C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s “A Blue Butterfly” And What It Says About Nigerian Filmmakers

Nigerian director, C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi has been tapped to direct A Blue Butterfly –  a psychological drama led by Steve Toussaint and Sanaa Lathan and produced by UK outfit Boudica Entertainment.​ The film follows Sentwali, a limo driver consumed by his past, whose only human connection is Joseph, a Holocaust survivor who understands the weight of violence and survival.​ When Sentwali meets Emily, a charismatic actress who sees beyond his emotional walls, the film opens up a tense exploration of survivor’s guilt, redemption, and whether self-forgiveness is truly possible.​

Obasi is part of a cohort of Nigerian directors whose work while  deliberately local in texture, has come to be seen as global in ambition. His previous feature, Mami Wata, premiered at Sundance 2023, won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for cinematography, and went on to become Nigeria’s official submission for the international feature Oscar. Against the backdrop of the recent success of Akinola Davies Jr, and the Esiri twins, it signals the successful exportation of Nigerian and African sensibilities into international spaces. It shows a Nigerian auteur moving beyond the label of “festival discovery” into being trusted with projects anchored by high-profile US and UK talent like Toussaint and Lathan.

Over the last few years, Nigerian films have broken into prestige circuits like Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Cannes, with titles such as Mami Wata and others used as evidence of a new, export-ready language of Nigerian cinema. A Blue Butterfly slots into that momentum as another data point: a Nigerian filmmaker steering a psychologically complex, internationally cast feature, financed and produced out of the UK, without having to dilute his artistic identity or sever ties with the continent.