Thread: Why I Married My Oyinbo Husband - Ashionye

Ashionye Ugboh — Raccah is a talented singer and actress. Asides establishing a career in music, she has had good shots at acting featuring in M-net's produced Doctor's Quaters and Tinsel and later, Lilian Amah's Jungle Ride which fetched her an AMAA nomination for Most Promising actress. Recently, she concluded production of her gender inspired movie titled Journey to Self, where she is using the medium to denounce the prevailing ill-treatment that is often meted to the women in the society. In this interview, Ashionye talks about the project, her acting career and what binds her together with her oyinbo husband. Enjoy!!!

Given the storyline to your new movie "Journey to self", can one be right to describe you as a feminist?

I'm not a feminist. If not, I wouldn't have been happily married with a child. Actually, I believe in female empowerment. There are a lot of ordeals that women go through, which I believe as a woman, deserve to be addressed. That's why when I have the opportunity to speak about empowering women, I quickly jump at the opportunity.

"Journey to Self" is a story that is being relayed through the eyes of these women because the same issues affect the men as well as the children in their lives. So, it's a social issue addressed through the eyes of these women.

What message are you trying to convey?

A lot of messages are being conveyed through the movie, issues of wife battery, relationship in a family and other social malaise. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, I just want people to wait and see the movie when it hits the cinemas very soon. It's a movie you can take your wife, and your kids to see in the cinemas. I believe people will relate to the story or the issues that these women went through in the movie.

How come you branched into producing films after a long absence from the screen?

After I had my son, I decided to take some time off the entertainment circuit. While I was on vacation, I started writing.

I was inspired to write after reading various stories online, and in the national dailies about a woman's situation in the society.

I just started writing, I told my husband, I want to put my anger to paper; I want to express myself in the story.

Remember that I studied Mass Communication. I majored in broadcasting, I brought my experience as a mass communicator and my love for writing into play. It took me about three months to get the script ready.

At the initial stage, I wanted to sell the story. But when the company I approached wouldn't want to procure the story because they were looking out for something else; I decided to produce the movie myself. At this point, I went all out to shop for sponsor, and a friend of mine, Osia Sido, who played Uche in the movie, introduced me to the owner of Fressia Entertainment. That's how the relationship between Fressia Entertainment and Arikaku Media, which is my own production outfit started. We joined forces to produce the movie.

Judging from the movie, are you insinuating that women have not been fairly treated in our society?

Like I said before, the movie is addressing issues that women are going through in the society. But these issues also affect both the men and children in their lives. So I wouldn't say women have not been fairly treated in our society. It depends on individual situation and individual life.

As a woman, I'm expressing myself, and I connect to women easily since I'm a woman. So I decided to feel the story through the eye of a woman. And since I got the information from real life experiences that I don't need to be told and these issues affected the women.

You started out with Tinsel, that was where you made your name?

Not really, I started with "Doctor's Quaters"which also was an M-net production in 2005. That was one of my very first acting on television and on stage, I did a "V- monolog: Nigerian story" and also, a stage play titled "Once upon a Mad " produced by Kofi, a comedian.

Thereafter, I did a movie titled "Jungle Ride"which gave me two nominations; Best Upcoming Actress And Best Actress at AMAA and Naija Awards. "Doctors Quaters" was my very last television series before I went into producing my own movie "Journey to Self".

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Why I Married My Oyinbo Husband - Ashionye