We Shot “Don’t Beg Now” To Address Rape Issues – Queeen Rasheda

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

With the upsurge of rape cases in Nigeria entering a dangerous dimension, this has forced various non-governmental organizations, professional bodies and parents alike to seek a way out of the ugly trend. It was in this light that a short film, Don’t Beg Now was shot in a bid to address the public issue about how victims deal with the stigma, trauma and how the justice system so much shield the offenders.

The new thought-provoking movie, a Northern Lights Production and presented by QRTV, was premiered recently at 355, Restaurant and Lounge in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Queen Rasheda, CEO, QRTV and executive producer of the movie, said she is so passionate about stuff that concern women as such, she had to come up with a project that would tell a story as well as educate and enlighten so many people.

“Ever since the Busola Dakolo scandal, more and more women have been coming out with the stories of sexual assault, rape and violence against women. People are actually started to take notice of the menace of rape in our society,” said Queen.

She added: “What we set to achieve with this movie is to let the society understand that rape is not what the victims can just get over. We want people to know that rape can drastically change or outright destroy someone life and people need to understand the gravity of what rape is.”

The short movie, featuring young and vibrant upcoming actors like Kuchi Chris, Anthony Umeh and Sandra Iwajomo, was directed by Rola Olawore.

It graphically showcases the psychological struggles and the years of regrets that the victims are subjected to.

“For those people who don’t really know what the trauma is, they will get a sense of how a dark topic like rape can switch the character of anybody in the movie Don’t Beg Now. In the short movie, we hope to achieve that,” Olawore told P.M.EXPRESS.

To achieve the aim of the movie project was so challenging but things was also made easier with the professional touch of Olawore.

The director said their major aim was how to approach the project without stealing away the thunder from the victims and survivors.

“We actually had to interview a whole lot of rape survivors to have a little bit of feel on how to approach the movie. Sincerity is very important to us because of the nature of the topic. We focused on the trauma and what happens after this diabolical event,” he stated.  Ralo continued; “What we are doing with this project is to highlight the trauma so that even the attacker can think twice before attacking a female to rape her. We are trying to showcase the ugliness of the trauma so that the attacker can think again. We interviewed so many rape victims and survivors. All they wanted was the ultimate result which was death of their attacker.”

The movie project was done in a month while the script was written in 48 hours. It was shot in Lagos with Kuchi Kris played the lead role as a young girl of about 22.

“This is not my first project; I have been doing this for so long. I buried my head to do this and I don’t think one month is too short to produce a movie. It is a movie I am very proud of because we had so many struggles. Shooting in Nigeria is not the same as shooting in America. Here, you have to deal with the police, deal with area boys and deal with so many issues. I am very thankful to everybody that it finally made it,” said Olawore who also revealed the project is not aimed at making profit but just to teach and enlighten.

Don’t Beg Now is not available in cinemas, as it has only been officially launched on Youtube.

Viewers are urged to subscribe to the QRTV Youtube channel for free, to see the movie.