99 Journal of African Cinemas Volume 9 Number 1 © 2017 Intellect Ltd Interview. English language. doi: 10.1386/jac.9.1.99_7 INTERVIEW NDUKA OTIONO Carleton University Interview – Samantha Iwowo, Scriptwriter of Oloibiri (2016) Saro-Wiwa’s agitation remains the most powerful artistic metaphor for the Niger-Delta Struggle. (Samantha Iwowo) Samantha Iwowo may not be a popular name in the wilderness that is Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry, where hundreds of films are produced weekly. Quiet, almost shy, the Delta State-born scriptwriter and doctoral candidate at the Department of Film Studies, University of Bristol, England, prefers to let her works speak for her. Although her screenplays Oloibiri (Iwowo, 2016a) and One of Several (2014) won Best-Screenplay at the 2015 edition of the NAFCA Awards in Hollywood, the San-Diego Black Film Festival (2016), and the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, respectively, it was not until my current research for a scholarly paper focusing on the Niger Delta that I began to pay closer attention to Miss Iwowo’s work. This is especially the case with Oloibiri, which has provoked further interest when, during a recent premiere of the film in Nigeria, former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) made an unprecedented apology to the Niger-Delta people for the injustices suffered in the region. The impact of the film, scripted by Ms Iwowo, directed by Curtis Graham, and produced by Rogers Ofime, is understandable. Ms Iwowo’s films generally tackle sociocultural issues. From One of Several, which