| The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) visited the McManus Galleries this morning where they interviewed Fiona Sinclair, Galleries Curator and Charles Farquhar, Deputy Lord Provost.
CBN’s managing producer Victor Oladokun has long been fascinated by the life of Mary Slessor and said that, but for her work, his Nigerian-born wife Georgina may never have existed.
The Dundee-raised missionary has until recently been a relatively forgotten figure in her home country, but is a household name in Nigeria. She spent the last 40 years of her life in the region of Calabar.
Although the documentary is in production phase and does not yet have a title, CBN plan to make a 15-minute feature on the missionary’s life followed by a documentary which will last between 30 minutes and an hour.
They have already been to Nigeria to visit Mary Slessor’s grave, meet some of her descendants and see the work carried out by the Mary Slessor Foundation, which was formed in Dundee a few years ago.
Later today, the film crew were visiting the Mary Slessor Centre where they were to interview Donna Robertson and Hazel Murie, Keepers of the Steeple Church Mary Slessor Collection. Victor Oladokun will also speak to Professor Cathy di Domenico, an authority on the life and work of Mary Slessor.
The crew will finish filming in Dundee tomorrow when they will speak to 12-year-old pupils at Dundee High School about their knowledge of and ideas about the famous missionary.
Managing Producer Victor Oladokun said, “The filming has gone very well, much better than we had anticipated it to.
“It has been a very helpful time and we have benefited greatly from returning to Dundee to retrace the footsteps of Mary Slessor.
“We realised that talking about Mary Slessor and not mentioning Dundee, where she grew up, would be incomplete.
“After speaking to people from the mills, I have a much better understanding of the life that helped to form her character.
“It has also given me an idea of where her strength and determination came from. Coming to Dundee has really enabled us to fill in the gaps.
“We were also able to trace a distant Socttish relative, Noni Cobban, whose grandmother was Mary Slessor’s cousin and she was able to provide us with photographs and letters.
“One of our goals is hopefully to introduce the life of Mary Slessor to a much wider audience and provide even those who know something about her with a lot more information than just the basics.” |
