Today we’d like to introduce you to M Sayibu.
M, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It started with a Short film (This Line of Work) which I did in 2016 shortly after separating from the U.S. Air Force. I shot it in Yuba City over one weekend with a few friends and submitted it to a few festivals. Soon after I set out to go back home to Ghana to shoot my first feature which ended up losing its original producer and had to be made with one DSLR camera and no budget. As fate would have it, we ended getting the film on Amazon Prime which opened the door for my Shorts to be on the platform as well. SEG Cineland was born through this. Now here in Los Angeles slowly assimilating into the grand Hollywood machine.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest struggle as with everything was finance. When my first feature (The Northern King) lost its financial backers, the dream of what SEG could be almost went with him. When it was completed against all odds, another issue that came up was distribution. How could we be the company we wanted to be without the right distribution channels? Thankfully Amazon Prime video was the answer to that struggle.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the SEG Cineland story. Tell us more about the business.
SEG Cineland is an International Production Company specializing in collaborating with Hollywood partners and distributors to create content from the African mainland that can be enjoyed by Africans in the diaspora and more importantly, the world at large. We strive to create stories that reflect what contemporary Ghana (And by extension, Africa) is to a world who most often sees very little of the beauty that lies within. I must say what I am most proud of is that SEG Cineland is bringing a lot of opportunity to young and rising talent in West Africa through our film productions and our Talent Agency.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
With the rise in demand for diverse voices and stories, I see SEG becoming a pioneer in the push to bring African film into the global box office conversation and be a major player in the entertainment industry within the next 5-10 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seg-cineland.com
- Phone: 3238660534
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @segcineland @emjeed
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/segcineland/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SegCineland?lang=en
Image Credit:
Rob Hill Photography (M. Sayibu picture with briefcase)
All other images courtesy of Andre Berimah
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