VIDEO: Why I dance to promote my movies — Funke Akindele

Nollywood filmmaker and actress, Funke Akindele, says she began dancing to promote her movies out of necessity, revealing that she resorted to shooting dance content in her sitting room because she could not afford a proper marketing budget for one of her films.

Akindele disclosed this in an interview with BellaNaija posted via X.com on Tuesday, where she addressed criticism that trivialises her promotional dance videos, insisting the practice was born out of financial hardship rather than a lack of seriousness about her craft.

She recalled that after wrapping up her film, Battle on Buka Street, she was broke and could not fund publicity for the project, forcing her to improvise with a backdrop in her home and her phone camera.

“I did Battle on Buka Street and I didn’t have the budget for PR and marketing. So I just did a backdrop in my sitting room in my house and I put the camera there,” she said, adding that her cinematographer and brother helped her create the content.

She said the strategy, which involved dancing repeatedly to the film’s soundtrack and posting consistently, resonated with audiences who came to associate her with joy and dancing, a trait she said she inherited from her mother.

Akindele, however, pushed back at critics who describe her promotional style as mere dancing, saying it undermines the work that goes into her productions.

“Stop belittling my work. It’s not dancing. It’s hard work,” she said, while also telling those who disagree with the approach that they are free to develop alternative promotional strategies.

“If you don’t feel like you want to jump on it to promote your movie, you’re welcome. But you don’t have to dance. Create your own ideas. Come up with something different,” she said, describing such criticism as constructive.

The filmmaker also spoke about mentoring younger actors, saying she was moved after watching young talents on the set of one of her recent projects and noticing signs of exhaustion and skin discolouration similar to what she experienced earlier in her career.

“I want to build the next generation of female filmmakers.I want them to be audacious. I want them to be hardworking. I want people to look back as, oh, I remember Funke Akindele. She gave us the opportunity to be seen and heard. She taught us how to be audacious, to be firm.”

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“I was watching the next episode of Ayetoro Town, and I saw a lot of young actors. I’m actually emotional right now. I saw a lot of young talent. And, you know, I saw some of them tired as they’re acting. You know, I saw some discoloration on their skin. And I said, ah, Funke, there was a time you were like this.”

She said the experience strengthened her resolve to keep creating opportunities for upcoming actors despite the productions not always being profitable for her.

“I’m not really making money from it. But I just vowed. I said, God, keep giving me the grace to pull people up. They need to be seen. They need to be heard,” she said.

Akindele added that she remains deliberate about collaborating with new writers and professionals in the industry.

Watch Video Here:

𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎: 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐌𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬 — 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞

Credit: X | Bella Naija

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