Nnamdi Nwosa’s striking directorial debut, “It’s Relative,” is born from an impressive life’s journey: He went from working in finance, to working as an actor and stunt performer, to now writing and directing.
His short film, which made its world premiere Thursday at Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival, follows a similarly motivated man. Chinomso (Charles Etubiebi) is trying to raise a family and uphold the values of the Igbo people, the Nigerian ethnic group of which he is proudly a part.
He and his cousin Khalil (Casimir Gregory) share family history and a love of martial arts, but they’re divided by Khalil’s embrace of violence. He loves to fight, and the film suggests some of the sources of his anger. Khalil simply can’t believe that Chinomso could ever let someone insult him without fighting back.
As Chinomso gently pleads with his cousin to change, Khalil tries to spar with him.
The film, shot in a Midtown Manhattan park, is elegant and direct, laying out both sides of the arguments between the cousins in a tight, always compelling seven minutes. Nwosa is working on expanding some of its ideas into a feature.
We asked him a few questions at Flickers about filming in the shadow of the United Nations, family ties, and learning from Killer Films co-founder Christine Vachon, who he thanks in the film’s credits.
Nnamdi Nwosa on Making ‘It’s Relative’
MovieMaker: What in your real life inspired this?
Nnamdi Nwosa: I have a first cousin who was raised so close to me that at times he felt like an older brother, who I looked up to. The film is essentially the last conversation he and I had, but it condenses a near three-hour talk to only a few minutes. It explores my experience with how family members could change so much, that they sort of are no longer “family” and are just a relative.
MovieMaker: You’ve had an extensive career in stunts — can you talk about how you got into that career, and why you wanted to branch out into writing and directing?
Nnamdi Nwosa: I had been miserably working in finance for a few years, and wanted pursue something I was passionate about. Action in film and television was something I always loved. As a kid, I would cut the action scenes from my favorite movies on VHS and put them all together, and just sit watching nothing but action for hours.
I like to joke that I went from wanting to jump out of an office window at work during the 2008 Financial Crisis, to actually jumping out of a set window at work in 2011. Being in the stunt department has been one of the most unique and enjoyable experiences. It’s never dull!
However, I wanted to get into writing and directing, because I felt there were stories that were not being told. I have a father who immigrated from Nigeria to the U.S. Considering that nearly a quarter of all people of the African Diaspora in the U.S. are immigrants or children of immigrants, I have not seen many stories about African or Caribbean immigrants, or the generations who are born afterwards. I wanted to tell those stories.
Moviemaker: How did you end up at SUNY Stony Brook?
Nnamdi Nwosa: When my wife was pregnant with our second child, she told me that if I wanted to get my MFA, I should hurry up, because kids will only make going back to school harder. So I started looking and found Stony Brook University, and loved their partnership with Killer Films. I thought they would be able to teach me how to develop and tell those stories that haven’t been told yet.
MovieMaker: Chinomso, the non-violent cousin, repeatedly tells Khalil, the cousin who likes fighting, that he’s going against their shared Igbo culture. Why did you want to emphasize this, and what values is Khalil going against?
Nnamdi Nwosa: I wanted to emphasize while they are first cousins, Khalil, who is more into fighting, did not consider himself Igbo, since his father was not from Nigeria. However, a lot of West African values, specifically Igbo values were taught to him, but he ended up admiring a different culture that he found on the streets.
One thing Khalil’s family always stressed was education, but he always felt he didn’t need it, so he dropped out of high school. His question asking Chinomso, if he thought he was stupid, was a key point of his discomfort. The loss of old country culture and values, I think, is always something that people struggle to balance who are born here.
MovieMaker: It’s interesting that Chinomso can fight. The film makes clear that he’s skilled at martial arts. Why did you want to emphasize that he’s making a deliberate choice, as opposed to just being afraid to fight?
Nnamdi Nwosa: Chinomso can fight — in fact his karate system broke off of the same system that Khalil practices. The difference is that Chinomso’s system stresses fighting a little less and stresses Budo philosophy a little more. Chinomso was always taught that fighting was an absolute last resort. Also, he was not afraid because the two have fought many times before, as Chinomso would visit Khalil’s school for fight clinics and to sparring sessions.
That being said, Chinomso is not a saint — he wanted to take a swing at Khalil a different times, but he holds on the family and cultural lessons of self control and not being baited into a physical confrontation.
MovieMaker: It looks like you shot this in a park in NYC – where did you do it, and what were the challenges involved?
Nnamdi Nwosa: We shot this in Tudor City Greens, right by the U.N. It’s a small private park that allowed us to rent the location for the weekend, so it worked great for not getting disturbed. We did have a few angry neighbors who didn’t believe we rented it and yelled so loud they interrupted shooting. However, they calmed down when they saw the paperwork.
I’d say the toughest part was trying to block the sun with such a small crew.
You can learn more about Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival here and read more of our festival coverage here.
Main image: Casimir Gregory, left, and Charles Etubiebi in “It’s Relative.” Courtesy of Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival.
