Veteran Filmmaker Biyi Bandele Dies At 54

Director of ‘Blood Sisters’ and ‘Half Of A Yellow Sun” Biyi Bandele has died aged 54.

His death was confirmed in a statement released by his family late night on Monday.

Temi Bandele, the deceased’s daughter who issued the statement on behalf of the family, described him as “a prodigiously talented writer and film-maker, as well as a loyal friend and beloved father.”

“He was a storyteller to his bones, with an unblinking perspective, singular voice and wisdom which spoke boldly through all of his art, in poetry, novels, plays and on screen. He told stories which made a profound impact and inspired many all over the world. His legacy will live on through his work.

“He was taken from us much too soon. He had already said so much so beautifully, and had so much more to say.

“We ask everyone to please respect the privacy of his family and friends as we grieve his loss,” the statement read.

Biyi was born in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, to parents who were from Abeokuta, Ogun State.

He was studying Dramatic Arts at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, when he won the BBC Playwriting Competition, and thereafter relocated to England where he had a flourishing career as a writer.

His latest work is Elesin Oba, the King’s Horseman (2022), which he adapted from Wole Soyinka’s classic drama, Death & The King’s Horseman, and directed for EbonyLife Films. The film is yet to be released but slated to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF, in September.

He had earlier co-directed Blood Sisters, a 4-part Netflix-original television drama series, also for EbonyLife Films. His earlier works include Half of a Yellow Sun (Shareman Media & State Films, 2013) adapted from Chimamanda Adichie’s novel of same title; Fifty (Ebony Films, 2015). He was also a director of the highly successful Television Series, SHUGA: What’s Your Reality. He directed FELA – Father of Afrobeat (2018), a TV special documentary for the BBC; and his self-produced TV-Movie documentary, Africa States of Independence (2010).

His fiction and non-fiction work include The Street, Burma Boy, a novel, a recreation of the story of his father and other veterans of the Second World War, who served in Burma, India, which he was working on to be adapted for Film. His other writing works include The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond, The Sympathetic Undertaker, and Yoruba Boy Running, which he recently concluded and submitted for publishing.