Dika Ofoma Is A Happy Indie Filmmaker

For Dika Ofoma, filmmaking wasn’t an epiphany, it was inevitable. Like the natural unfolding of a story long written, his journey behind the camera feels preordained, like the universe conspired to nurture a voice that was always meant to be heard. This voice emerged distinctly in his 2022 short film, The Way Things Happen, and has since become his artistic signature. 

Ofoma’s work is immediately recognizable for its contemplative style, a through-line that connects his entire filmography. As he notes himself, viewers can trace the same artistic DNA from The Way Things Happen through A Japa Tale and God’s Wife, each film bearing his unmistakable creative fingerprint. When God’s Wife received the Rising Star Award at the 2024 S16 Festival, it felt like a natural progression. Ofoma’s humility might have surprised him, but his audience saw it as a fitting recognition of his evolving artistry.

Culture Custodian sat down with Ofoma to explore the depths of his filmmaking philosophy, his artistic vision, and the future chapters of his creative journey. 

Your short film God’s Wife captivated audiences at S16 with its contemplative approach. What drew you to filmmaking initially, and how did you develop your distinct meditative style?

I grew up watching films. I’ve always been interested in films from a young age. I don’t know that there was a time in my life when filmmaking or storytelling wasn’t the goal. Growing up, when kids would play with toys and all of that, I was more interested in gathering my friends and cousins, around my age and having them reenact things that they had seen. 

For my style, I’m drawn to the sort of things that I like. I’ve never been one for the action sort of things or things with spectacle and excitement. And so I guess that has a direct influence on the sort of things that I make. Because the way that I tell my stories is based on the things that I like.

Before God’s Wife, you worked on A Quiet Monday and A Japa Tale, The Way Things Happen. Which one do you feel was most instrumental in shaping your current artistic vision?

The Way Things Happen was very personal. It’s a story about grief just like God’s wife. And it’s about this woman who loses her fiancé, about her grieving.

I wanted to show the nature of grief, as honestly as possible. I put that on YouTube and I got great feedback from filmmakers who I look up to. For me, that was validation to know that I was walking the right track. And so The Way Things Happen is very important because my artistic voice was played in that film. When you watch it, you can tell it’s the same filmmaker that made A Japa Tale, God’s Wife, nothing is different. My voice was clear. I consider The Way Things Happen my first actual short film. 

Your films often explore deeply personal themes. What experiences from your own life tend to find their way into your storytelling?

I’ve lost loved ones. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost people dear to me and so, in one way or the other, it’s shaped my life and my understanding of life. It’s something I’m trying to make sense of with my films, how grief alters our lives. For some people, it shifts their lives very differently from what it was supposed to be. There are people who  lived very comfortable lives and then they lost their parents, and that drastically changed them.

There are people who lose a loved one and they fall into depression. And grief is such a hard thing. Even in A Japa Tale which was more about heartbreak, I was also talking about grief, which is like grieving the loss of people who have left the country, and that’s another kind of loss. Loss for me is how we are who we are because of people in our lives and how our lives completely change when those people get removed. Sometimes it’s leaving the country, sometimes it is relationships ending. Making films about them and writing about these stories is healing for me.

There’s such a delicate balance in your work between silence and dialogue. Can you walk me through your creative process when you’re first approaching a new story?

Thank you very much for this question. I like that you said there’s a balance because I like silence, but I also like good dialogue. I like having people interact, but it’s really about honesty. What influences the style is the story I’m telling. There are films like God’s Wife and The Way Things Happen that are a lot more silent than my other films. And it’s really the mind of the character that dictates that.

Humans have periods in their lives when they don’t like to talk or when they want to express themselves. And sometimes we are too exhausted to talk. It’s really just finding what works for each character and what I’m trying to do internally with them.

When you’re developing a new project, what comes first for you, is it a visual, a feeling, a character, or something else entirely?

The character first. A lot of my stories are very character-driven. It’s usually the story of someone and their relationship with the people in their lives. And so, for me, knowing the type of character then determines the tone of the story itself.

By knowing a character enough, I’m able to decide what the story looks like visually. What is the color of their bedroom? What is the color of the sheets in their bedroom? What is the color of the curtains in their bedroom? Where do the lights in their bedroom come from? Do they want lights in the room?  Or do they want to be in darkness? I go back again to the character. I think the main question is getting to know the characters well enough that I can see them. I can see this person and I can tell who they are. That then determines everything else. 

Many emerging filmmakers struggle to maintain their artistic integrity while pursuing commercial viability. How do you navigate this balance in your work?

This question is always tough for me to answer because I’m still in the kitchen.  I’ve never done short films to make money from it. It’s really for an artist or a filmmaker to find and announce themselves in the world. 

Filmmaking costs money, you have to worry about how to make that money back, pay off the investors, and make money for yourself. It’s also a job, and at the end of the day, you need to earn a living from it. I haven’t gotten to the point where I am making things and worrying about the commercial viability. I am making short films and short films aren’t really commercial. But in the future, when I start making feature films, I’ll have to care about their commercial viability as well.  

Can you give us a glimpse into what you’re working on next? How do you feel it builds upon or perhaps departs from some of the themes we saw in God’s Wife?

Well, it’s a film. Like I said with my films, if you’ve seen my films, it’s similar to everything that I’ve done. I can’t divulge yet because I don’t even have a synopsis for the story. But it’s something I’m very happy about and I’m happy to share once I figure it out.