Tell us about yourself and how you got into filmmaking.
I am Fatimah Binta Gimsay, a writer, producer and director. I spent a good number of my career as a television and web series writer before transitioning to the film space.
I joined Nollywood as an intern in 2016, started out as a showrunner’s intern and social media manager before deciding to professionally start writing in 2018. It’s always been filmmaking for me because I went straight from holiday season in school to set.
I worked as a photographer in university for two years before reverting back to my love for writing. I’ve been writing since I was 11 and I always made little productions of my own. It only made sense to explore it as an adult because I grew up deeply admiring show business and being curious about the world around it.
I got my start by reaching out to every producer I could access and I got a chance that I’ll never take for granted.
You have moved from shorts like Ijo and Laraba and Balarabe into your debut. What did the shorts teach you that you carried onto a set as big as Black Market?
With my short films, I’ve always been intentional and I was able to carry that into the bigger world of Black Market. Short films are more intimate because it’s usually a small cast for me and I get to build character and story world with the cast.
I was able to carry that to a big cast this time around and it was a fun challenge. I enjoyed seeing how far my intentionality could stretch itself. I wasn’t the producer this time around so I see that as a privilege to a bit more “free”.
I was so happy this came right after Laraba and Balarabe because I feel a lot of myself was poured into that short film as a producer, and I’m happy it was some of the same crew members that were also on Black Market so they understood my process immediately.
Black Market follows five market women running a smuggling operation. What drew you to that story for your first feature?
I heard “women led” and that was enough for me.
I love morally ambiguous characters because I think a lot of human beings are indeed morally ambiguous. I appreciate when they’re well developed and not made to be glamourised or demonised.
We seek a lot of explanation for people’s actions when they make us uncomfortable and unfortunately we cannot understand why people do everything they do. I love when women characters are allowed to be a little ambiguous about their morals without having to over explain themselves.
The world of Black Market is clear but the people are layered and trying to survive. Whether we agree with their mode of survival or not, only one way to find out.
What was the biggest difference between directing a short and directing a feature, on a practical, day to day level?
This is a very obvious answer but everything is different. Right from page count to prep, scale and so much more. Every single thing is different.
What do you want audiences to walk away from Black Market thinking about, beyond the record attempt itself?
I want them to walk away feeling like they watched a fun film with fun characters and had a good time with other people. The worst thing you can receive as a filmmaker is indifference, so I stubbornly work to make sure my audience has a good time.
I also want them to want to watch the film again and again!
