Biyi Bandele

Director

Biography

Nigeria / UK

Biyi Bandele was a Nigerian novelist, playwright and film director born in 1967 to Yoruba parents in Kafanchan, northern Nigeria. He studied Drama at the University of Ile-Ife, where his play Rain won him a scholarship that brought him to the UK. Bandele was one of the most versatile and prolific of the UK-based Nigerian writers, having turned his hand to theatre, journalism, television, film, and radio, as well as the fiction with which he made his name. Acclaimed as both a prolific playwright and a versatile novelist, his 1997 adaptation of fellow Nigerian Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart for the British stage confirmed his place as an important voice on the post-colonial stage. His directorial debut film Half of a Yellow Sun which screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, received a "rapturous reception" and received a wide range of critical attention. His 2015 film, entitled Fifty, was included in the 2015 London Film Festival. He also directed the third season of the popular MTV drama series, Shuga. Biyi passed away in August 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria. Biography Source

Filmography

Shuga (2013)
Half of a Yellow Sun (2014)
Fifty (2015)
Elesin Oba: The King's Horseman (2022)

Films Curated by AFF