AFRIFF 2025: Kalu Oji’s “Pasa Faho” Captures Cultural and Identity Fragmentation

Minutes into Kalu Oji’s Paso Faho, festival attendees might have been motivated to forgive AFRIFF for all its flaws. The film’s screening time had been delayed by an hour. But, when the film starts and Azubuike (played by Okey Bakassi) dominates the screen, cinema wins and anger subsides. Pasa Faho starts and the level of intentionality guiding the film is immediately striking. Azubuike, the film lead, is a shoe salesperson. An Igbo man living in Australia, he fills his shop with Igbo songs that grounds his ancestral ties to his Nigerian roots despite being an immigrant. A great salesperson and occasional storyteller, Azubuike eases his customers into buying not just footwear but an experience. He isn’t reluctant to share a smile and tell a story.  Azubike carries this easy-going-and-peace-loving mien all through the film even when he gets annoyed. 

Oji’s film, which he both wrote and directed, follows Azubuike’s evolving relationship with his biracial son, Obinna (Tyson Palmer). When the film opens, Obinna has been living with his mother. His decision to move in  with his father introduces new financial concerns that Azubuike, whose business is already struggling, will have to address. Azubuike also faces the threat of a landbuyer who wants to grab his “land and shop.” These external challenges are complicated by Obinna’s presence and internally, Azubuike has to navigate his and his son’s split cultural identity. Azubuike is the archetypal Nigerian father who holds steadfast to culture and traditions. Obinna’s upbringing acknowledges these cultural identity and dogmas but doesn’t enthusiastically hold them dear. For instance, he has had to change his name to an English and more-digestable name in school. Thus, both father and son have internal and external conflict they will have to confront as the film progresses. 

Obinna, like his father and Igbo friends in Australia, struggles with cultural and self fragmentation. As a Nigerian, Azubuike wants to physically discipline Obinna when he errs but he can’t. As a biracial child, Obinna feels socially and culturally ostracized when his father and Amaka, his aunt, speak Igbo. The cultural and language isolation Obinna feels is true not just for Igbo-Nigerian immigrants but other African immigrants whose children struggle with holding on to their parents’ culture and language while also expected to adopt, for social and economic reasons, the language and culture of their new country. During a festive scene, Azubuike and his Igbo friends discuss this cultural and identity crisis And how it’s a continuous struggle. This scene and many like it is how the director meditates on this dual cultural identity that Obinna and other biracial children deal with. 

The minute details in Pasa Faho grounds the film’s cultural strength. Azubuike constantly plays Igbo songs despite having predominately non-Nigerian customers, operating a business in a non-African community and having a receptionist and a son that don’t speak Igbo. These songs, when they play, shows Azubuike’s insistence in holding on to his ancestral roots and identity. For the most part, he doesn’t sing or dance to these songs. However, their presence, in the background, explains his psychological mindset and interest. These songs help explain his somewhat tense and occasionally vulnerable relationship with himself, Amaka (Laureta Idika Uduma), his sister and Obinna. When he apologizes to Amaka and is sincere and vulnerable with Obinna about his financial situation, the film casts the image of a man that’s also battling with dual identity. 

There’s a moment in the film when Obinna attempts to pry into an Igbo-dominated conversation to understand what was being discussed. But, as expected, the language alienates him. This scene aptly captures Obinna’s isolation. A brilliant choice the director makes is subtitling the dialogue in that scene entirely in Igbo rather than the English subtitles that were hitherto used. For the non-Igbo watcher, this creates a shared experience of Obinna’s language and cultural isolation. Another minute but significant moment is Azubuike and Obinna’s conversation about a goat. To Azubuike, the goat is to be killed and eaten. For Obinna, the goat is a pet that deserves food, care and occasional conversation. That conversation further shows the distance between the father and son despite their loving relationship. 

Pasa Faho is Oji’s directorial feature debut. Described as an Igbo-Australian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist, the filmmaker’s film explores notions of identity, in particular the African-Australian experience. This film, predominately written, directed and performed in Igbo is proof of the director’s artistic and cultural storytelling interest. With Bakassi, Palmer and Uduma mostly leading the film, the performances are enjoyable. Bakassi’s complex identity as a loving father, brother and great salesman conveys a degree of stellar directing and acting. Palmer’s ability to convey Obinna’s isolation and mental confusion further grounds the film. As the director mentioned during the post-screening Q&A, some of the actors aren’t professional actors. For most, the film is their first time on a film set. But, watching the film you hardly catch a glimpse of this except in a few instances. That the film was written and performed in a familiar tongue and worldview must have made the first-time actors give immersing performances. 

One of the essences of a film festival is film and director discovery. A film festival introduces  non-mainstream films and filmmakers to an enthusiastic audience. This is what the Pasa Faho experience sums up into. Completely shot in Autarila, written in Igbo language and featuring Nigerian-Australian casts, the film bears a Nigerian mark. But, these Nigerian ties shouldn’t be confused for ownership. Although the director vaguely mentions a possible Nigerian and African distribution plan, it isn’t certain. Conclusively, if the film is screening anywhere near you, you should run there.