The Èko Short Session and the Thriving Nigerian Film Culture

In a Culture Custodian essay titled A Capsuled History of Indie Filmmaking in Nigeria and Alternative Screening Spaces, an attempt was made to track how, over the past two decades, Nigerian independent filmmakers and critics have sought alternative means, through guerilla-inclined activities and movements, to show alternative, avant-garde and art-conscious Nigerian and non-Nigerian titles. These filmmakers and critics including Ola Balogun, Didi Cheeka, the Surreal 16 Collective, and the Goethe Institute, Lagos have provided space for serious intellectual deliberation on Nigerian independent cinema and filmmakers. 

Their almost-two-decades movement has created a space where different Nigerian filmmakers and cinephiles, within and outside Lagos, can meet, talk and share conversations around Nigerian cinema. These alternative spaces exist in Port-Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar, Ibadan, Abuja and other spaces. The screenings are happening inside makeshift cinemas, restaurants and rooms converted into screening halls. And, on 13, December 2025, the Èko Short Session, a session co- curated by Justyna Obasi and Ifeoluwa Olutayo became an addition to the growing number of spaces keen about curating and screening independent cinema. 

The programme was arranged in collaboration with Goethe-Institut,Lagos, Nigeria Film Cooperation, Bush Baby Studios, Random Photo Journal and The Screen in Transit. It was an intimate screening session that took place at NFC’s screening hall. The hall wasn’t fancy but functional. Guests settled into the warm evening while exchanging glances, hugs and words with familiar and non-familiar faces. The unifying interest of the attendees was their love for cinema and Nigerian films. 

The evening started late due to logistic and technical difficulties. As the team tried setting up the venue and projectors, guests were encouraged to eat the provided finger foods, banter and network with non-familiar faces. There were willing hugs, hearty laughter and enthusiastic conversations that filled the waiting time. The curators had curated five Nigerian short titles including Rete Poki’s Traces of the Sun, Dika Ofoma’s God’s Wife, Rachael Seidu’s The Evening Waits Patiently For My Arrival, Khalil Agboola’s Happy Times and Justyna Obasi’s Ritual. 

According to the curators, the works move between personal and collective experience, offering moments of reflection, closeness, and recognition. The screening started about two hours after scheduled time but when the screening started and the post-screening conversations ensued, it was worth the wait. 

Poki’s Traces of the Sun which is part-documentary and photo essay was the first on the lineup. Although the director wasn’t present there was a post-screening conversation about the film.  Attendees spoke affectionately about the film, its spotlight of same-sex and non-romantic love and community, and the absence of violent scenes depicting gender-based violence that some of its subjects speak about. 

Seidu’s The Evening Waits Patiently For My Arrival screened and it was hard to find the film’s story. There were identifiable moving parts : Adeleke (Tosin Bolade), the film’s lead is queer, he clubs and visits the markets while wearing fancy traditional wears, he religiously checks and marks a calendar and gets flanked by some spiritual beings who watch and guide his movements. However, it was after the director’s intervention during the post-screening conversation that it was possible to fit a narrative flow on the film. 

Agboola’s Happy Times followed. The Akira Kurosawa-inspired short holds a meditative look into the subjective and objective nature of truth. The film presents three characters and explores truth through their multiple perspectives, challenging the notion of a single, objective truth. Agboola presents the three characters as being flawed, biased and propelled by selfish interest highlighting how these human flaws can shape our understanding of reality. There was a short-lived conversation about violent images, especially those that show women in abusive relationships and its functionality in the film and by extension, cinema. Although the film employs a freeze-frame shot to show this domestic violence to aid believability, there were arguments about its relevance. 

Ofoma’s God’s Wife is a thought-provoking short drama that explores, in a nuanced way, faith, culture, power, agency and identity. Onyinye Odokoro is the titular God’s Wife and in the film which commences seconds after her husband gets buried, we see the deceased husband’s brother played by Uzochukwu Nnnadi sexually assaulting her at the grave site. This scene sets the tone of the film as we see the young widow cut across cultural commitment, Christian faith and personal agency. The post-screening conversation meditates on how communities sanction these harmful practices. The radical contributions are indicative of a generation of Nigerians shunning archaic and harmful cultural practices. 

Obasi’s Ritual was the last film. Ritual is a coming-of-age film that explores evolving masculinity against the backdrop of generational expectations and the quest for self-definition. The breezines of the film demands the viewers’ full attention. Each detail from acting, setting, costume, props, and camera angles are carefully curated to present a conversation on identity, masculinity and baton-down social expectations. The quiet film follows the young man’s journeys towards self actualization and his resistance to familial, patriarchal and traditional expectations and values.  

The Èko Short Session ended after the post-screening conversation of Ritual. Attendees were appreciated and, as usual of film’s spaces, conversations ensued after the vote of thanks. As I concluded in the earlier-mentioned essay, the Nigerian film culture has been described as dying or dead. In spite of this, there’s a growing community of Nigerian cinephiles and filmmakers who are creating screening spaces and films that elicit intellectual and rewarding conversations. These spaces and filmmakers, which the Èko Short Session housed, are trying to keep the Nigerian film culture alive.