TAKE LIGHT
TAKE LIGHT
Director:
Shasha Nakhai
Premiere:
Cleveland 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Atlanta, Durban
About:
A ground-level look at Nigeria’s electricity crisis.
Despite its status as the largest producer of electricity in Africa, Nigeria struggles to provide power to more than half of its population, and, even for those with access, it’s severely limited and undependable. While the citizenry grows angry, blaming corruption and using illicit means to grab their share of energy at no cost, the government points to limitations in their infrastructure, making it impossible to keep up with the demand of the nation’s 200 million consumers. Nakhai capably if somewhat too cursorily explores this challenge of development and resources through several profiles of individuals connected to the issue, including an electrician who survived a dangerous electrocution, a bill collector faced with the unpleasant task of having to cut power to disgruntled customers who can’t or won’t pay their bills, and a pair of Youtubers known as Two Angry Men, who humorously complain about the state of affairs.
what (not) to doc 