One of the lead actors of the second release from the First Features Project, Love and Life, Anthony Monjaro, has stated that he intends to help young actors scale up their development in the film industry.
This statement came in an interview after the release of Love and Life, stating that young actors need all the help they can get to reach the peak of their careers.
He said, “Young actors need to scale up and this year, I’ll also see how I can contribute and help the young ones both on the production side and the artistic side of the job to get better at what they love to do.”
Monjaro, who played the character Zenom in the film, explained that he didn’t find it difficult getting along with other characters as they just completed shooting another project before the commencement of Love & Life.
Speaking with our correspondent, he described his character, Zenom, in the newly released project, he said, “Love & Life is a love story about friendship and relationship and I think it was a good story and a well-written one. Zenom in the film was the guy who was trying to save the company after his boss passed away. I was just the good guy who wanted the best for the company.
On challenges while on the project, “I was working with people who knew their onions. The brief was more of a dance. When you work with people who know what they are doing, it becomes a joyful dance all together through the whole filming process, so there weren’t challenges.”
Being a part of the First Features Project, Monjaro explained the importance of the project making room for more directors in the industry. He said, “Training talented people to direct their first feature is a great initiative. When starting, you don’t get the opportunity to direct a piece which is produced by the likes of Steve Gukas and his partner because these are big dons of the industry who know their onions and have worked in the industry as producers and directors.”
Love & Life, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and ranks Number 1 in Nigeria, is a project of The First Features Project, a collaboration between Native Filmworks and Michelangelo Productions, spearheaded by Steve Gukas and Dotun Olakunri. Love and Life is the 2nd release from a slate of 12 films directed protégés of the First Features Project.
Asked about his next project, Monjaro stated that he was looking at producing his films in 2024.He said, “Starting this year, I’m looking into producing my films. I need to join the wagon of people who are making quality and great films as well. I studied multimedia and film production at the university in the United Kingdom and I haven’t used my knowledge ever since. Currently, I am producing some short films and comedies for my YouTube channel but I’m going to do a bit more feature films this year. I hope to commence a big project in July.”