Tunde Kelani Makes A Comeback On The Big Screens With “Cordelia”

Tunde Kelani is set to release his 2021 film Cordelia across the domestic cinemas from July 18th, 2025, marking the veteran filmmaker and cinematographer’s return to the big screens.

An adaptation of literary icon Professor Femi Osofisan’s novella of same title, Cordelia is a compelling drama set in Nigeria in the early 1990s during military rule. It follows the story of a disillusioned university professor who provides refuge for a wounded student in the wake of a violent campus uprising and military coup. Unknown to the professor, the young woman is the daughter of a wrongly accused coup scapegoat. With danger drawing closer, the story progresses as personal and national secrets unfold.

With the screenplay written by Omowunmi Ajiboye and film produced and directed by Tunde Kelani, Cordelia stars Femi Adebayo, Omowunmi Dada, William Benson, Keppy Ekpenyong-Bassey, Yvonne Jegede, Kelechi Udegbe and Ropo Ewenla, among others. The executive producers are Kunle Adebiyi and Tayo Oladimeji.

Cordelia was previously screened at the 30th New York African Film Festival on May 15th, 2023, at the Francesca Beale Theater in New York. While the film is set to be distributed to theatregoers across the federation, it reinforces the status of Kelani as a central figure in the development of Nollywood.

With a career spanning several decades, Kelani has produced and directed several films and productions that showcase diverse Nigerian cultures, traditions and sociopolitical concerns. From groundbreaking projects like Ti Oluwa Ni Ile 1, 2 & 3 (1993), Ayo Ni Mo Fe 1 & 2 (1994), Kòseégbé (1995), Saworoide (1999) and Agogo Eèwò (2002) to other laudable twenty-first century works like Arugba (2009), Maami (2011) and Ayinla (2021), the artistic maestro has maintained a legacy as a trailblazer and bridge between Old and New Nollywood.