Today we’d like to introduce you to Ifeanyi Ezieme.
Hi Ifeanyi, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
At age nine, I discovered my dad’s old, abandoned camcorder. This was before SD cards & Cfast cards. They used camcorder cassettes. I initially started shooting random videos and used my brothers as actors. About a year later I got my first flip phone. It had a 2 megapixel camera and I was more excited about using the camera than I was about making calls or sending texts. I’d use the start-n-stop feature in the phone’s camera to make stop-motion animations with paper figurines that I’d cut out (similar to South Park). Eventually I mustered up enough confidence to screen my first ever animated short film called “the spy mission” to my 6th-grade class and from that moment forward, I always knew deep down that I was going to be a filmmaker. Soon after I began to find any excuse to shoot something. I’d ask my middle school teachers if I could make short films instead of book reports. Surprisingly, many of them were open to it. I continued this trend all the way through high school where I’d make music videos for Spanish class, short films for AP Bio, and fundraiser videos for various clubs. I couldn’t stop making films. When senior year came around, I received the Posse Foundation Scholarship for Pepperdine University where I studied Media Production. I would go on to make a total of 8 short films at Pepperdine, one of which would sweep every award at the school’s annual Reel Stories Film Festival in February 2019. That film was called “Focus” which follows a college Adderall dealer who must decide if he’ll risk his scholarship to keep his family financially stable. Shortly afterward, I was accepted to USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where I am currently pursuing my MFA.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road was definitely not easy by any stretch of the definition, ha. Though I was raised in Pasadena both of my parents are immigrants from Nigeria so filmmaking wasn’t really seen as a respectable career. For the longest time, I was almost convinced that I was going to be a lawyer simply because one of my uncles who was a lawyer had a really big home. Aside from the fact that I too wanted a big home, there was no other reason. When it got closer to applying for college, I realized I didn’t really care about law despite my student government and Model UN experience. So I secretly applied to film schools and didn’t tell my parents until after I submitted my applications. I didn’t want to be talked out of it. They thought I was making a huge mistake but I protected the confidence I had in myself. There was a lot of pressure during my undergrad to perform and make something of myself since I knew my parents were concerned for my well-being. Making films is expensive and as a broke college student who doesn’t come from money I had to find ways to be creative for cheap. I started working at the university’s camera rental house all 4 years just to gain access to equipment. At the same time I also sacrificed much of my social life in pursuit of making the best films that I could with the resources I had. Failure was not an option. It also doesn’t help that I am entirely self-taught and have no family in the industry to aid in my climb. But all those factors put a fire under me. It wasn’t until after my senior year festival sweep and admission into USC that my parents eventually jumped on board and became my #1 supporters. I don’t fault them at all, they know nothing about this industry. Heck, I’m still figuring things out as I continue to evolve. I just had to be alone in my journey to really understand what hard work and resilience can do for your character.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editor but I am primarily known for my writing & directing.
I would say that I’m most proud of 2 projects in particular. The first one is called “Scam Squad” which is a pilot I wrote & directed during the summer of 2020 (peak covid). My first semester at USC started in January of that very year and with quarantine starting in March, it forced us to move to online learning. The online experience just wasn’t the same so when the summer rolled around, I was itching to make something new. That’s when this idea came to me. Despite many productions going on hold and it feeling virtually impossible to make something, I alongside a team of filmmakers I met from Pepperdine, USC, and local Pasadena friends came together to bring this production to life. I am so proud of how the pilot turned out despite the circumstances. It is available on Youtube as a proof of concept for a limited series.
I am also very proud of my most recent short film “Ebezina.” This is because growing up in LA, all of my previous film perspectives have been from the Black American experience. Something I am very familiar with because I grew up here as a black man despite my Nigerian roots. Ebezina was the first time that I got an opportunity to make a film surrounding my culture, my heritage. We screened for the first time at the Eileen Norris Theater at USC in December 2022 and it was surreal to see my parents experience a film that they could deeply resonate with.
I think what sets me apart from others is that as a kid I continuously found myself failing to fit in to various social groups. I had no concrete identity to cling to whether it be my skin color, the way I spoke, my interests, my lack of self confidence, etc. So many seemingly conflicting variables were squeezed into this small black boy that eventually I realized, maybe I’m not meant to fit in, maybe I’m meant to stand out. My experience of becoming an estranged social nomad forced me to engage with different types of people which in turn made my knowledge of people expansive. I carry that experience with me in my films whether it’s a diverse cast or simply connecting with new people.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
YouTube has been a huge resource for quick tutorials on anything editing related.
As for books, “The Bible” “The Defining Decade” & “The Way of the Superior Man” have been really great in keeping me disciplined as I advance through my 20s.
My favorite podcast is the “Mallory Bros podcast” which features two identical twins (Terrell Mallory & Terrance Mallory) who talk about pop-culture, movies, sports, tech news, relationships, etc. Aside from the fact that these two brothers studied film in undergrad, what really draws me to their content is the dynamic between the two of them. They are very different in so many ways and it’s incredible hearing their different perspectives on topics I think about all the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ifeanyiezieme.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eefaunee/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ifeanyieziemeFILMS
- Other: https://vimeo.com/ifeanyiezieme
Image Credits
– Moises Barba Jr. – Gabriel Bautista – Sampson Ezieme – Anthony “Ketu” Ikediuba
