The film adaption of the award-winning Nigerian author Anietie Isong’s novel Radio Sunrise will begin in early 2022. Two leading Nollywood companies, Royal Arts Academy and Closer Pictures, will shoot the production in Lagos and in the Niger Delta.
Radio Sunrise was published in the UK in 2017 by Jacaranda Books, and has been republished in Nigeria by Narrative Landscape Press. The novel, which has been compared to satirist works by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ayi Kwei Armah, tackles the commodification of journalism, and is set against the backdrop of militancy in the Niger Delta. In 2018, the novel won the Mckitterick Prize and was longlisted for the 9mobile Prize for Literature.
Anietie Isong said, “I am very excited about the screen adaption of my first novel. Our film industry has come a long way, so I have no doubt the talented cast and crew will do justice to the script.”
Royal Arts Academy and Closer Pictures have produced movies including Weekend Getaway, I’ll Take My Chances, The Best Men, Falling, Lost in London, The Choir Master’s Wife, and Ayamma.
Emem Isong Misodi, CEO of Royal Arts Academy, said, “I am delighted to be working with my brother on the adaption of his award-winning novel. The film will feature some of Nigeria’s most celebrated actors, and we have decided to film it in Lagos and the Niger Delta, where the novel is set. I am confident the movie will resonate well with viewers not only in Nigeria, but across the world.”
Uduak Isong Oguamanam, CEO of Closer Pictures, said, “The first time I read the book, I thought, ‘This would make a great movie.’ So when Anietie started talking about adaptation, I was only too pleased. I loved the book and I’m certain film lovers all over the world will love the adaptation. It has everything; comedy, romance, and social issues. We will work with the very best hands to put together a masterpiece.”
