Adebayo Oduwole and Praise Okeoghene Vandeh Want to Save Nigerian Independent Cinema with “Saving Cinema”

Nigerian culture writer and filmmaker, Praise Okeoghene Vandeh, and Nigerian filmmaker Adebayo Oduwole, inspired by a double feature shown at two different cinemas, Ebonylife and Filmhouse Lekki in 2025, joked about saving cinema. A few months later, when Oduwole walked into Magnificent Cinemas, a community-focused, budget-friendly cinema in the Onipanu/Somolu area, he saw a chance to do something real, and he texted Vandeh about the space. That text holds the foundation of what will become the Saving Cinema screening series in partnership with Magnificent Cinemas. Their phrase “saving cinema” influenced the making of their film, “When Tari Met Voke,” and inspired the name of their screening series. The partnership with Magnificent Cinemas helped turn their idea into reality.

There has been a conversation about Nigerian cinema dying due to Nigerians’ dwindling economic capacity. But, for the Vandeh and Oduwole, by hopping from one cinema to the other, they are, like every cinema goer, ‘saving cinema.’ They didn’t think that phrase would get a life of its own. But, months later, they made When Tari Met Voke, which Vandeh wrote and produced, and Oduwole directed. With this screening series, it feels fulfilling for Vandeh that the joke is now having a life of its own. Oduwole feels like this partnership has been a long time coming, even though it wasn’t premeditated. “It feels like ‘it’ all was leading up to this, and then, eventually, whatever comes from this. It’s really exciting.”

A 2025 Culture Custodian listicle/essay shows that there is a growing list of alternative screening spaces available for Nigerian independent filmmakers, from Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Abuja, Kaduna, to Calabar. These spaces regularly curate, screen, and interrogate Nigerian independent films and filmmakers in makeshift cinema halls, parlors, restaurants, and occasionally in a cinema hall. But with the Saving Cinema initiative, Nigerian independent filmmakers can now screen their films on the big screen. 

Nigerian culture writer, Praise Okeoghene Vandeh, and Nigerian filmmaker Adebayo Oduwole.

Importantly, the organizers felt that high-end commercial experiences don’t create space for community-focused intimacy. Although cinema goers want to talk, connect, and discuss with each other, there isn’t an avenue for that to happen. Once the credit list starts rolling, cinema operators are already emptying the hall to accommodate new audiences for another showtime. The absence of lounges and conversation areas at most cinemas also makes it impossible to have short or long conversations with other cinema goers. This makes us miss out on possible human and intellectual connections that can be made. 

Akinyode Olajide, representative of Magnificent Cinemas, says, “These screenings are designed to showcase diverse films. We want to provide a venue for filmmakers to premiere completed projects, especially those that might struggle to find mainstream distribution.” Saving Cinema will recur monthly at Magnificent Cinemas, giving audiences the chance to experience indie short films on the big screen and connect with fellow viewers, while providing filmmakers a platform for their work to be seen and discussed.

Saving Cinema goes beyond curating films and holding post-screening conversations, the intent is also to create a community of cinephiles. Vandeh opined that there’s a loneliness epidemic with more people making less friendly connections. Cinema can be a place to address this. Although the cinema experience, due to its solitary, occasional nature, doesn’t accommodate itself to making friends. But, with their curated monthly screenings, they want to offer Nigerians an avenue to make friends with strangers they watch films with. 

Using the Ouida’s Open Mic programme she started attending last year, Vandeh mentioned how it is helping to build community. The monthly Open Mic is populated by people who read poetry, story, literature, and listen to music. “With Saving Cinema, we’re trying to create a community for film lovers. The existence of Letterboxd shows that people want to talk and connect around the cinema they consume. So in this, we’re also creating an experience for people to talk about film. This is guided by community and conversations,” Vandeh shares.  

Saving Cinema, in Oduwole’s framing, exists as an opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas about whatever the audience has experienced. Typically, after a film ends at a cinema, some silently walk out of the theatre while others passionately geek out or complain about the film they just saw. These people walk out of the cinema and go their separate ways. “With Saving Cinema, half of the experience is getting to talk about the screening experience, what you’ve just watched, the thoughts you have, and even getting to debate various philosophical view points.”

Curated and organic conversations elongate the lifeline of a film. By discussing a film in a formal or informal setting, a film culture is being built. When quizzed how, as curators of Saving Cinema, they place premium attention on post-screening dialogue, they responded that it’s also to drive community. Vandeh stated that, at the core, Saving Cinema is about creating a curated space where people can talk and banter about films. “For me, it’s community first. People want to talk about films, and they need an avenue to discuss what they’re excited about. And that is what we’re trying to do here. So this is very important to this because it’s at the core of why we’re doing this. We want people to have community. We want people to have a space to talk about this film.”

Oduwole shares Vandeh’s opinion. Sharing an anecdote, he recalls visiting Magnificent Cinema to see Sam Raimi’s horror comedy Send Help. The film, at face value, was funny and dark. But, after a three-hour conversation with a friend, they unpacked the film’s subtext about the human psyche. The longer the conversation lasted, the less black and white the film’s conclusion seemed. That experience signifies what’s possible with Saving Cinema. “I sincerely believe that post-screening conversation is a missing puzzle piece in the cinema experience. It’s the reason why people go online to talk about a film or show that they just watched at home or even in the theatre because there’s that need for social exchange, to validate our thoughts, to process our observations or assumptions, and to enlighten us even a little more.”

For the screening, curated filmmakers aren’t required to pay a submission fee. Rather, they will be given a token as appreciation for sharing their art with everyone. The intent is to operate a mix of  submission and curatorial style system while, in the future inviting guest curators. For now, the priority is on Nigerian independent filmmakers, even if African titles will be considered. 

Saving Cinema will commence in April and will be held at Magnificent Cinemas for as long as the partnership continues to grow. “For now, we’re focused on learning as much as we can through this partnership with Magnificent Cinemas. Long-term, the hope is that this starts the ball rolling. People have often talked about community cinema, and this is our way of doing something about that. I definitely do see this going to other neighbourhoods, and hopefully we get to be a part of that as well, driving it or supporting it,” Oduwole concludes.