IFA 2025 : Odaro Eguavoen on Grief and The Performative Nature of Nigerian Burials

The journey to making Odaro Eguavoen’s Noise Around Her Black, his debut short film, started while he watched films at the 2024 edition of the S16 Film Festival. Attending the festival and watching specific films opened him to the possibilities of expressing himself through cinema. As Eguavoen shared this during the post-screening conversation at Ibadan Indie Film Awards (IFA), it was important to hear his thoughts about the relevance of alternative film spaces and festivals like S16 and IFA. Eguavoen opined that these festivals aren’t just a place for recognising upcoming filmmakers, but serve as an archive of inspiration for people looking for a new home for their work. This statement underscores the importance of alternative spaces like S16, IFA and others in nurturing, centering and encouraging alternative Nigerian cinema, films, filmmakers and audiences. 

As the director rightfully articulated, this interview won’t be happening and his film won’t have existed if it wasn’t for spaces like S16. “I cannot stress the importance of spaces like IFA, S16 and even smaller film clubs. I would love to contribute more to these spaces not only by submitting my work but hopefully as a contributor and supporter on the backend to help keep these spaces alive and thriving,” the director told Culture Custodian. 

In this interview with the director, he spoke about making his debut film, digging into his personal story, the performative nature of Nigerian and African burial rites and future plans for his film and career.  

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

The Noise Around Her Black is your first film project and Ibadan Indie Film Awards (IFA) is the 7th festival acceptance and 8th screening. first festival acceptance and public screening. As a first-time filmmaker, what does this mean to you? 

As a first-time filmmaker, it is extremely reassuring that the film is getting recognised in the way that it is. I went into this hopeful that people, especially fellow filmmakers, would recognise the effort and creative direction I was going with the film and the response has been overwhelming.

The Ibadan Indie Film Awards was one of the festivals I was hoping my film would reach because not only is it run by Chukwu Martin, one of the filmmakers I thoroughly enjoy and look up to, but it would also mean my film screening alongside some of the most forward-thinking minds in film. So when the selection was confirmed and announced, I was extremely grateful. There is a certain level of satisfaction that comes with being acknowledged by people you look up to.

What series of events or specific events motivated you, as a first-time filmmaker, to choose this difficult and sensitive subject as the focus of your debut short film?

The death and burial of my father in 2019. That shifted my life in ways I could have never anticipated but also widened my view of the world. My perspective of Nigerian culture and Nigerians in general completely shifted. I started to resent ‘tradition’ for the way it tried to minimise my mother, after taking care of my father till his final moments. Six years later, my grief may have somewhat subsided, but my resentment for certain reductive aspects of tradition still stand.

I always wanted to creatively illustrate my experience but couldn’t find the right medium and needed some inspiration and precedents. It wasn’t until I attended the S16 Film Festival in December 2024 that my eyes opened to a new medium which I always felt unattainable–Film. After watching Tomison Adepeju’s Journey Mercies, Dika Ofoma’s God’s Wife and other amazing films addressing serious issues, it felt like a door had opened up giving me the inspiration and courage to finally illustrate my story. 

As a debut filmmaker, what was the most surprising obstacle you encountered during the filmmaking process while working on a story that confronts deeply ingrained Nigerian cultural practices?

Because I had no experience making films or being on a film set, I went through months of research and self-teaching. Even during production, I went into this process very naive but made sure to be open-minded and teachable. Due to a limited budget, I was the Director, Art Director and  Costume Designer before and during filming, which took time and attention away from my main role as a Writer/Director.

However, I was still shocked at the cost of equipment, even when sticking to the basics. This shifted the tone of the production a couple times during pre-production and I almost made the decision not to move forward with it. Another thing I wrestled with was insecurity. As a creative, I know this feeling all too well so I know how to keep it in check. Although, there was also some insecurity around me being able to realise my vision while also not coming off preachy about the negative aspects of Nigerian culture.

The film has a unique Old Nollywood-esque identity in its characterization and setting. How was the writing process for the film and what fictional works (films, musics, arts and all) serve as willing reference materials? 

Writing the script for this film was a beautiful and emotional experience. I have always been a visual thinker so when I started writing the script, I was very intentional about making the writing as illustrative as possible. This made my transition to storyboarding and planning the shots seamless.

I was also very intentional about establishing a distinct visual style while also making sure this style didn’t come in the way of communicating the story. This style stemmed from my background as an Architect and the plethora of architectural illustrations that I grew to love during my time in university. Works such as Zaha Hadid’s suprematism series and the standard architectural elevation and section drawings are elements that I have incorporated in my work even before I started studying architecture. As for films, I wanted the film to evoke the aura of old nollywood films but with a more stylistic approach to how some scenes felt like stage plays. The films of Wes Anderson and Ari Aster are western media that also evoke this same idea and their work greatly informed the cinematography. 

Martin Scorcesse is referenced to have said, “the most personal is the most creative” to state that some of the most original and powerful art comes from a place of personal truth and experience. As a filmmaker who has made a film framed from a personal experience and learning the rhythm of your directorial impulse and language, what’s your thoughts about this statement and its relatedness with your film?

I would say I agree. If I were to go back before I made this film, I would choose this same personal story again and again. I think creating from a very personal perspective is especially good when you’re stepping into a new medium, because it acclimates you in a way that can’t be replicated with a more abstract story. I used the same philosophy when I started developing video games last year and created one that was deeply inspired by personal experiences so it only made sense to do the same for this film too.

Grief is a living, breathing thing and The Noise Around Her Black centers the performativeness attached to Nigerian and African burial rites and grieving. Beyond raising awareness, what conversation are you hoping the film will inspire regarding the need for reform or the abandonment of these harmful rites?

When writing the film, I really didn’t want it to come off preachy because I felt it would lose some eyes and ears it was made for. I wanted it to serve as a mirror that slowly and quietly showed the perspective from the perspective of the grieving family. I hope the film effectively communicates the subtle elements of a Nigerian burial that ultimately serve no one, especially not the grieving family. I hope everyone can recognise themselves in at least one of the characters.

I know people around my age get a lot of flack for wanting to change tradition but I believe everything made and curated by man should be given the space to change and evolve for the better. Whether politics, architecture, religion or tradition. The world we know now is far from the one our parents and grandparents knew just 50 years ago, so I feel we should still be open to change.

Adeola and Tunde aren’t accepting of Funke, their mother’s calm disposition towards the relatives’ toxic words and physical abuse. Do you think their articulated resistance to these supposed traditions and customs is due to youthful exuberance or indicative of the questions that younger Nigerians and Africans are asking? And what do you make of this resistance?

When I was writing, I split my perspective into three characters–Adeola, Tunde and Timi. This allowed each child to express different aspects of my experience simultaneously. Timi communicates innocence and naivety, Adeola shows more hyper-awareness and opposition and  Tunde evokes a sense of spoiled non-challance and older nativity.

Adeola and Tunde may share the same view of their mother’s silence during the process, but it is clear that they have different levels of understanding of their mother and the tradition that wants to hold her. I don’t think their perspective of what is happening is exuberance or even the outlook of just younger Nigerians. They communicate the same sentiments that even older Nigerians hold, it’s just that these sentiments are more verbalised by the younger generation. 

I think the resistance comes from Nigerian society reaching a point where the voice of the youth is given more prominence and it continues because there is validity to it. I think it’s unfortunate that discourse has become very black-and-white and debate-centric which further perpetuate the disconnect between generations. I think the characters Adeola, Tunde and Funke show that different generations of genders can share the same sentiment but communicate and resist in different ways.

Traditions, for decades, have been used to create an enabling environment for patriarchal abuse and trauma. How did you navigate the need to critique these archaic and traumatic traditions without completely alienating audience members who still adhere to them?

This was a challenge. It was one of the reasons I revised the script a couple times before production. As I mentioned before, I didn’t want to alienate certain audience members by being too preachy, so I went with a direction that allowed the film to serve as a mirror. The film uses visual storytelling, especially composition, to communicate the ideas rather than using exposition. This is reflected in the way the family, especially Funke, is the centre of the film’s cinematography. This allowed most of the focus to be on the isolation that the spectacle of the burial has on her and her family. 

Although, I am still not completely sure if this approach avoided the alienation of some viewers. It is something that I am trying to pay attention to whenever the film is shown. I do think that some people will alienate themselves purely based on the fact that it’s a film that centres the female perspective and critiques an aspect of Nigerian culture. That is something that I just have to come to terms with as a creative person.

The film picks a meditative and observational approach towards capturing its characters. Can you speak to this visual language and why it was important for the film? 

I was very intentional about the visual language of the film because I decided early on in the writing process that I was going to make films that communicated heavily using visual storytelling. I focused on two aspects–Compositon and Colour. Apart from the composition centering the family, I also wanted to establish architecture as a character. The way the composition uses the architecture of the different locations to frame and shield conversation (i.e Adeola and Tunde’s dialogue), connect, isolate and even separate was something that started as early as the first draft of the script. 

In addition, I also wanted most of the frames of the film to feel and read like a stage play, which helped abstract the story and communicate the idea of the film being about the ‘spectacle’ around grief. The film’s use of colour and colour theory as a storytelling tool is an element that I want to also highlight. I apologise in advance for going full-on nerd with my long-winded explanation. The story and headspace of the character is often reflected in the colour of the space or the character’s costumes. Funke is yellow, her late husband is green, Adeola is purple while Tunde and Timi’s absence of an assigned colour communicates their initial indifference.

Funke starts off in this strong golden-yellow which represents her more traditional ideology and is analogous with her late husband’s green. It also links to the colour of the tools in the kitchen, which helps illustrate her place in the household and during the scene.  On the other hand, we have Adeola whose modern ideology is represented with the ‘opposite’ colour purple which communicates her stance in relation to her mother Funke. After their grief drowns them in a black, they don’t return to their initial colours. Instead, Funke is now in purple with some yellow elements, communicating the arc of her character’s ideology after a life-changing experience. Adeola on the other hand is now in brown–purple mixed with yellow. This shows further understanding of her mother’s place and a calming of her initial opposition. As for Tunde, him being dressed in green in the last scene shows a lift out of his initial nonchalance into his father’s footsteps.

The other notable uses of colour are Uncle Tomos and his friends dressed in white as the family dressed in black walks into the burial house (communicates who really came to mourn), the heavy use of green (Funke’s late husband’s colour) in the burial house and with the burial attire and also the blue in the last two scenes, which comes from yellow (Funke) being subtracted from green (late husband). This last example shows the separation and resentment Funke feels for her husband after the events of the burial and what is to come.

The film screened at IFA and The Candid Movie Club already. What are the distribution and exhibition plans for the film?

That is something that I am not really sure about. Short films are a complicated medium with the way they usually don’t have places to go after a festival or screening run. I am still exploring avenues of distribution before I give into the plan B of putting it up for public viewing on platforms like YouTube, which also allows it to serve as an accessible piece of my work and portfolio. 

Although, before I made this film, I was already aware of the stylistic approach putting the film into the indie and ‘filmmaker’s film’ categories which I knew wasn’t going to be the most marketable locally. However, I am still grateful and overwhelmed with the response, the selections and recognition the film has gotten. It makes me excited for my future as a filmmaker.