Give Me a Riddle

GIVE ME A RIDDLE is a 1966 documentary of David Schickele’s experience as a member of the Peace Corps in Nigeria. Before the Civil War broke out in 1967, the country was enjoying a golden age following its 1960 independence, a time full of hope and cultural ferment. Schickele is welcomed as family by the villagers, including his college-educated friends Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam, Gabriel Ogar and Manze Ejiogu.
Schickele later wrote that the film is viewed “through the eyes of ex-Peace Corps volunteer Roger Landrum, returning to his host country a couple of years after his Peace Corps service as a teacher at the University of Nigeria. The film follows Roger as he looks up his old student friends, travels with them to their homes, talks with them about their lives and the life of their country. Shot in 1966, the film is a time capsule of a Nigeria and a Peace Corps both in the rambunctious bloom of youth.” Working in the cinéma vérité style of the time, Schickele imbues his deep love for Nigerian culture with brilliant use of local dance and music, along with astonishingly beautiful close-ups of the people he cared so deeply about. (Dennis Doros and Amy Heller)

In the presence of Gail Schickele.

David Schickele: BUSHMAN (1971), TUSCARORA (1992)