Discoveries from Nigeria World Cinema

Beauty and the Beast: Comparing Two Igbo Masquerades By Herbert M. Cole

Voices of Resilience follows the lives of queer individuals and drug users living with HIV in Nigeria. Through personal interviews and experimental visual storytelling, the film shows the protagonists’ worlds as they seek out underground harm reduction services.

A playboy falls in love with a lady when they meet, but a call from the past causes trouble.

After her father’s death, police officer Pepe is drawn back to her hometown, where a string of ritual murders exposes deep fractures in her family and community. Her investigation pits her against corrupt law enforcement, powerful local figures, and a feared vigilante group—only to uncover a devastating link between the killings and those she once trusted. As betrayal and supernatural visions close in, Pepe must embrace her spiritual gifts to survive and bring the truth to light. A tense blend of crime thriller and mysticism, the film explores faith, justice, and redemption in a town gripped by fear.

Adebisi, a young woman from a wealthy family, has her life shattered by her father's controlling grip. Finally allowed to experience freedom through the NYSC program, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, befriending a young man from a humble background who challenges her perspectives. As she begins to find her voice and assert her independence, her father's wrath looms large. In a desperate bid to protect her daughter, Adebisi's seemingly docile mother reveals a depth of strength and determination, confronting the secrets and lies that have defined their family's dynamics. As the mother's hidden narrative unfolds, the film exposes the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, unresolved grief, and the struggle for individuality.

Infidelity and control lead to dramatic consequences for Greg, causing strain on his family. Trust, redemption and family dynamics are explored.

Jane is part of a trio of friends that do all kinds of dirty jobs to make ends meet, but things go awry when her fiancé's custom necklace is stolen.

Ese has a striking resemblance to Mrs. Bucknor's lost daughter, Mrs. Bucknor's protege Festus employs Ese to pretend to be Mrs. Bucknor's long lost granddaughter so he can steal all of her wealth.

Afterlife is a documentary that explores How Colonization Changed Nigeria’s Spiritual and Cultural Identity. We see the ancient Bori religion practiced in Hausa communities before the Islamic invasion, uncovering its spiritual significance and the forces that led to its decline. It also examines the surviving indigenous religions and cultural traditions in today’s southwestern Yoruba and eastern Igbo communities, revealing how they have endured despite centuries of external influence.

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A married man finds himself tempted in the workplace.

Lost In The Jungle A horror game of Guma (Patience Ozokwor) who sacrifices and engages in human trafficking, in her land became over when youth corpers that are serving in their land revealed her secretes to the the villagers.

Documentary about Haile Selassies state visit to Kaduna. Previously lost nigerian movie, currently in restoration.

The film focuses on the life of Emeka Ojukwu, between 1954-1960, before Nigeria’s Independence, as he spends time frolicking with different women and throwing parties for his friends, inviting highlife originator E.T Mensah from Ghana to play for him with Bobby Benson, singing at his birthday party.

Greg’s dream of marrying Rose becomes threatened when he lustfully ends up in bed with Vera, a village girl. Vera becomes pregnant, and the news of her pregnancy becomes known to Charity, Greg’s mother.

A homeless woman's sole source for food and comfort suddenly disappears, forcing her to endure the indignities and prejudices of urban society as she struggles to survive.

A brother holds a hospital hostage as he seeks medical help for his brother.

Nigerian action film

Adapted from the Instagram webcomic of the same name, this crime noir/sci-fi horror written and animated by reagle, depicts the famous Detective Jacqueline interrogating a suspected serial child kidnapper, Mathilda Uzodinma, a 73 year old fruit seller which takes on a horrifyingly, disturbing twist.

The story of a tyrant uncle of a true king who took over the ship of royalty only to be challenged later by the true heir to the throne.

Runner is a crime drama about two siblings, Ayomide & Nifemi. Ayomide,a sex worker, tries to leave her job under Madam Ruth, after facing abuse in the hands of Stone, a gangster and customer who is obsessed with her.

A journey into the world of sex traffickers and terrorists

An unemployed man struggles with relentless rejection and fading hope as he seeks redemption and a way out of his despair.

A short film diary about childhood, forgotten memories and summer.

Return Of The Ghost And Odumodu The Messenger Of Death

A Married woman traumatised by her past event begins to sleep around with men in the neighbourhood. after she is caught by her husband, Her Mother takes her to see various spiritualists.. How will Enitan find redemption?

Ken made a costly promise to Samadora a lady he met on the road and fell madly for her beauty but unknow to him she belong to the marine kingdom and must go back with him.

When love stops being a two-way street, a couple must decide if it takes two wrongs to make a right or if they can make a change before it’s too late.

Ibrahim navigates through his phobia to sounds made by water. He eventually faced it when he visits the river again with his friends.

A short film sequence inspired by action films from the 90s.

A man sells his soul to obtain wealth but when he passes away, he becomes trapped between life and death.

A visual essay on the tensions and grief, like concrete, from which Nigerians' joy still blooms.

George falls in love with his childhood friend John, but the love can hardly be expressed since they find themselves in a homophobic society. After doing their thing in secret for quite a long time, they finally get caught and are isolated by their family relations, and finally, George gives up on life after he undergoes a kidney transplant for his lover, John.

A compelling and gripping story of Mrs. Naomi Adams, a top Nigerian society lady slaughter right inside her own house by an unknown assassin. Coincidentally the nation is undergoing a democratic transition and the late Adams happened to be the estranged wife of John Adams.

The Story of a roadside food vendor who comes across a stranded wealthy man and offered him shelter while he awaits his car mechanic. An attempt to help her out from her life of poverty wrecked his home. Saint Obi, Monalisa Chinda, Oby Edozie. Follows Golden Moon (2005).

HEAD is at its most basic, an act of suggestion. A moving image that inverts the default performer-observer dynamic and for the length of its runtime attempts to mutate the viewer and HEAD into self-reflexive spectacles. Shot in a country where queerness is criminalised, and the body is rendered evidence, HEAD shrinks the (policed) surface area of narrative and frames an implied sexual act in the reach of no one watching.

The communal rituals of most villages of the Eastern Niger Delta focus on two great classes of spirits - the heroes and the water people. The heroes once lived with the men, founded their institutions and brought them their characteristic means of gaining a livelihood. Today, as spirits, they continue to maintain the established institutions and the skills with which people wrest a living from their environment. The water people, by contrast, have never lived with men: they are the creators and owners of the rivers and creeks, controlling the state of the waters and the abundance of fish. The little village of Soku, hidden in the heart of the eastern Delta, has a group of heroes headed by Fenibaso, and its creeks and rivers are controlled by the water-spirit Duminea. This film shows some highlights of the annual ritual for Duminea. As in most Kalabari festivals, spirit possession features prominently in the proceedings.

When a tragedy befalls Halima's village, Halima will have to say 'No' to the government vote-buying schemes and stand up for the rights of her people. Halima's Vote is a short animated film from Nigeria. It's about vote-buying, women's empowerment, and holding leaders to account.

A beautiful struggle is a fashionable portrait following a small-town man’s pursuit of stardom against a vibrant, psychedelic backdrop of Lagos city where music is his passion. Written & Directed by Dafe Oboro in collaboration with Vlisco&co. Featuring fashion designs by Papa Oyeyemi and Abiola Olusola.

Obi is bored so plays a game he knows will provoke the adults around him

This short documentary examines multiple facets of Nigeria’s cultural attitudes towards pregnancy, women’s productive options, and the familial structure.

Fred, unemployed graduate like many young Nigerians, is starting a new job as a taxi driver. As for Akin, he taxes commercial vehicles for the national transport union. They both operate in the rich urban landscape of Ibadan, in which Alain Kassanda’s camera choreographs the multiplicity and perpetual power relations at play.

This movie is all about two gate men and their Landlady.

An ordinary man witnesses an alien invasion.

For this installation, each actress was asked to sit in front of the camera – baring their shoulders and covering their heads – and cry when prompted by Zina. They needed to produce real tears and engage with the camera as much as possible during the process, turning their emotions into a true performance as well as a test of endurance. The work explores the role of performance in expressing grief, drawing the viewer into the territory between the emotive and the emotional. The minimal, ghostly sound leaving room for the viewer to engage with the physical performance of grief. The lack of narrative and context but direct engagement of the subject also draws out the viewer’s own personal narratives engineering a form of catharsis.

Niger Delta: A Documentary is a looped video that was shot at a beachfront in Ogoniland. A red plastic chair sits, apparently unoccupied, with the Omo river flowing behind it. The scene seems to be a still life but in reality it is anything but.

“Opera di Muxaro: Ballata dell’Africana Errante” (Ballad of the Wandering African) is a new short film by British-Nigerian artist Zina Saro-Wiwa shot entirely in Sant’Angelo di Muxaro in the Agrigento region of Sicily. The film, which was conceived, shot and edited in two weeks is about existing in peace during war and existence as war during peace time. The film is about the cognitive and emotional dissonance of surviving societal collapse but finding yourself in an almost problematically beautiful place that suggests sanctuary and maybe even the afterlife.

Twin Demons. A Dozie Omechi Film

Abuja, 2060. Humans and aliens spiral into conflict as identity, land, and power collide in the fight for the city's soul.

A contemplation on the role of women's bodies in African cinema.

200 Million follows Jacob “JJ” Jesuobo, a struggling Edo-born returnee from the U.K. whose past in internet fraud leaves him broke and desperate. Alongside his friend Udo, he scrapes by on small, comical scams—until he overhears a plot involving $200 million hidden within his church. JJ seizes the opportunity, dragging Udo and clueless Saheed into an amateur heist that spirals into a chaotic quest for a better life. Blending humor and social insight, the film highlights the struggles and ambitions of young Nigerians fighting for survival.

On the mysterious third floor of a hotel, love, terror, and survival intertwine as an unknown, malicious force begins hunting its occupants, leaving a trail of blood and fear. Amidst the chaos, Dalima, a Ugandan gentleman, and Nana, his Tanzanian beloved, must confront the horrors that test their bond and their will to survive.

A visual poetry evaluating the similarities that fuels our differences as human beings.

Childless and desperate, she’s betrayed when her husband impregnates another woman. Her supportive best friend hides dark secrets as the true source of her barrenness, leading to shocking revelations and revenge.

After learning that her on-again, off-again beau may be in love with someone else, a professional woman creates the perfect plan to get him back.