Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam

Biography

Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam grew up in a Nigerian village. He was a graduate student at San Francisco State College and a teacher in dramatic arts. Okpokam made his first film appearance in "Give Me a Riddle" (1966). He is one of the four charismatic Nigerians at the center of the movie, friends and students of director David Schickele when he was a Peace Corps volunteer a few years earlier. The shooting of "Bushman", again directed by David Schickele, started in 1968, Okpokam playing there the main character. Halfway through the filming, in the context of Civil Rights tensions in San Francisco, Okpokam was wrongfully arrested and accused by police officers of planning to place a bomb. He suffered police mistreatment and was jailed for several months, including in San Quentin prison. In 1969, Okpokam was expelled from the US. Home again in Nigeria (he was not permitted back in the States), Okpokam returned to teaching and wrote plays, as well as acting and directing in rural theater groups, and died in 2018, when he was 78.