IFA 2025: Destiny Festus Reflects on the Experimental Ethos of his Works and Mundaness of Everyday Living

Destiny Festus’ In Our Dream We Fly is a celebration of the divinity of everyday life. The film which screened at IFA 2025 and made in collaboration with his siblings revolves around the mundanity  of everyday conversation that two sisters share. We watch the sisters dote on each other and get mischievous in the archetypal siblings’ relationship. The relativity of their smiles, dialogue and setting empowers the film’s emotional core. And, while one watches the film, what is seen is the dedication of two sisters towards each other.

Destiny’s siblings are aware of his filmmaking aspirations. This awareness prompted them to be helpful during the filmmaking process. They were willing to rehearse and do multiple takes with him even when it was physically exerting. Destiny got it wrong on the first day of shooting. Miracle, his sister, wasn’t getting her lines right and he had raised his voice at her. Frustrated, she walked out of the set because she felt punished. This seemingly trivial experience made Destiny think about his filmmaking career. He thought that if his sister can’t successfully act for him, then he mightn’t have a career in filmmaking. 

“Using my sister as a sort of reference, I had to learn how to be patient and to be very, very gentle and careful. Fortunately, my siblings were very supportive. My brother, Daniel, helped me; I have this mic stand, and he helped me hold the mic, carry the mic, and even helped me hold the phone in some of the shots,” the director told Culture Custodian. This anecdote carries the guiding philosophy of Destiny’s filmmaking process. He is learning to make films with the limitations of his environment and skillset. What he lost in scale, equipment and, he replicated with natural acting, solid-proof vision and intentionality. 

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

In Our Dream We Fly has been publicly available on YouTube before the screening at Ibadan Indie Film Awards (IFA). As an independent filmmaker, what did the selection mean to you and your confidence as a storyteller? 

After I finished making the movie, I showed it to a couple of friends. The reception was very warm, and it prompted me to upload it on YouTube. While I did that, I created an account on Film Freeway and started sending it across different festival platforms for screening and possible publication. To be very honest, I got a lot of rejection, and I was already beginning to feel like the Nigerian movie industry has this sort of bias toward films made with a phone.

Maybe they didn’t feel it was good enough. If I was only selected for screening, this would have been a big deal, but I got nominated for six awards in six categories, and I won two. So for me, I feel like this is a beautiful start to my career, and I’ve never been more confident to push forward. I would say that if this film wasn’t recognized, I might feel a sort of embarrassment—not embarrassment per se. Embarrassment is such a strong word, but I might feel shy about referencing it. But the fact that it got screened at IFA, I feel very confident about telling people that this is where my career in filmmaking started from. As a storyteller, I feel more confident to push better stories and not be afraid of how people will react to the medium, just to be more creative and confident as ever.

In Our Dreams We Fly is about the everyday mundane and ordinariness of everyday life and conversation. As a storyteller, what draws you to these supposedly mundane conversations and what do they or can they represent? 

All right, for me, I’ll say it was intentional that the film was about everyday mundanity. I could only portray that because, I mean, if you look at the film, you can tell the budget situation already. There was not a lot of money going in. I don’t think I spent up to ₦200k making it, and I could only afford to portray something mundane and ordinary. Anything that would have breached the  mundane  might have required more money and more technical requirements, and I couldn’t afford that. So I could only afford to portray something ordinary. I still wanted to tell something interesting, something with a twist, something that had layers. That was why I built the character of the sister to be oblivious to what was happening around her.

She was selfish with herself—that’s the Miracle character. She was very selfish with what she wanted, and she didn’t care that it was breaking her sister just to keep them alive. And as a storyteller, what draws you to these mundane conversations? For me, if you watch Marvel films, they make big heroes out of big people, people that are chosen. But when I wanted to learn about filmmaking, I would watch a lot of Korean films, like my favorite films by Hirokazu Kore-eda and Bong Joon-ho. They would make heroes out of simple characters, making simple, random people get wrapped up in interesting scenarios. I think for me that’s what my characters represent. I want them to be ordinary people whose lives we just peek into and see that even though these people are ordinary—even though they are not the kind of people you see trending on social media—they are just ordinary regular people who have interesting lives. They have to jump through hoops to make decisions and sacrifices, and it would be nice if they also got their fair share of representation on screen as well. That is what it means to me.

That your characters long for an alternate  reality other than their daily reality is a running theme in your work. As a Nigerian and storytelling, what does that mean to you?

It’s very true. For me, I think fantasy is a theme that is going to keep reflecting in my film and my work. I think I’m going to keep on writing about characters that want to change the world. They are not comfortable with their reality; they are not comfortable with what they have, and they want more for themselves.

It’s not just because I’m a very ambitious person, so I threw that into my characters. They want something more for themselves, and I like it as a running theme. I don’t really think I can write about characters that are just comfortable with their status quo. I want someone that wants to punch through the wall, someone that wants to change the world. I want evolution. I’m pushing towards that evolution.

Miracle, the younger sister, has a playful yet critical view of the world. She questions her sister’s choices and reflects on their financial status and wishes for better for herself. What does Miracle, as a character, represent to you? 

She represents a child, an innocent child. Children just want to play; they want to have fun, and sometimes they might not understand the hard decisions that have to be made for them. For me, that’s what Miracle is. She’s an innocent child, and I really wanted to maintain that innocence throughout the film. She’s just mischievous and playful, but she’s an innocent child. Fortunately, my sister Miracle is very talented, and she was able to bring that character to life. She had depth, and she’s very funny as well.

It was very difficult even getting her to play this serious role because she is a clown, and she kept on laughing during rehearsals. But I wanted that for an innocent person that just wants a better life for themselves. Yeah, so that’s what Miracle represents to me: someone that’s ambitious and wants change.

The filmmaking process is completely independent and carries the ethos of independent and guerilla cinema. What inspired you to create a film centered around sisters’ and family relationship? And, can you talk about the filming experience and why it’s important to explore and experiment, as a storyteller, within the limitations you have? 

In 2024, I saved about N1.5 million from my work as an academic writer to make my first short film. I wrote a script for about three months titled Happy Endings and it was going to be my introduction to Nollywood. Production was supposed to last for two days. I had big plans. But, despite my planning, the studio I had hired to help me shoot presented me with a challenge: my budget could only cover a day’s shoot. My limited experience prompted me to shoot for a day and lose some of the film’s essence due to time constraint. The film came out bad and left me disappointed with myself. After that experience, I wanted to make something that would make me feel ingenious, proud of myself as a filmmaker. So I centered everything around my sisters because I couldn’t afford to start saving again, and I really wanted to make something with them. 

I decided to shoot using my phone and started writing the film. I wrote a script for about six weeks and rehearsed with my sisters for about three weeks afterwards, and shot for three days. The filmmaking process was exhausting as it was my first time editing anything ever. However, I was very impressed with my creativity, and that was when I knew that I’m very imaginative and I can improvise. I don’t know if it was Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan or one of the greats that said, ‘Just pick up a camera and shoot anything.’ I took that advice, picked up my phone, said ‘action,’ and we started shooting. If you’re a filmmaker, confident, and want to start writing or making films, you don’t need to wait until you can afford a camera or a set. Take your phone, involve your siblings and start shooting. Do it with your friend, do it yourself—if you’re a good actor, just start shooting with anything. Just be creative, so that when the opportunity comes and the money comes, you’re ready.

Experimental filmmaking, like yours, blurs the line between reality and fiction. How did working with your siblings impact your approach to storytelling, and did you find yourself navigating different truths or interpretations of your shared experiences?

Honestly, working with them impacted my approach to storytelling. Like I said, when I was working with them, I had to rewrite during rehearsal because I would watch them and think, ‘Okay, I’m not feeling this scene. I think I have to rewrite,’ or, ‘I don’t think I can get the perfect angle to film this particular scene. I have to rewrite it.’ They were very disciplined. I remember one time, for the shot I used to end the film—where Tivon and Daniel are watching television—I had to wake them around 7 AM to shoot that scene because I stay in Magodo, and the light situation here isn’t good. I remember waking them up, and they were so supportive. They woke up from their bed and came to the living room so that I could shoot that particular scene of them watching TV. Their dedication and effort inspired me to be bold about what I wanted for every scene. I am a recovering people pleaser as well; sometimes when I want to ask somebody to do something difficult, I might decide not to because I think I’m inconveniencing that person. But because of how dedicated and forthcoming they were, it made me feel more confident, and I carried that confidence with me in my next project and the ones afterwards. I think in terms of different shared experiences, they are in awe of me. I know they are not here to say it, but I think they are, because I didn’t even want to attend the Ibadan Indie Film Festival. My sister, Favo, just kept encouraging me. She was saying, ‘Look, remember how much effort you put into this? Remember how many times we had to do this triage out and film? I really like this film.’ She handles my social media pages because I’m not a social media person. She’s been a very supportive person for me as well.

Your film won the Jury Award for Spirit of IFA and Most Promising indie filmmaker. As a filmmaker whose films tilt towards experimental cinema, what does it mean to your career and the kind of experimental films you have been making?

I’m just going to keep on being Festus Destiny. This film just spells out Festus Destiny, and it’s basically a microcosm of what I want to do in the future. I always want to make fantasy and ridiculous scenarios and impossible situations out of ordinary people, ordinary characters, and ordinary scenarios. I just need to keep writing. 2024 for me was about preparing for 2025. I did a lot of rewriting. I saw a lot of movies—I’ve never seen as many movies as I saw this year—and I read a lot of scripts. For me, it’s been just back-to-back engagement toward bettering myself and making myself a better filmmaker. So, I’m just going to keep on making more films like that, and I don’t think I’ll be afraid to cross the line and spread myself across all genres. I don’t care if it’s comedy, thriller, action, fantasy, or sci-fi. I just need to keep on creating, expanding, and challenging myself.

What’s next for you and your sisters creatively, and are there any plans to continue exploring personal or family themes in your work?

Definitely, definitely. My sister Miracle acts and writes as well. Favour also acts and writes as well. So for me, I look forward to more creative collaborations with them. After winning this award, I even told them that I was definitely going to put them in my next film. I did another one with them after In Our Dreams We Fly called If Wishes Were Horses; it’s not really that popular, but it’s on YouTube. And for the Zuma International Film Festival, I made another short film, Beggy Beggy which I regretted not making with my sister. I submitted it for the festival; I don’t know if it’s shortlisted yet. 

I’m currently writing my next screenplay. My next project is actually titled $Magnets$. It’s supernatural, it’s experimental. It’s about this lady who enlists the help of a witch to sort of create a closer bond between her and her lover, and it has a mind-blowing supernatural twist with depth and layers. So for me, I’m just going to keep experimenting and keep writing. Filmmaking is my career now. I really hope I make it. I want to make a successful, long career out of it. So the next couple of years, the next step forward for me, is just to keep planting seeds of dedication and hard work, and I wish myself all the best.