MARC-ANDRE SCHMACHTEL SO LONG, NIGERIA!
The Director, Goethe Institut, Nigeria and a jolly good fellow, Marc-Andre Schmachtel says “Auf Wiedersehen’’ to Nigeria this June leaving a scintillating memory of his good deeds for arts and culture in Nigeria. Yinka Olatunbosun reports.
Marc-André Schmachtel, the bespectacled striking young man at Goethe Institut has a book shelf in his office that bears a semblance of a kaleidoscope, with its books in different colours and shapes, covering cultural topics as well as historical ones. By the time you are reading this, most of these books would have found their way into different moveable cartons for easy lifting as the cultural advocate returns to Germany in July. For his impartial support for artists across the various expressions, this reporter decidedly visited him during office hours recently at the City Hall, Lagos Island.
Schmachtel was born in the German town of Lübeck on July 1, 1979. His first expedition to Africa was during his school days. He finished his high school in Windhoek, Namibia and returned to Germany for higher learning. The focus on his thesis is on African cinema. Between 2008 and 2010, he worked for the Goethe-Institut in Cameroon. He is also a passionate photographer.
Perhaps, the first thing that draws you to “Marc”, as he is called by his Nigerian friends, is his humility. Once, he was watching one of his subordinates struggle with the connecting cables that were meant to project a movie on the big screen at the Nigerian Film Corporation, Ikoyi. Unfortunately, one of the cables which would project the sound was missing. Apparently, the technical assistant forgot it at the Goethe office, Lagos Island. Meanwhile, the hall was already packed with audience who were expecting to see a movie that should have been showing about 30 minutes earlier. Rather than take offense, as any superior would, Marc volunteered to go to the office to retrieve the cable. That was one of the many instances where Marc had displayed the humble spirit.
He is also approachable and that is one of the reasons why you may need to wait for him sometimes. People hem him in at events because he listens patiently. No doubt, he will be missed by the culture community here but the organisation that he represents is here to stay just as his numerous cultural legacies. When Marc resumed on November 1, 2010, he brought a lot of creative ideas on board. Video art exhibitions, Molue mobile museum, electro music shows featuring foreign discjockeys and workshops refined our creative-sphere. He recounted the circumstances that surrounded his sojourn to Nigeria six years ago, precisely on October 30, 2010.
“I was in Cameroon as a language adviser and I applied for the position here in Lagos and got the job,” he began. “I learnt about the job while I was in Germany for a break. It was a big deal for me. I started in Cameroon at a much younger age, for a two-year traineeship working in the culture department. There was no other position in other countries then. I had a colleague at the language department then who went on paternity leave so I took his position.”
The director job in Lagos was a big deal for him because it came with additional respon- sibilities. But he assumed the role conveniently given the background that he had in his previous position. He could have suffered culture shock on arrival but Cameroun had given him a foretaste of African life and he was prepared to explore other culture terrain but not without making some little findings about Nigeria on his own. He knew that the population of Lagos was about that of the entire Cameroon and he was ready to accept a bigger job in a bigger city.
“I was involved in project called Nigeroon-Cameria,” he continued. “It was a programme for the film industry in Cameroon. You know Cameroon is a bi-lingual country. There are parts that are Anglo-phone and some parts are Francophone. I had bought their films in the street and they are not very interactive. So, the Francophones didn’t know what the Anglophones were doing. There was such dichotomy. We spoke to them about getting some Nigerians among the Nollywood filmmakers to Cameroon. So, we brought to Cameroon Teco Benson, Kunle Afolayan and resource persons like Jahman Anikulapo and Victor Ehikhamenor. That was my first encounter with Nigerians from the film industry. It was a very interesting exchange for them.
“Being in Cameroun, you’d hear a lot about Nigeria that they are dynamic people and hardworking. All my vehicle spare parts I purchased were from Nigerians. So, I had this idea that Nigeria is a big country with a lot of business people. Nigerians are very entrepreneurial. I was also in contact with my colleague here. He told me about the city, the chaos, the traffic and lots of challenges. But above all, it is full of super interesting people. I knew it would be interesting.”
In an instant, a gleam of emotion surfaced on his face as he remembered something personal too. Two days after the cheering news of his new job in Lagos as Director, Goethe Institut, Nigeria, he received the shocking news of the death of his girlfriend who was under-going an internship programme at a development agency in Sierra-Leone. Though it was a long distance relationship, it was nonetheless a painful experience especially when the cause of death was malaria.
“It was a very critical time for me. Lagos was my chance to do something positive instead of mourning. It was tough trying to do my responsibility and not trying to lose myself to grief. I think it was a right thing for me to take this job. There are so many interesting people here and I think that is one of the things that make Lagos one of the best places to work. You will meet a lot of engaging people and I can say that it may not have been possible to do all that I have done here elsewhere in ten years.”
Though Marc couldn’t bring back his lady, he was determined during his tenure as the director, to bring to life a lot of “dead’’ places. One of them is the Nigerian Film Corporation, where a bi-monthly screening of films from both Nigerian and German filmmakers commenced. Also, many cultural shows were activated and artists, who would have ordinarily remained invisible, came to light with their artistic expressions. Marc-Andre acknowledged the help of Nigerians who brought ideas to meet his.
“Of course, I have some ideas myself,” he said.