In April, the paths of Ilya Varlamov, a Russian travel documentary filmmaker, and Daniel Adewoyin, a Nigerian freelance journalist, crossed for the first time.
The Russian found him on X (formerly Twitter) and offered him a role as a fixer for a documentary he would shoot a month later in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Adewoyin wanted $5,000 for his troubles, but Ilya said he could not pay this much as YouTube had shut off monetisation for Russian channels following the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Without ad revenue, the filmmaker asked for a revision of terms. Considering this, Adewoyin proposed a $3,500 payment for his work, and an extra $500 if he would provide Varlamov’s security, transportation and accommodation. Varlamov took responsibility for those and then settled for $3,500.
On May 22, both men met in Ibadan and shot some footage to add to what Adewoyin had shot on May 13 and 21. The documentary went public on Varlamov’s YouTube channel on Wednesday but without any restrictions.
Adewoyin and Varlamov in Ibadan on May 22
The information panel on the channel shows Varlamov created it on December 11, 2008, registered it in the Netherlands, and amassed over 5.3 million subscribers with over a billion views for his 1,804 videos [as of press time].
Varlamov’s YouTube channel information page
Being registered in the Netherlands meant YouTube’s restrictions on Russian channels could not have affected the filmmaker’s monetisation. Upon learning this, Daniel felt cheated.
I TOOK MACHETE CUTS TO MY BACK FOR THIS — ADEWOYIN
Daniel Adewoyin spotting machete cuts on his back
In an interview with FIJ on August 5, Adewoyin said Varlamov sent him a message on April 28 and proposed making a documentary on the falsity of witchcraft.
READ ALSO: ‘Go to the Police’ — Filmmaker Tolu Agienoji Responds to Actor’s Demand for Unpaid N10,000
To achieve this, Adewoyin had to visit traditional priests to test their charms. These visits took him to Oloye Kazeem Omotosho, the Oloolu-Oba Ogboni.
In the documentary, Adewoyin and Varlamov were able to establish that Omotosho, who heads the Ogboni group, was lying about his powers, but doing this came at a price.
“I was attacked,” Adewoyin told FIJ. “The priest struck me with a machete two times.”
Despite this attack, Varlamov and his team failed to compensate Adewoyin for his troubles.
“Even after I got injured and I asked for a raise, they said it was only to a journalistic interest,” Adewoyin said.
“They claimed that the channel was Russian, and if people in Russia saw their ads, they wouldn’t get credited. The claim was that YouTube suspended monetisation but it was not the case.”
During his conversations with Varlamov’s team, Adewoyin spoke with Maya Volf and a lady simply identified as Liza.
Liza’s message to Adewoyin on May 7
Liza sent a message to Adewoyin on May 7 saying the production team did not have enough insights into the “intricacies of organising a shoot of such request.” However, she repeated the challenge with monetisation.
POST-PUBLICATION
When the video went public on Wednesday, Adewoyin noticed his face was cut from it. While his contributions remained in the 76-minute clip, his face never made it.
Speaking Russian in the documentary, Varlamov accused Adewoyin of creating trouble and always demanding money. He said Adewoyin discovered the channel was registered in the Netherlands, and began “forcing” them to pay more money than previously agreed.
Varlamov also said he blurred Adewoyin’s face so that he would not write to YouTube to give the channel a strike for using his image without his consent as he earlier told them he did not want to be known in Europe.
“These are lies,” Adewoyin told FIJ in response to Varlamov’s claims.
On Wednesday, FIJ emailed the production team for their reaction to the claims, but as of press time, they are yet to reply.
The post Russian Filmmaker Ilya Varlamov Makes Nigerian Journalist Take $1,000 Pay Cut for Problem That ‘Didn’t Exist’ appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.