved in the making  of  another soap titled “Nana  of Niger Delta”. It was produced by Abayonyi Ikomi.

Judging from the time you joined the industry, would you say it is the same thing today?
When Nollywood was Nollywood, it was not this kind of jobs that people are doing nowadays. Then, there were good story lines and didactic movies unlike the substandard movies that flood our markets today. These days, you will come across movies with part one,two and part three with empty story lines and bad casting.

Almatel Eyengho

Since joining the industry, what would you say has changed in your acting career?
A lot of things have changed about me and the industry too has changed. A long the line, I got married, and the industry has also moved forward. We now premiere our movies in the  cinemas, unlike before when we used to release our movies into the market directly.

Has acting been rewarding to you?
It has been rewarding to me in a way. I’m not a full time actress per se, rather I’m a career marketer. I was working and at the same time,  pursuing a degree programme. Ialso  was acting on the side to complement my income. After I got married, I decided to join my husband and we jointly started producing our own movies. We’ve  produced movies like “Beyond Obligation’’ and other Itsekiri language films. Well, acting has been very rewarding.

Would you say your strength lies in producing Itsekiri language or English movies?
Our strength lies in both genres. It’s just that the marketers and pirates have bastardised the market for English movies. But in the case of local language movies, you can monitor the market because it has a segmented audience. For instance, in most of our local language movies,we have a marketing  strategy that we adopted in  distributing them.

I think most producers of local language movies strive to sell their movies directly to the audience. As is the case with English movies, you can make your money but it is very rare to recoup completely all that you spent in producing the movie because of the activities of the marketers.

In those days, English movies were rewarding because then, the marketers were realistic in dealing with the producers. English  movie producers these days prefer to take their movies to the cinemas where they hope to recoup their money before putting out their works on DVD .

My role in Oma Tsen Tsen
I feel so bad when I see young girls sleep around with men because of money. It’s so pathetic, I feel    pained. So, when I took up the lead character , I did it like my life depended on it.  It’s a painful thing for a young girl to  bring things into the house,and for her parents not to bother to find out how she made the money to buy the things she brings home.

It’s a very challenging story line and the character is equally challenging.  Oma Tsen Tsen tells the story of a group of girls led by Oma Tsen Tsen, operating on campus, whose sole aim was to date men for monetary gains. While they see it as a game, they never bothered about the dangers inherent in their lifestyle. Soon,  they land themselves in trouble.

Would you say the film signalled a rebirth of the Itsekiri movie industry?
It’s not  as if Itsekiri  movie industry ceased to exist. While people are still producing Itsekiri movies, almost every other month, such movies are not done professionally. That’s why you are no longer hearing about the industry.  The entrance of Oma Tsen Tsen somehow re-lunched the industry into the mainstream movie world.