Social media star, fashionista and budding actress, Temi Otedola, plays the lead role of Moremi Oluwa in ‘Citation’, a sobering drama about sexual assault on college campuses.
Otedola’s perfomance has been widely lauded since the film debuted on Netflix, but its surprisingly her first movie role. Directed by Kunle Afolayan, she stars alongside industry stalwarts including Joke Silva, Jimmy-Jean Louis, Bukunmi Oluwashina.
“I was working with legends, I got so lucky!” Otedola tells Arise News. “Everyone was so patient.”
The budding actress plays a young Nigerian student who takes on the academic establishment when she accuses a celebrated professor of rape and sexual abuse.
It is allegedly based on true events and provides a West African angle rarely seen by the rest of the world.
Otedola said the role was emotionally draining, and urged people to listen to victims of sexual abuse.
“It’s acting, but at some point it has to feel like he’s attacking me. We made sure there were boundaries, we kept it light in the room. It is emotionally draining and we had to play it out like he was actually trying to assault me.”
“The key thing is when someone speaks out about abuse, you need to listen to them, despite who the perpetrator is.
“The film is just to inspire people and teach a lesson that even harassment on this level is not okay. We need to listen to these women. We want to tell these stories.”
Rita Osakwe
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