Kuddi’s Case 19 Dives Headlong Into Nigeria’s Untapped Film Noir Scene

CASE 19 is a noir short film set in 1998 by Kuddi under 5th DMNSN COMPANY. It follows a Nigerian detective, John as he goes after a serial killer in the Abuja metropolis. A twist however occurs in the dimension of this short film that applies to all of Kuddi’s work. Unlike our own 3^rd dimension world, Kuddi’s characters enjoy their existence in a 5^th one.

In his interview with us he said;

“All my films take place in the same cinematic universe called 5th Dimension. things happen differently here so people should get used to me breaking some rules and changing history.”

Film Noir, even now has an amazing following of its own despite age, length or time. Movies like Double Indemnity and Chinatown brought fame and superb recognition to the genre. The term which roughly translates to “black film” or “black cinema” is a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of gloom, fatalism, and danger. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.

Kuddi stated that Case 19 is very special because over 6 months he discussed the idea of creating a noir film. The move was bold on his part considering the amount of critique that goes with such work, especially when it is one of the firsts here in Nigeria.

Check it out for yourself below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhJagM-BQQ&w=560&h=315]