In ‘Imported Wives’, filmmaker Pascal Atuma highlights ‘Japa’, marriage challenges

Nigerian-Canadian filmmaker Pascal Atuma is set to release his latest movie, ‘Imported Wives’.

The film exposes how the Japa syndrome negatively impacts marriages and highlights the themes of love, betrayal, and devastation.

Japa, a Yoruba word meaning “to flee,” has become synonymous with the exodus of Nigerians seeking better opportunities abroad.

Imported Wives addresses the likely challenges African men who live abroad face after returning home (Africa) to marry and move their wives abroad.

It also reveals how migration destroys homes rather than better migrants’ lives against their expectations.

The movie tells the story of a man in Canada who returns to Nigeria to pick a wife and returns to Canada with her. Upon reaching Canada, she turned against her husband as she got brainwashed by Nigerian women in Canada who indoctrinated her.

The movie features Omoni Oboli, Nancy Isime, Patience Uzokwo, Joseph Benjamin, Linda Osifo, and Ngozi Nwosu.

Imported Wives

Rationale

Speaking more about the movie, Mr Atuma said his reason for producing ‘Imported wives’ is to address the marital abnormality that African families abroad face. “It’s an epidemic. If you look at the American and Canadian marriages, Africans have an 80 per cent divorce rate. I wanted to solve a problem that is becoming an epidemic because, in the last five years, we’ve lost ten (10) Nigerians in the US and three (3) in Canada to this issue. So, this movie is long overdue,” he said.

He added, “This story is an awakening story that needed to be told to set a clearer perspective on why he engaged in producing the movie. No matter how rich a woman is in Africa, once she’s married to a man, she must respect him, but when they move overseas, some of our women see it as freedom at last. Some women do not intend to buy into the American, British or Canadian culture. Still, the older women who moved to Canada years back whose marriages failed formed a cartel where their job is to have more people like them, so there is character change which results in divorce.”

Lolu Desalu, the executive director of Nile Entertainment Group, said the film’s storyline is exciting and will generate conversations, educate viewers, and make them discover new things.

She said it shows how marriages not anchored on love can easily crash due to culture shock. “If you didn’t marry for love in the first place, the cracks would start showing, and if you don’t manage it well, it will end up in divorce or death.”

Filmmaker Pascal Atuma

Challenges

According to Mr Atuma, who also serves as the movie producer, the movie took him a year and eight months to complete as it was filmed in Nigeria and Canada.

Addressing why it took that long, Mr Atuma said, “Visa procurement was a significant challenge. Obtaining visas for Mama G, Nancy, and Lucy was lengthy and complex. It was not easy; we had to navigate a lengthy process.”

He further stressed the need for filmmakers to intentionally contribute to an actor’s growth and advancement.

He said, “The associations, including the Producers’ Guild of Nigeria, Directors’ Guild of Nigeria, and Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, need to be more cohesive. When someone authentically applies for a visa, a supportive letter from these bodies could facilitate the process.”

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Release date

The movie has yet to be released to the public and a release date hasn’t been set yet.

Ms Desalu said, “The release date will be announced specially. While it will not initially be available on YouTube, it will be distributed across other platforms. You may see it on YouTube eventually, but not immediately.”

However, Mr Atuma disclosed that the film Moses Babatope-led Nile Media Entertainment Group is distributing is scheduled for release in cinemas in 2024.