Nina On The Run

Twelve-year-old Evelyn Adobea Addo (aka Nina) felt smug in her cute kente skirt and blouse as she splashed coy smiles all around at the premiere of the new product from Revele Films, Run Baby Run, at the National Theatre last Friday.

It was time for her to relax and acknowledge compliments. A few months earlier, she was battling with nerves in front of a multinational crew on a set in London where the first scenes for her role as Nina Sarpong in the film were shot.

In the film, she sets out from Ghana with an auntie to visit her brother in London. The auntie misplaces her passport in Armsterdam whilst in transit and Nina has to continue the journey alone to London.

There's a mix-up on arrival there and she sends a wrong luggage, containing cocaine, home. This triggers the chain of events that unravel in the film.

Run Baby Run was not Evelyn's first time of facing lights and cameras for a film shoot. She's been in Home Sweet Home, a serial produced by Revele Films for local television, since 2003.

Her nervousness in the early days of the Run Baby Run shoot stemmed from her having to work with a bigger and unfamiliar crew in a foreign land.

According to Emmanuel Apea, the film's director, for certain logistical reasons and also for new and fresh perspectives on the project, he didn't employ the usual Home Sweet Home crew that Evelyn is used to, for the filming in London.

“That unnerved her a bit because she was working with a bigger script, there were more and bigger equipment on the set and she didn't know anyone in the crew. She, however, picked up after the first few days and she rendered a very solid performance.”

It had to be that way because no other person had been considered or auditioned for the part.

The film's director says he has been very satisfied with Evelyn's performance in Home Sweet Home and felt it was time for her to make a transition to the big screen, a move Evelyn says she is very happy about.

“I got the script about a month before the filming and I liked the story. I read it over and over many times and it was interesting being in London for five weeks. I'll like to be in another movie,” said the JSS 1 pupil.

She's had tales to tell her friends at Galaxy International School at East Legon in Accra about London. Some of them have been asking her how they can also get to be on television and in the movies.

It was not only Evelyn whose part was specifically crafted for her. Apea says the roles played by Kofi Bucknor, Kojo Dadson, John Apea and Rama Brew were scripted with them in mind.

It cost Revele Films over 60 million cedis to rent the National Theatre for the three days that Run Baby Run was there.

That's money to make at least three movies for some production houses but Apea says his company has spent that amount to make a statement about the movie industry in this country now.

“It's a gamble. We don't intend to make a loss but if it pays off, fine. If not, we learn our lesson and move on.

People don't go out to watch films anymore because they have been innundated with a lot of cheap stuff. We want to try and bring back the cinema-going habit and it takes a certain atmosphere and quality of product to entice discerning people out for a film.”

Sounding extremely confident about the international prospects for Run Baby Run, Apea said he believes the film has a long shelf life and can raise money from other places apart from Ghana.

He is targetting the film festival circuit and hopeful that with proper marketing, the film can be picked up for a good sum by a reputable international broadcast network or festival.

Revele Films does not intend to release Run Baby Run on DVD anytime soon. In fact, the company is already planning for a sequel likely to go into production by the middle of this year for release by February next year.

A third part will then be made before the public get the chance to see all three films on DVD.