From its title, Sharp Guy may appear to be a man’s story, but at its center is a woman dealing with the consequences of betrayal and abuse. For writer-director Jimeto Onyedika, that distinction is central to what the 25-minute film is trying to examine.
Speaking with The Nollywood Reporter, Onyedika said the film was partly inspired by the experience of a friend who confided in him about an incident that reflected some of the themes explored in the film.
“I’d had the idea to make a film exploring the idea of betrayal and trauma in relationships with regard to consent. She confided in me and gave me her permission to tell the story,” he said.
The friend, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has not yet watched the finished film because of concerns about reliving the experience. Onyedika said that decision has remained a reminder of the real-life pain behind the story, even as Sharp Guy takes the experience into fiction.
For Onyedika, the film is intended to confront rather than soften the realities of abuse and its aftermath.
“I intend for the film to show us the depth of physical and psychological pain that is dealt to abuse victims in situations such as these when the safety of women is not a priority,” he said.
The film also takes aim at the cultural idea behind the term “sharp guy,” particularly the tendency to frame taking advantage of a woman’s perceived gullibility as evidence of being streetwise.
Onyedika said the audience’s negative reaction to the male character was deliberate, with the character designed to force viewers, particularly men, to reconsider what they associate with the slang.
“Cinema is not just for stories that make us feel chummy inside. I believe that cinema has a calling to help us dissect concepts that may either seem too complex to grasp or in this case seem too unsafe to address,” he said.
Although Sharp Guy is centered on a woman’s experience, Onyedika does not see its subject as a conversation that should be left to women.
“When we bring everyone into the forum, we stand a better chance of addressing the issue,” he said.
The director, who also made The Last Sane Man in Lagos, said the film critiques aspects of misogynistic culture among young Nigerian men while examining how that culture can shape the behavior and emotional lives of women who experience abuse.
“We must recognize that talking about a thing is an action too. We cannot address something that we cannot name. And that is the whole point of Sharp Guy. The film is meant to be a conversation starter,” he said.
Making the film also came with practical and emotional challenges. Onyedika highlighted securing locations and filming the more explicit scenes as among the most difficult aspects of the production.
“Sharp Guy has some explicit scenes, one of which saw the actors who were friends before and during the shoot become sort of estranged. It took weeks for them to recover from the scene,” he said.
Beyond Sharp Guy, Onyedika is also developing S’UYI, an initiative he describes as an African equivalent of A24 or Neon, with an emphasis on creating infrastructure for independent filmmakers to self-distribute their work and build communities around it.
“The plan is to self-distribute Sharp Guy as one of S’UYI’s short films,” he said.
The approach differs from the conventional distribution path. Onyedika encountered it in film school and through existing industry structures, but he believes there is an audience for independent films outside mainstream Nollywood.
At a private screening of Sharp Guy in February, Onyedika said the team drew more than 250 people to a cinema screening. They plan to test that audience again with their next film, What Will We Eat Tomorrow?, which is scheduled for a September screening with a target of 800 seats.
“I think there’s an untapped audience that is in search of films that differ from the mainstream Nollywood content; call it ‘alternative cinema,’ if you will,” he said.
Sharp Guy stars Chidinma Chukwuma, Korede Lawal, Amah ThankGod and Grace Okonkwo and centers on the trauma of sexual abuse. The short film has screened at festivals and community programs, including the Blue Unicorn Film Festival and Saving Cinema.
