The Story⚡
Donald Tombia’s production company, Rocks and Badgers, is set to release its first title, Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop On This Trip, a surrealist short film.
Tell Me More
The short film is Rocks & Badgers’ first production, and it uses the drug-induced subconscious to express ideas about economy, religion, and parenting through illogical and dreamlike scenes. Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop On This Trip is written and directed by Donald Tombia and produced by Nosa Isibor.
The story follows the life of two young, average Nigerians plagued with financial struggles and riddled with rolling debt despite their consistent hard work and plans to survive. The film aims to put faces to the alarming poverty statistics in the country, showing two people who, at different times, would not be termed poor.
With Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop On This Trip, filmmaker Donald Tombia takes giant, daring strides to expand the growing diverse Nigerian film consciousness. Beyond this short film, the production house, R&B, is committed to telling simple stories that have a cultural context in Nigeria and are filled with tension and heart while maintaining a globally recognizable unique stamp of visual mastery and artistry.
In his response on why the story should be told now, Donald said that the story is a simple, grounded one that mirrors today’s Nigerian society as it is. According to him, “The story won’t be the same if it’s adapted verbatim in Hollywood. It tackles the complexities of living in modern-day Nigeria. Besides, Nollywood is embracing original, rich, diverse storytelling and Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop on This Trip is an original, rich and diverse story.”
The genre of the short is slice-of-life, a genre favoured by Eastern storytelling. Donald created this story using an Eastern storytelling technique known as Kishōtenketsu.
For such a surreal story, he talked of how he selected his cast. “I wrote the character Akumjeli, nicknamed Akum Jelly, with Doris Okorie in mind. She’s smart, sexy, girl-next-doorsy and an amazing actor, traits my character needed. When I thought of who to pair her with, a romantic love interest who would hold his own while letting her shine, the only person that I knew could pull it off was Chukwu Martin. He must have come out of the womb acting because ‘the thing dey hin body’. Together, with an additional mystery cast member, they brought my vision to life.”
On working with his actors, Donald Tombia described the process as one involving “pressing their necks” with a lot of his ideas, thoughts and direction before production and getting out of their way during production in order for them to give their best in interpreting the story. For him, during production, his actors became his characters, and his characters his actors.
Commenting on the kind of people who will love the project, Chukwu Martin said, “Anyone who has lived in a country like Nigeria where you struggle to bring your dreams to reality will find this project interesting. It is playful, exciting and experimental.”
Also, speaking on the challenges in bringing the script to life, Martin said it was having to separate himself from the character to find the nuances that the character has. On the other hand, Doris Okorie said it was fun and wild having her character have to do so many things that she personally hasn’t done before as an actor.
BTS Look at Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop On This Trip
Here are exclusive images from the set of the short film written and directed by Donald Tombia.
Rocks and Badgers
Founded in 2023 by award-winning filmmaker Donald Tombia (best known for Slum King, Masquerades of Aniedo, and Shanty Town) and operating out of Lagos, Nigeria, R&B is a production company dedicated to bringing simple, cultural, and artistic stories with bucket loads of tension and heart to life on the small and silver screen.
R&B is modelled after A24 and Blumhouse’s business models and marketing strategies. Its vision is to become a leading voice in global cinema by transforming simple stories into visually captivating and emotionally resonant experiences while maximising production quality on efficient budgets.
In Summary
The distribution route for Òdè! There Is No Bus Stop On This Trip is yet to be disclosed, although Donald is open to conversations with interested parties who want to represent the film.
However, you can follow Rocks & Badgers on Instagram @rocksandbadgers or the Founder on Instagram @donaldtombia to know more about the title.
