Joyce Carol Vincent - a life in fragments

Nothing I've read recently has moved me more than this story of a woman who died in her bedsit in London, undiscovered for three years. The window remained open, plates sat in the sink, mail piled up at the door, Chritsmas presents unopened and the TV on - while she faded into skeletal remains on the sofa.

What is more desperately sad, that someone could die this kind of lonely death in the otherwise highly frequented shopping precint of Wood Green; that no neighbours, friends or family noticed her disappearance; or the elegiac detail of the television set that kept an unexpected vigil, staying on and warm for three years?

My heart has broken many times today over this story. I was in London when the shocking find made the news in 2006, yet I don't recall ever hearing of it. But now I'll never forget, thanks to the painstaking and loving efforts of filmmaker Carol Warner who spent several years trying to piece together the fragile details of the late Joyce Vincent's life. She writes in today's UK Observer about her efforts to memorialise the tragic Joyce, which has now resulted in a film, 'Dreams of a Life'.

"The point is, Joyce Vincent is dead, no one murdered her, and no one seems to care that much. I gather she was very beautiful, which for reasons totally spurious makes it more poignant because we always think beautiful people have everything go their way." - Lynne Featherstone, MP.

"There were a lot of exciting things happening to me and her arrival coincided with a lot of that change, so I used to call her my lucky charm. She was always immaculately attired down to the bows on her underwear. But she wasn't just physically beautiful, she had an aura about her."

Alistair explained that Joyce never really talked about her life before she met him. "Have you ever seen the movie The Man with No Name? That's how she was – she came with no past."

A portrait emerges of an upwardly mobile young woman with good jobs and good pay that moved in appropriate circles, but who may have sought to slough off the vestiges of her background. Even now, it appears friends rather than family, helped piece together what is now known. They cannot reconcile the beautiful young woman they had known with the down and out 38-year-old that died unmourned. They say she looked like Whitney Houston, had dinner with Stevie Wonder, knew Betty Wright, Issac Hayes, Jimmy Cliff and Gil Scott-Heron. She was at the Mandela Tribute Concert at Wembley in 1990 and met the Madiba. Millions may have seen her in the live telecast; and the filmmaker tracks down footage of the moment, in an almost heroic ode to transience.

Carol Morley's 'Dreams of a Life' will be shown at the BFI London Film Festival this month. It's already been shortlisted in the Best Documentary category for London Film Festival and will go on general release next year. I'm making a note to self now, that I must watch this film.

Snapshots from AFRIFF 2

Here's Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui in the departure lounge of the Port Harcourt airport on December 5. He's in an upcoming film with Morgan Freeman directed by Clint Eastwood, 'The Athlete', coming out in the new year (great to hear of another onscreen partnership between Eastwood and Freeman, after 'Unforgiven' and 'Million Dollar Baby').

There were lots of actresses in the hall but most kept a low profile, leaving Rita Dominic to play the belle of the ball in the front row. At one point, P-Square came down from the stage to sing to her alone. And she was game, getting up to dance. After that, she hardly sat down. Although P-Square was so good, the whole hall was up dancing by the end of their set.

Here's Nollywood actress Dakore Egbuson, co-host on the night, dancing to P-Square on the side-aisle.

Here's me and African American actor Rockmond Dunbar at the AFRIFF award gala on December 4. Dunbar was the festival's special guest along with Malcolm Jamal Warner (I couldn't look at him without thinking: Theo!). Both were seated way in front with Rita Dominic, and presented an award as well as being featured in many of co-host IK's wisecracks, and Dunbar was very good at playing along. IK said he hated Dunbar because his wife was totally into the man. So later when IK asked if Dunbar was married, the actor replied to much laughter in the audience: "I'm not married, but tell your wife I said Hello" - to which IK had no comeback. It was a long night and Malcolm Jamal Warner made a quiet exit almost an hour before the end of the show. But Rockmond Dunbar totally got into the groove (he wants to collaborate with Nollywood filmmakers and everything), left his special seat and joined the AFRIFF group (Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Chioma Ude, Ilaria Chessa and co) on the front side aisle, dancing the night away as P-Square brought the house down. I went up to take his picture and ended up posing for a shot with him. The next day I sent a text to my son to ask: "Do you know the actor Rockmond Dunbar from 'Prison Break'?" The reply was swift: "Benjamin a.k.a C-Note". And so because some young man somewhere thinks it's cool, I'm posting this picture.

Snapshots from AFRIFF

3 outstanding scripts from Tyger Williams' lab were selected for AFRIFF's Script-to-Screen project. Pictured here with Williams (in white) are, from left, Adeyemi Ayoyemi Adeniyi (for 'One Window'), Abiola Hameed ('Task') and Iliyasu Kassim (for 'Tsangaya'). They will be assisted with funding by the festival organisation to turn their scripts into short films that will be shown at next year's AFRIFF.

Tyger Williams wrote the script for 'Menace II Society', a fact that made me go 'Wow!' when I discovered. In the background is Soledad Grognett, Technical Director of the First African Film Festival. Along with Sandra Obiago and Jahman Anikulapo, I was on the Scriptwriting Advisory Board for AFRIFF. Our task was to select the 12 short scripts that made it into Tyger Williams' scriptwriting lab, which he taught for 3 days.

Actress Omoni Oboli, last seen in Kunle Afolayan's The Figurine, is out with a new film, 'Anchor Baby'. She's seen here with the film's director, Lonzo Nzekwe. 'Anchor Baby was shown at AFRIFF. It premieres in Lagos on December 9 and opens to the public on the 10th.

After the screening of the festival's opening film 'Relentless' on December 2, its stars, Gideon Okeke and Nneka Egbuna sit down for a Q&A with Kunle Afolayan and the film's director, Andy Amadi Okoroafor.

Blogging as a bourgeois pipe dream

Hello, patient blog readers, who have watched uncomplainingly while Wordsbody took a long snooze.

The failure to update this blog is never intentional. It's just that Lagos life throws a lot of challenges in one's way, like you get home and there's no light and you have to power your generator, which breaks down sometimes, leaving you clutching in the dark for rechargable torches or candles. Other times, there's no fuel because you've exhausted your supply or there's a fuel crisis. At times you get home very late at night after battling through traffic. Or you've paid for a month's unlimited internet supply and it just won't connect or it will take till tomorrow morning to upload the smallest file. At times like this, the furthest thing from your mind is the updating of a blog.

What am I trying to say? In the unending struggles of day-to-day existence in Nigeria, blogging can become a bourgeois pipe dream...

Lagos is an amazing city and there's always stuff happening on the arts scene there. One never has enough body or legs to make all the events. Like last Saturday I attended two art exhibtion openings: Resurgence, a two-man show by artists Gbenga Ajiboye and Ayoola Mudasiru at the Wangbojes Gallery in Ikoyi; and Ablode by Beninoise artist Midahuen Yves (known as Midy for short) at Quintessence. After the exhibitions I caught a play, Ahmed Yerima's 'Little Drops', produced by Lufodo Productions in collaboration with TW Magazine (Tosan Edremoda-Ugbeye, Joke Silva, Ropo Ewenla and Kate Henshaw-Nuttal gave their all in the play, which is about the plight of women in the Niger Delta crisis). Earlier in the week, November 22, I was at the ArtHouse Contemporary auction at the Civic Centre when Demas Nwoko's sitting wood sculpture of 'The Wise Man' went for a cool 9 million naira. Gotta love it. There was a hush as the bidding went into 5, 6, 7 million; and we all clapped when the hammer went down. Exciting stuff, and it happens in Lagos every day - pity one can't blog it all.

For a fortnight however, it seems many are going Rivers way, myself included. I'm posting this from Port Harcourt and my internet modem is cooperating. Above is the view of Port Harcourt from my sixth floor balcony at the Hotel Presidential.

I'm attending the Africa International Film Festival, which started on December 1 and ends tomorrow.
Taking over will be the Garden City Literary Festival which will have in attendance Wole Soyinka, J.M.G Le Clezio, Helon Habila and scores of others (December 8 to 11).
After that will be the CARNIRIV, Rivers State's own carnival, from December 13 to 18. I'm here till the close of the Garden City Literary Festival at least. I'll have to read about the carnival.

Filmfest

Seen Abouna? Simply one of the most touching films you'll ever see. Following the journey of 2 brothers who run off in search of a father who walks into the sunset in search of God-knows-what and never looks back, Abouna will charm your heart and break it at the same time. After their mother dismisses the absent father as 'irresponsible' in French (irresponsable, or something like), the younger brother asks the older the meaning of the word, in one of this gentle film's funnier moments. A bit like the Asian girl asking Rambo in one of the muscle-bound movies asking, "What means expendable?" Abouna is much more human than that blockbuster, and is one of the finest examples in African films about the search for a father figure ("Yeelen" is another).

• Abouna is on tonight (6.30pm) at the Renoir Cinema, London - as part of the London African Film Festival - in a screening attended by the director. You can see Tunde Kelani's Arugba on 7th December; and Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako is a The BFI Southbank on 6th December.
• See the whole festival programme

Bamako

13th February, and I attended a screening of Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako at the very arty Renoir Cinema in Russell Sq. The director took questions from the audience after the film, in a Q&A moderated by Imruh Bakari (in red cap), former director of the Zanzibar Internation Film Festival. Sissako spoke largely in French. His wife and co-producer of Bamako - Magda Abdi Gonji - translated into English. Later, husband and wife met film fans in one-to-one discussions. African on Screen continues till March 18; Sissako's Waiting For Happiness is also on the programme.

Africa On Screen

Tonight @ the Curzon Mayfair in London, the actor Danny Glover attends the Gala screening of Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako. The event is sold out - if you don't already a ticket then don't bother.

Bamako is described as an African parable of injustice in which a civil trial is set up in a courtyard to try the World Bank and IMF. Bamako opens a new season of films by African film-makers. Tagged Africa On Screen, the season is ongoing until March 18th.

At 3 London Cinemas - The Curzon, The Renoir & The Ritzy - you can catch Bamako and films including: Abouna, Ousmane Sembene's Xala, Touki Bouki, A Letter From My Village and Waiting For Happiness.

~

• Bamako movie website

Film & LitFests

The 8th Lagos Book & Arts Festival is at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos - from Friday 15 September to Sunday 17th. More details from CORA.

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Tunde Kelani's film, Abeni, is @ the Toronto International Film Festival on the 14th & 16th of September.

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Stavanger Literature Festival

This year's Stavanger Literature Festival is on this week in Norway, with a significant Nigerian presence - details below.

• Wednesday 13th
  Opening Lecture by Booker prize winning author of The Famished Road, Ben Okri.
• 
  Thursday 14th
  Chris Abani talks about his novel Graceland. He's also out and about at the festival on Friday 15th, exploring what poets can learn from Jazz musicians.

• Jack Mapanje (Malawi) and Chenjerai Hove (Zimbabwe) discuss what happens when non-native English writers write in the language.
• 
  Poet Benjamin Zephaniah (Jamaica/UK) and Uzodinma Iweala (author of Beasts of No Nation) feature in the Critics' Lounge. Iweala is the 'International of the Day' on Friday 15th.
• 
  Friday 15th
  Poetry Marathon with, amongst others Kat Francois (Grenada/UK), Zephaniah, and Chris Abani
• 
  Reggae Poetry - headlined by the leading Dub Poet, Linton Kwesi-Johnson.
• 
  Saturday 16th
  Sefi Atta, author of Everything Good Will Come & winner of the 1st Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature, discusses the problem of growing up privileged - with exiled Nigerian writer/journalist, Isioma Daniel.
• 
  Later in the day, Atta and Kat Froncois are among women writers sharing experiences about describing men in their work. Atta & Francois have shared a billing before, at the Spit Lit Festival in London in March 2005.
• 
  Benjamin Zephaniah is the 'International of the Day'.

Festival closes on Sunday 17th.

More info