Twitter is rife with demands from fans, filmmakers, and actors alike to bring back Sugar Rush after the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) pulled it from cinemas despite its roaring commercial success.
Rumours have even surfaced on Twitter that the government is trying to silence the creatives who do not agree with their version of the truth; in accordance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent freedom of speech violations.
But Executive Director at NFVCB , Mr Adedayo Thomas has told eelive.ng that the government agency is just insisting that the film be subjected to the normal censorship processes, according to the conventions and laws guiding film making world-over.
In an earlier response to the backlash, the NFVCB had attempted to explain why the film was pulled from cinemas. The Executive Director made a statement via censorship body’s Twitter account.
Check out the thread below:
https://t.co/fDomfgp6dz has come to our notice that #BringBackSugarRush is currently gaining momentum on Twitter with many speculating a ban on the movie @sugarrushmovie... @FilmOneng @BankyW @FilmhouseCinema
— NFVCB Nigeria (@nfvcbng) January 11, 2020
Statement from the NFVCB
Speaking in an exclusive chat with eelive.ng however; Adedayo revealed that the NFVCB granted Sugar Rush temporary approval so that it could meet its debut in time for Christmas Day and benefit from the usual overflow of film-goers during the yuletide.
Adedayo explained that the Board was not unaware of the unimpressive box office returns at the cinema most of 2019 and that it was willing to work with distributors and producers of films to see that they made the best of December’s festivities.
He pointed out that as it is whenever such provisional approvals were given, they lasted for about two weeks after, which the concerned distributors or filmmakers are expected to return to the Board to get their films properly censored.
This withdrawal, which he explained is not a ban in any way, was to allow due processes for final certification; which should hopefully be completed within the first few days of next week.
He appealed to film lovers to see the effort made by his agency to ensure that promoters of Sugar Rush did not lose out on the December market and stated that it is unfair to get the volume of current backlash for trying to do the right thing.
Adedayo noted that filmmakers in Nigeria should not take the cooperation they get from the NVFCB for granted. He insisted that a lot of the films commissioned or purchased by television channels and Subscription video on demand (SVOD) service providers were not submitted to the board for censorship before they executed their deals and noted that this was not acceptable.
While expressing surprise at the refusal of promoters of Sugar Rush to state the facts of the case instead of playing the victim narrative; Adedayo advised stakeholders in the industry to work together for overall development of the sector.
Jadesola Osiberu’s statement
Eelive.ng was unable to get the get a response from the Producer of the film, Jade Osiberu. She had not replied to our messages as at the time of filing this report. However, the filmmaker had earlier made a statement getting pulled from cinemas via Instagram about Sugar Rush.
Check out the post below:
Osiberu also talked about how big a blow this incident was mentally and financially. She stated that despite Sugar Rush being in the cinemas at the same time as bigger budget Hollywood movies; it remained number 1 in Nigeria.
She revealed that Sugar Rush was already inching towards being among the highest-grossing movies in the country before the incident. Osiberu then expressed that the situation, however temporary, was heartbreaking for her.
Group Executive Director/ MD FilmOne, Moses Babatope, who responded to inquiries from eelive.ng on the veracity of the NFVCB; declined to comment on the accusation.
In his words: ” Unfortunately I am unable to provide a position on the film; other than we are working very hard towards its reinstatement”. His position about ongoing efforts to ensure reinstatement checks out with Adedayo’s earlier promise.
This is also the hope that film lovers nurse about this film; which has made more than N100m within the first ten days at the Box Office.