By Benjqamin Njoku

After five years of painstaking work, Tribe, the highly anticipated film directed by multiple-award winning film maker, Ifeanyichukwu Onyeabo, is ready to hit the screen.

•A scene from the Tribe

The film coming on the stable of Igbosteve Pictures will start showing in the cinemas in Africa and the Diaspora in the coming weeks.

Described as one of the most audacious film projects in Nollywood ever, Tribe, which commenced recording in 2010 in Ghana, employed the services of actors and crew members from eight African countries and Jamaica after a 3-nation tour for auditions.

The classic African story was set in Africa about five centuries ago, employing the basic tenets of African culture, attitude, and temperaments to achieve what the African film industry has been yearning for. According to the producers, the film highlighted values and vices that make the African continent an effervescent hub of activities, especially in the years of yore.

“From greed, to betrayal, to bravery, to love, Tribe is a film that has a good dosage of such emotions in a manner the cinema lovers would be glued to their seats. After all the years put into the work, nobody would expect anything less than a classic from us. We went out of our way to get the characters that will interpret the roles the way we wanted. That took us to three African countries: Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. After the casting, we also embarked on another mission of training the cast to fit into the roles. The film has very impressive martial arts skills on display as was typical of the African society then, so we brought in experts in this field to train majority of the actors.”

The action-packed film parades notable actors including late Peter Bunor (Nigeria), Fred Amugi (Ghana), Peachman Akputa (Nigeria), Amanda Ebeye (Nigeria), Kofi Djabi (Jamaica), Ekow Blankson (Ghana), Kafui Danku-Charles-Dean (Liberia) and Williemena Pinky Appleton (Liberia) alongside over two hundred actors who traversed the luscious locations where the film was shot.