The Nigerian creative industry recently witnessed the cinematic release of her first feature-length animated film with a cinematic release. ‘LadyBuckit and the Motley Mopsters’ was proudly “Made by Nigerian creatives, in Nigeria, for Nigerians”. Blessing Amidu, the producer and executive producer of the film, said her daughter, Elise Amidu, inspired her to invest in and self-fund this project. However, what many may not know is that her daughter is also the brain behind the characters of the film.
In her interview with The Africa Report, Blessing Amidu reveals that her daughter Elsie sketched the first set of characters at the tender age of 12 before the team decided to fully develop the characters. Elsie Amidu is currently a 17-year-old Film Studies major at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where she spends her spare time drawing, painting, swimming and taking photographs.
During an interview with TheNetNG, Elsie disclosed that she got her inspiration from her brothers – a set of twins. She fondly remembers watching them run around in their underwear without slippers. She had an epiphany of some sort and decided to create something that would remind her about chasing the twins around their family home.
Graphic design wasn’t her first love though. When she was in primary 2, being a doctor was an attractive occupation to her. But her friend challenged her on a memorable day asking, “Why doesn’t anyone want to be an artist?”
Elsie could draw very well, so she asked her friend to teach her. “This incident brought out the talent God had put in me that I wasn’t aware of,” she says.
Elsie dreams of becoming a filmmaker one day. She hopes to utilize her design skills in movie production. Her work with the LBMM film is just the beginning of her life-long career plan. When asked about her advice to young people with dreams of pursuing a career in film, she had this to say, “Never give up, cause you never know what will happen if you try.”
