Meet the Nigerian director the Financial Times will jump through ring to have
“I like to take on projects that I have the mindset to contribute to. If I cannot give it my 200% focus, I'd rather not take it,” Daniel Ehimen said
When Daniel Ehimen first got the call to work on a project late last year about democracy for the Financial Times, he turned it down.
He had already signed on for a limited series to kick off principal photography in October 2023 when his phone chimed. It was an Instagram DM from a rando telling him she worked for the FT as a producer and had been trying to reach him.
“I like to take on projects that I have the mindset to contribute to. If I cannot give it my 200% focus because there’s something in the way, I'd rather not take it,” he told Pulse Nigeria recently.
“Who is this?” he thought before declining the offer. At the time he was to come on the project as director of photography, not director. So the producer asked him to “seriously reconsider the offer.” He did and joined the project. The filmmaker, Juliet Riddell, who is now Head of New Format at the FT was to direct. Then, her Nigerian visa request wasn’t granted. So he became director on his first project working across shores. “All of a sudden, I found myself at the front of the line, doing like a lot,” he said.
After a series of meetings with the FT headquarters in London, there was alignment. He was to work on a visual project on democracy, as part of the FT’s strategy for a year marked by important elections in the world which they have dubbed “Democracy 2024.”
The writer, Lola Shoneyin (The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives), had already come on the project and written the piece, A Fragile State. He had been a bit apprehensive of her, jaded by years of working with celebrities that bring the diva to the set. Shoneyin was different.
“At first I had fears. You know some high-ups could be ‘interesting.’ And they could literally not work with you. but (have you) working for them? Whatever you get is what you get. But (Shoneyin) was very simple to work with. She was on time and we worked within a time limit and she gave it all. And she was like ‘What do you want me to do? How can I help you?’ She was like ‘I want to give you what you need to make this work for you.’ It was a joy working with her,” he said.
Then the work began. It went from a tiny project to the highly impactful piece on democracy that has been watched millions of times, if you include Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and streams on the FT website.
“It was supposed to be a small project. And myself and Juliet were like ‘How far can we push the envelope beyond what is possible?’ We were both on that wavelength of go big or go home. Empty all your pockets. Empty of your favours. Do the best that you can do,” he said.
“We talked about how we can make it more expressive, bringing all those dancing. We had the narrative interpreted. And we discussed how we can use several colours, the light, the mood to develop the contrast that discusses the idea. A lot of that was funneled into a three-day window that we had to manage,” he added.
“It was supposed to be a small project. And myself and Juliet were like ‘How far can we push the envelope beyond what is possible?’ We were both on that wavelength of go big or go home. Empty all your pockets. Empty of your favours. Do the best that you can do,” he said.
“We talked about how we can make it more expressive, bringing all those dancing. We had the narrative interpreted. And we discussed how we can use several colours, the light, the mood to develop the contrast that discusses the idea. A lot of that was funneled into a three-day window that we had to manage,” he added.
