Celebrity Biographies
Biji Bandele
He succeeded with 2013’s “Half of a Yellow Sun.” Nigerian novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Biyi Bandele passed away on August 7, 2022, at age 54, in Lagos, Nigeria. He has released the news to his daughter, Temi Bandele, who has not specified the cause of death. “Biyi was a prodigiously talented writer and filmmaker, as well as a loyal friend and loving father. He was a storyteller to the core, with an unfazed perspective, a singular voice, and a wisdom that spoke boldly through all of his art, in poetry, novels, plays, and on the screen. He told stories that made a profound impact and inspired many around the world. His legacy will live on through his work, ”explains the text.
Born on October 13, 1967 in Kafachan, Kaduna State, Biyi Bandele was the son of a military man, who fought in the Burma Campaign of World War II, when Nigeria was still part of the British Empire. From a very young age, he dreamed of becoming a writer, and at fourteen he won a short story contest. After enrolling in Theater at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, he won the 1989 International Student Playscript competition with his play “Rain”, and later the British Council’s Lagos Award, in 1990, for a collection of poems. At 22 he moved to London.
In 2013, Biyi Bandele made his directorial debut with Half of a Yellow Sun , adapted from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2006 novel. Chiwetel Ejiofor starred in this family drama set in the 1960s. Bandele also directed the 2015 romantic film Fifty and several episodes of the African series Shuga , which aired on MTV.
Shortly before his passing, Biyi Bandele had wrapped up shooting for his latest film titled The King’s Horseman . Inspired by the anti-colonial play “Death and the King’s Horseman” by Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, the drama was to have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival a month after the director’s death, which I was planning to attend the contest.
In addition, Bandele had also co-directed chapters of Blood Sisters, for Netflix. The streamer’s first Nigerian original series stars Sarah and Kemi, friends who are forced to go on the run after the disappearance of a millionaire.