Jack’enneth Opukeme ‘s “Aba Blues” and the Conversations around Extractive Cinema

Aba Blues by Jack’enneth Opukeme premiered on March 15, 2026, in Lagos hosted by FilmOne Studios and Inkblot. A day after the premiere, a video criticizing it for being held in Lagos rather than Aba was posted. The critique stemmed from the fact that Aba is an economically vibrant city that could have hosted the premiere, and that if the city could accommodate the filmmakers to shoot their film, why can’t the premiere be held there?  

This isn’t a new complaint from concerned residents of a city, nor is it a new issue for  filmmakers. Instead, it reflects a long-standing tension in global cinema over cultural extraction in which a community’s stories and landscapes are used for artistic purposes, but the community itself is excluded from the celebration and initial economic benefits. When a film leans heavily on a city’s identity, using its name, its streets, and specific cultural context, the local community often feels a sense of cultural ownership. Thus, this ongoing critique essentially boils down to a perceived disconnect between the film’s subject matter and its social accountability. Locals and critics, from the now popular video, believe that if a city gives a project its soul, the community deserves the first look. There are different scenarios where this happens in Nigeria, on the continent, and globally. 

In 2018, Tope Oshin’s Up North was shot largely in Bauchi. The film was praised for its portrayal of Northern Nigeria, and had a massive, star-studded premiere in Lagos and another in Northern Nigeria. This allowed the filmmakers and producers to avoid isolating the local community whose soil served as the stage for their cinematic expression. Kunle Afolayan’s classic, The Figurine used the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove as its spiritual and aesthetic anchor. The film marked a significant milestone for the New Nollywood  movement, but per public record, there was no premiere or screening in the city that provided historical and ancestral context for the film. It’s a case of a filmmaker packaging their film in a location and priming it up for international festivals and Lagos elites, leaving the actual communities where these legends live as mere backdrops.

In 2025, James Omokwe’s Osamede held its homecoming  premiere in Benin City primarily to honour the film’s deep cultural and historical ties to the region. The decision to host the event at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub, according to the filmmakers, was driven by several key factors. The film is a historical fantasy set during the 1897 British invasion of the Benin Empire and the Executive Producer Lilian Olubi described the Benin City premiere as a “long-held ambition” to bring the story back to its roots. The film was predominantly in the indigenous Edo language so it was fitting to hold the premiere in the city that hosts the history, language, and traditions for the local community. This was followed by a Lagos premiere and its nationwide theatrical release on October 17, 2025. 

Across the continent, this critique takes the form of films being made for the “Western Gaze” or international festivals rather than local audiences. There are designated “festival films” set and made in local communities, featuring Africans speaking indigenous languages and confronting political and economic pressures. These films make it to international festivals, win awards, but are mostly unavailable to watch for the local audience. There are numerous factors for this including censorship in the case of Wanuri Kahiu’s Rafiki, which premiered at Cannes but was banned from screening in Kenya until recently for its portrayal of queer romance. This is the case of John Trengove’s Inxeba / The Wound, which premiered at Sundance and Berlin International Film Festival but faced fierce protest and even bans in some local cinemas. The critique wasn’t just about the story, but the fact that a “sacred” local story was exposed to the world before the community itself could weigh in or consent to its portrayal. Another reason for the continent’s inaccessibility is the distribution and the skepticism with which distributors and cinema operators treat these titles. 

Globally, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which won 8 Oscars and was a global success, was heavily critiqued in Mumbai for being extractive. Locals argued that the filmmakers “mined” the poverty of the Dharavi slums for aesthetic “slum-porn” but held their grand celebrations in Hollywood and London. The feeling was that the city was used as a gritty set, but the people living there saw none of the prestige. Another example is Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland which won Forest Whitaker an Academy Award for his portrayal of Idi Amin. Told through the eyes of a fictional Scottish doctor (played by James McAvoy), the film uses an African landscape and history as a mere backdrop for a Western protagonist’s journey. 

The film was shot on location in Kampala and Entebbe, utilizing the city’s unique 1970s architecture and the cooperation of the Ugandan government and local communities. However, the premiere and global prestige were concentrated in international circles, the media, and other spaces. When the official Ugandan took place in 2007 at the Cineplex Cinema in Garden City, Kampala, it was a high-profile event not intended for ordinary Ugandans. The premiere was a VIP-only red carpet event attended by President Yoweri Museveni and the film’s stars, including Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy. Tickets for the general public were priced around $7 (11,000 shillings), which was prohibitively expensive for most Ugandans at the time.

What these cases show us is that when a film like Aba Blues chooses a title that claims a city’s identity, it enters into an unwritten social contract with the local community. Although this writer hasn’t seen the film, they are unable to make a detailed commentary about the film’s cultural affiliation to the city. However, after discussing with people who have, it can be deduced that the film’s soul and identity isn’t necessarily affiliated with the city. But, the title pays homage to the city. This homage is why a premiere in the city is important.