Reports reaching us tell us that actress Nse Ikpe-Etim is on a working visit to Berlin.  We hooked up with friend of the house, ace Guardian journalist Shaibu Husseini who is also in Berlin and who interviewed her for his paper. He kindly let us put the interview on our site.

 Nse Ikpe Etim

Nse Ikpe-Etim, the Nollywood actress who is best known for putting up an engaging performance in Emem Isong’s Reloaded is in Berlin, Germany for the Berlin International Film Festival, which is in its 60th edition. ‘I came on my own, sponsored myself so as to gain exposure as well as to network,’ Nse spoke with Moviedom, over coffee in the snack lounge of Mode One Hotel, South of Berlin. The hotel around the Wittenpbergplatz area was home to a number of other filmmakers including the couple Daniel and Doris Ademinokan. ‘I think we all need this kind of exposure as there is nothing like getting out to see what new things people are trying their hands on,’ Nse remarked, sipping intermittently from a cup of steaming hot coffee. Outside it was freezing. Ice, not snow, was what was dropping that evening and so no one wanted to ask Nse why she was on her second cup of coffee within a space of an hour. ‘You need this to stay warm. This is Ice Cold and snowy Berlin. A lot of people have mentioned that it never used to be this severe’ she explained adding ‘I will be back next year to make comparison myself’. Nse, star of another of Emem Isong’s recent hit Guilty Pleasures spoke to Moviedom…. 

Mission to Berlinale
I just finished a movie with Emem Isong, the title was Spell Bound. It is quite an interesting work. As soon as I finished, I had a chance to be here as part of the Berlinale and I decided to come, just to check it out and see what is there for me to experience and I am glad I made it here. Honestly, I am happy to be here.

 Beyond the exposure, it is an adventure for me 
Apart from the fact that I am an actor, I am also a writer and I am particularly quite adventurous. So for me, it was a way of getting to be familiar with film festivals and what happens there. The only one I have attended is Sithengi in South Africa and that was some years back. I decided that I am going to attend as many festivals as I can, if I want to improve myself, criticize myself as an actor and as a writer and see what kind of marriages, artistic marriages that is, that I can consummate. I have been talking to people, and people have been talking to me too. I met this Turkish director who wants us to talk and funny enough, I have been meeting so many Nigerian filmmakers whom I have not had the chance of meeting back home. I mean it was here that I met Kunle Afolayan, Mr. Femi Odugbemi and even Mr. Afolabi Adesanya of the Film Corporation. I know them as practitioners but we never met. So this is part of what you gain when you come to a festival. You network and meet people.

I took a short break after Reloaded
I don’t think I stayed away too long after Reloaded, even though I want to admit that I took a short break. Maybe it appears long because we produce movies almost every other month in Nigeria, but I don’t think it was long. I think my having not to do so many works after Reloaded was deliberate. For some of us, we come out the way we are meant to come out, so that people don’t get tired of us easily. Now that I am done with Guilty Pleasures, I can take another good job, then another one and another… It is better when you are through with one and then you take on another. So it’s one at a time for me.

Playing the disadvantage wife in Guilty Pleasures again
Well, I think, maybe the producer or whoever did the casting, at a point, wanted to see me play such a role all out. Maybe they wanted to stretch me further and see me really cry because apparently I didn’t cry in Reloaded. I think they wanted to see me do something slightly deeper than Re-loaded, where I had to share the space with other women. Although the roles (Reloaded and Guilty Pleasures) were almost alike, they were different in interpretation. And I think that in all fairness, all my roles have been challenging. I was not all alone in Guilty Pleasures. There were other actors and another story that was also told. It was challenging but it was made easy because I had good people to work with again. I am happy with my effort in the movie and will leave the audience to judge. It is for them to tell, if I did well.

I am happy I am taking something back from Berlinale
Well I hope not to go back with the cold. But seriously, I hope to go back with the fact that a lot of people are looking at in-roads into Africa, which is amazing and good for Nollywood. The report about Nollywood has really gotten around. People are looking at conquering Asian market and looking for in-road into the Nigerian market, not even African market, but the unexplored Nigeria market. One filmmaker was talking to me the other day and he said something like ‘it’s like there is something big happening there that we don’t know about’ and I was enthralled because he promised to look in and seek areas of collaboration. That’s what we need now, really. I mean everyone is crazy about our country. They want to come in and see if it is possible to do business with us. It is left for those in authority to reach out to them. We, I mean those of us who have been attending meetings here have been doing the best we can to promote the industry; and honestly, I will make it a policy to be attending festivals from now on. There is so much it adds to what you already know. I am already working on attending the Cannes Film festival this year.

As a celebrity, I have tried to live above board
I have lost my privacy. I have to be careful about the things I do. I can’t do certain things as much as I want to. Even the things I say. Sometime, I am careful not to hurt anyone’s feeling so they don’t think one is puffing or something. But people should realize that we have our own life. We are human and should be accommodated as such. It is hard but we have been trying to live above board.

The biggest rumour I have heard about myself
The biggest untruth about me is the supposed affair they said I am having with Fred Amata. I think that, that is so untrue and so unfair to Fred. I mean, I have nothing to lose because I am single, but the man you are linking me with is a family man. So if you link me with any man, you are on your own, because I have got nothing to lose. Yes, I do share a friendship with the Amatas — as in from Brother Zack Amata to his granddaughter, which is Jeta Amata’s daughter. We are family friends. So it hurts when people now link me with a member of the family. It hurts. But I will like to say that it is nice if they verify stories first. Verification is very important. It is not fair when you run people down because these have families and have people who look up to them. Some of us still want to hide. But it is all good. I guess it comes with the terrain and; the job.

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