Chinwe Egwuagu... Storyteller with a difference

The buzz trailing Chinwe Egwuagu s latest project has obviously launched her back into the league of Nigeria s most gifted filmmakers. For Egwuagu is, however not new to the world of make believe. The decision of the Anambra State born Mass Communication graduate of IMT, Enugu to take a break from home video productions seems to have paid off. Mr. & Mrs, her newest flick for the cinemas, has opened up a new chapter in her life. Recalling her beginning, she said: I started years ago as a scriptwriter. Funding is always a problem, so I started working in order to save enough for my movie productions and I had to work for seven years. I did my first movie titled Forget Heaven in 2008 and it was shot in Niger State. After that I did Onyebuchi, an Igbo movie that talked about Osu cast system in Igbo land. It was after I thought that I had tested the industry with two home videos that I made up my mind to do something for the Cinemas.
As a youngster, Egwuagu s ambition was to become a broadcaster. With the path she is threading now, the ebony complexioned storyteller per excellence is living up to her dream. I wanted to be a broadcaster and I think I' m doing that by broadcasting to the cinema audience. It has been communication all my life. I trained as copyrighter, did bit of journalism for a year and I love to tell stories, she said. Born by father, who was also a master storyteller, the fist child of a family of five disclosed what made her thick in the highly competitive movie industry.
I am a creative person who cannot be boxed to a particular type of a movie. My first movie was about religion, the second is about tradition of the Igbos and the new movie, Mr. & Mrs is about family, and the next one is going to go wider. Sometimes I like to call myself a wallstreet; I love writing scripts, screenplay, producing and bank rolling. She might have gotten lots of kudos for Mr. & Mrs, it may surprise you to know that she almost gave up while shooting the movie.
When we were driving to the outskirts of Abuja around 3am for another shoot, so many things were not working, we had issues and I started crying, thinking that all the money that I had spent could be used to do some other big things. I was even thinking if people would appreciate it at the end of the day. I felt so bad that early morning, as it seemed as if nothing was working, we couldn' t shoot, and I felt like giving up.
Now that she has got a spot in the limelight and Mr. & Mrs, continues to mak e statement in the cinemas, Egwuagu is strengthening her grip on the reign. She is reportedly working on another multimillion naira project in South Africa.