Ebrohimie Road: A Museum of Memory is a documentary based on a house on Ebrohimie Road, Ibadan where Nigerian poet and Nobel prize Laureate Woke Soyinka lived while he was a teacher and also was arrested in 1967 after having returned from Biafra during the Nigerian civil war.
Ebrohimie Road is in the Southeast area of the University of Ibadan. The small bungalow on that road played host to the poet’s relatives, friends and associates while the poet was incarcerated.
The house was also the interview venue for the famous Daily Times interview that featured Wole Soyinka after his release in 1969. In the interview, he recounted the events of the war and what led to his arrest.
The documentary follows the poet’s 29-month imprisonment by the Nigerian Government led by Lt. General Yakubu Gowon.
After his release in 1969 few weeks before the war ended in 1970, the poet returned to his house on Ebrohimie Road but he did not resume back at the University of Ibadan.
He however took a role at the University of Ife in 1976, where he retired in 1985, a year before he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The 110-minute documentary will first be screened on July 11, 2024, at the University of Lagos in commemoration of the 90th bird anniversary of the Nobel Laureate.
The documentary is the third item in a full-day scholarly event organised by the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange ( WSICE) and the Nigeria Academy of Letter (NAL). The event’s theme is ENI-OGUN: An Enduring Legacy.
Ebrohimie Road is written and directed by Nigerian writer Kola Tubosun, with cinematography by Tunde Kelani. It is produced by Olongo Africa and features interviews with immediate family members, relatives, friends and associates of Wole Soyinka.
This documentary shows us how the poet’s residence became witness to some of the notable issues in the social, political and literal history of Nigeria. A mere location on the Ibadan campus became a vault if memories, it is those memories the documentary unearths.
Screening Dates and Venue
- WSICE2024/WS90 Symposium, University of Lagos, Nigeria — (July 11, 2024). 4 pm
- WSICE2024/WS90 celebration, Africa Centre, London (July 20, 2024) 3 pm-5 pm
- Africa Centre, New York (TBD).
- Centro Cultural Africano, Mexico (July 13, 2024).
- Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA), Freedom Park, Lagos (July 14, 2024). 6 pm
- Senior Staff Club, University of Ìbàdàn (TBD)
- Institute of African Studies, University of Ìbàdàn (TBD)
- Hutchinson Center, Harvard University, USA (September 2024)
- University of Leeds, UK (October 2024)
- Lagos International Poetry Festival Lagos, Nigeria (October 24th – 27th, 2024)
- Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF/CORA), Freedom Park, Lagos (Nov 2024)
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