Paul Emema: And the filmmaker heads ‘behind the clouds’

If tears and tributes were enough to bring the dead back to life, foremost screenwriter, producer and director, Paul Okeoghene Emema, would have cheated death.

Indeed, tears and tributes flowed all over Nollywood and the television industry as soon as his closest pal and notable filmmaker and actor, Francis Onwochei, broke the news that light had dimmed on the creator and writer of all the episodes of the defunct television drama hit, Behind The Clouds and later, Supple Blues, produced then by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Both Supple Blues and Behind The Clouds ruled the Nigerian screen in the 1980s. It took that confirmation by Onwochei, a Fellow of the theatre profession, for the industry to be thrown into another mourning, and tributes started to flow in honour of the multitalented Isoko native of Ovrade in Delta State, who studied Mass Communication at the University of Uyo. “I got to know Paul Emema when Behind The Clouds was running in Jos in the late 1980s” was how notable actor and filmmaker, Sanni Muazu, opened his tribute.

Continuing, Muazu wrote: “I remember admiring his name on the opening credits of the soap opera on NTA network as the creator of the programme first. I had this huge respect for him when I finally met him as one of the actors featuring on the soap. “Paul was in Jos later to create another hit, Supple Blues, which was well received by many, but which to my mind, was not as successful as Behind The Clouds.

“Paul’s creative pen and energy has just gone dry. He is no more, but I have no doubt that posterity will not forget him and his contributions to the development of the industry when it is time to chronicle the history of the industry.” Also, notable filmmaker and a close pal of the deceased, Famous Otakponmwen, fought back tears while penning his tribute in honour of Emema, who is the producer of the feature movie of epic proportion, Tansi.

Otakponmwen wrote: “Nollywood mourns once again. I have just lost a dear friend and colleague, a Nollywoodian, a movie producer and a director, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and an inspiration in all aspects of life. “It is so sad to hear that this great and uncommon man is no more. My heart bleeds as I write this. Rest in peace, Paul.”

For Onwochei, Emema would be sorely missed. “He was very passionate about writing and seeking for the arts to get better recognition and respect,” he wrote in a tribute he shared on the elite Whatsapp platform for filmmakers, called Film4Life.He added: “Emema was certainly among the leading lights of writers and producers in the industry. He was an introvert, with very few friends. He was a poet and published author.

“He was planning to put one of his plays, A Plaque of Gadflies, on stage before this final call. If there exists a scriptwriting competition on the other side, I know you would win laurels there. Good night, Paul.” Married to Ngozi Laurencia Emema and blessed with an 11-year-old son, Paul ran Visual Network Limited, a production outfit that signed several television commercials and documentaries for corporate, governmental and non-governmental organisations.

He was co-writer, co-producer and co-director of over 100 episodes of I Need To Know, a defunct, but engaging television series on the girl-child question. That series was reputed to have thrown up the acting abilities of some of the industries popular actresses, including the indubitable Funke Akindele-Bello.

Tall and well built, Emema, who was aged 53, earned his first international cap as a writer, as it were, when his work, Barbers Wisdom, was selected as one of the works to be produced under the MNet New Direction series.Emema’s script won a keenly contested pitch and the work was later produced on 33mm by the later day Sound City boss, Tajudeen Adepetu, and directed by the late Amaka Igwe.

But the big creative pie came for Emema to chew in 1999, when he was commissioned to direct a biographic feature of the Catholic Saint, Tansi, produced by Onwochei and starring the dependable actor, Jude Orhorha in lead role. Gentle, soft-spoken and yet very resolute with decisions bothering on his creative output, Emema, who is survived by many sisters, brothers and over a 100-year-old father, was at a time commissioned by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to produce 26 episodes of a sensitisation drama series, titled Friends At The Gate.

He also produced several documentaries for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Delta State Government and several other organisations. Indeed, until he died after a brief illness last month, Emema, who belonged to several professional associations, including the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Independent Television and Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), was involved in all kinds of projects, ranging from documentaries to producing commercials and programmes.

He only veered recently into writing books and was at it until he breathed his last. In his last interview before death came calling, he spoke on why he veered into writing. “I only just added it to the list of what I can do creatively. I believe that like movies and programmes on television, writing books and poetry are ways I would use to express myself. “I have expressed myself on television, radio, in films and I am on a journey of continuous expression. It is a continuous thing for me and as long as God gives me life, I will continue to express myself in all the art forms.”