For Abu-bakr Sadiq Adamu, Film Is a Way Into Other People's Worlds

Human stories deserve to be honoured. Life is a collection of events that shape who we are, and those events deserve to be documented, retold, analysed and appreciated.

Filmmaking has always been a medium for telling human stories. While a love for film is admirable in itself, there is something even more beautiful about a young person choosing the medium before fully understanding why they are drawn to it. Long before he could articulate the kinds of stories he wanted to tell, Abu-bakr Sadiq Adamu found himself gravitating towards film.

For the Suleja-based filmmaker, it started with making videos with friends, building a creative community at university, and teaching himself the basics through experimentation. What began as curiosity slowly evolved into something more intentional. Today, his work is inspired by the everyday experiences of ordinary people. He is interested in stories beyond moral judgement and labels, stories that allow audiences to see people for who they are.

Can you Briefly Introduce Yourself and tell me how You Got into Your Art Form?

My name is Abubakar Sadiq Adamu. I am a writer, director, editor, and visual artist. I am based in Suleja. I love cinema. I love celebrating cinema in all forms and all parts. So I am a very artistic, conscious filmmaker.

How did You Get into Film?

I got into film in a very tricky way. When I was younger, I was around 11 years old. Me and my friends used to take random videos with our phones for fun.

A few years later, there was a surge in social media content creation, especially on Instagram, where a lot of creators were coming up and creating short-form content. That motivated us, and we started creating short-form videos with our phones too.

Whenever we were trying to make videos, everyone would usually hold the phone, but somehow the way I did things turned out different. Every time we wanted to make something, they would hand me the phone to shoot it. That was how I got interested.

We went from making comedy videos to trying to make actual films. One day I told them, if people can do things like this with phones, why can't we make films with phones too? I came up with an idea and wrote a script. The first script I wrote was over thirty pages long and I wrote it completely by hand. Unfortunately, we never got to make that one. Later, I came up with another idea that we were able to shoot with a phone.

The challenge then became post-production because nobody knew anything about editing. I had to start learning editing from scratch. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, and from there I got introduced to a much bigger world of filmmaking. My curiosity kept growing. We eventually made a short film and I edited it myself. It wasn't perfect, but I was glad we were able to do it.

I started making films more professionally when I got into university.

What Happened when You Got into University?

Before university, I already had an interest in filmmaking, but I originally wanted to study architecture. As I grew older, my interest slowly shifted from architecture to filmmaking, but I still took architecture very seriously.

Unfortunately, I didn't get architecture. I got Building Technology at FUT Minna. During my first year, I enjoyed the course, but something in me kept saying, I'm not sure this is actually for me.

That was when I decided to use the opportunity I had in school to learn more about filmmaking and see how much I could grow.

Around that time, I connected with someone who shared the same interest in filmmaking. We decided to make something together. The first thing we made was a music video. We were trying to understand how music videos were shot and edited. Luckily, we did it very well, and I found the whole process really interesting. After that, I started reaching out to artists around school. Some responded and I got opportunities to make music videos for them.

But even then, I still wasn't completely satisfied. I started moving more towards filmmaking and eventually made my first short film. After that, I met other creatives who were interested in film. We came together and made another short film, and that was when I realised this was really what I wanted to do. Since then, I've just kept making short films.

Can you walk me through the process of making your first short film?

Before writing the script, I didn't have any formal knowledge of screenwriting. I only knew some basic things I had learned online. I had watched a Hollywood film and liked the idea behind it. I thought we could do something similar but set it in Nigeria and make it fit our environment as students.

I sat down and started researching. I came across screenwriting software like Celtx and started learning how scripts were properly formatted. I wrote down my ideas and slowly built the story. I have a very close friend named Abdullahi. He's someone who has followed almost every project I've worked on. Whenever I come up with an idea, he's usually the first person to hear it. I shared the script with him and he helped critique it. Together we discussed how to make it better.

We reached out to friends who had shown interest in acting and were able to gather a cast. I also had a friend who owned cameras and sound equipment. I sent him the script, he liked it, and agreed to join us.

That was how we were able to shoot the film. We had just finished exams, and while most people had already left school, we stayed behind for almost a week to shoot. Everybody on set was very collaborative. Nobody was being paid. Everyone simply wanted to contribute and make something. After shooting, we moved into post-production. The friend who owned the equipment handled the editing. When we finally released the film on YouTube, I was very anxious about how people would react. But the feedback was surprisingly good. People were impressed and kept asking why we weren't making more films.

Of course, there were criticisms too, and people pointed out things we could have done better. But overall, we were happy that we had actually made something.

What was the film called and what was it about?

The film is called The Guest of the Woods.

It's about three friends who have just finished their exams. They're bored, and one of them comes up with the idea of going on an adventure into the woods. At first they're just having fun, but eventually an unknown creature starts attacking them one after another. Only one person survives.

The way the film ends allows people to interpret it differently. Depending on how you watch it, you might feel that the last person who survived was actually responsible for what happened. So yeah, it's a horror film.

What is the importance of doing projects like that early in your career, even when there is little to no funding?

The importance is that it connects you with people who share the same ideas and passions as you. It also helps you make mistakes early. A lot of people avoid making mistakes, but mistakes are one of the first steps towards getting better. When you keep making things despite limitations, you make mistakes, learn from them, and improve.

At some point, you look back and realise you've actually come a long way. Your work starts looking much better than it used to.

How would you say your work has changed over the years?

My work has changed a lot.

Back then, I was mostly interested in stories that were exciting and entertaining. We wanted to make things that people would find captivating. But as I watched more films and explored different kinds of cinema, I was exposed to different genres, drama, romance, comedy, and many others.

Through that experience, I started discovering the kind of stories I truly wanted to tell.

Now I want to tell stories that are calm and human-oriented. Stories that aren't focused on spectacle, but on characters. Characters who have challenges and are trying to survive them.

These days I'm more interested in reality and human experiences than in creating spectacle.

What do you like about telling people's stories?

As humans, we easily judge people. We judge them by their actions without knowing what they went through. There are so many things that affect how we talk, how we act, how we react to situations. The kind of family we grew up in affects how we see other people. What I find interesting is being able to see someone's story from a perspective that is not judgmental. You see them for who they are, as humans being humans, instead of seeing them as simply good or bad people.

Storytelling introduces you to experiences you might never have yourself. For example, someone might lose their mother, and you may go your entire life without experiencing that loss. You may never fully understand it.

But by trying to tell that story, you're taken into that person's world. Even if you don't completely grasp the experience, you're able to understand it better.

How do you translate those emotions to audiences as a filmmaker?

It starts with structure.

Sometimes you only have a simple idea, like a person struggling with depression. But just saying that someone is struggling isn't enough to create emotion.

You have to build the character first.

Who is this person? What do they want? What kind of life do they have?

Let's say you have a character who wakes up every day, gets dressed, and goes to work. We see that their boss is very strict. Then one day something happens. Maybe their alarm doesn't go off. Maybe there is no light. Suddenly they're late for work.

Because we've already established who the character is and what they're dealing with, the audience immediately understands the tension. They know this person is in trouble.

That's how emotion is built, step by step.

Whatever emotion you're trying to create, you need the structure in place first.

Many emerging filmmakers struggle with funding and access to resources. What has kept you going?

The biggest thing has been passion.

This is something I've been passionate about since I was very young. Even before I knew much about filmmaking, the curiosity was already there.

That passion has kept me on this path.

And at this point, I've come too far to turn back. I have to keep pushing and make sure I achieve something that I'll be proud of.

Your recent film,Silent Verses, was inspired by your own life. Can you tell me about that?

The film isn't entirely based on my experience, but the core part of it comes from my life. One of the strongest elements in the film is stuttering. I stutter, and the main character also stutters.

The film explores some of the challenges that come with that. When you stutter, there are moments where you can't defend yourself as quickly as you want to. People often overlook you or make assumptions about you.

People also make fun of people who stutter without understanding how difficult it can be.

That experience became a major part of the story.

What inspired you to make a film about stuttering?

I wanted to see more stories about people who stutter.

I've watched a lot of films, and there are very few that have characters who stutter. Even among those films, there usually isn't much focus on their experiences or their daily lives. I once watched a short film about a person who stutters. It was nominated for an Academy Award.

The film was called Stutterer. I found it very relatable because I could see myself in the character. When you watch a story that reflects your own experience, it naturally becomes more meaningful to you. I kept wondering why there weren't more stories like that. One film isn't enough. We need more stories about people who stutter. I spent almost two years writing and rewriting Silent Verses. I kept getting feedback, making adjustments, and improving it.

Eventually, I decided we had spent enough time refining it and it was time to actually make the film. And we did.

What is the importance of having a creative community around you?

A lot of people have ideas but don't have the resources to bring them to life. For me, community has been the solution. All the films I've made were possible because of the community I've built over the years. I know people who shoot, people who edit, people who handle different parts of production.

Whenever I have an idea, I reach out to them. Over time we've supported one another's projects, so when it's my turn to make something, people are willing to come together and help. Sometimes we spend very little money. Sometimes we spend none at all. Having a community makes a huge difference.

What are you looking forward to on the rest of your journey as a filmmaker?

The first thing I'm looking forward to is making my first feature film in 2027 and seeing how far it can go. I'm also very committed to changing narratives through my films. One of the narratives I'm most interested in challenging is how Northerners, Muslims, and young Northern boys are often perceived.

I want to create stories that present these people from a human perspective. I want them to be seen as human beings instead of ideas.