The Dearth of Real Actors in Nollywood

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By Eliel Otote A

Actors Guild of Nigeria Logo

The Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, has experienced tremendous growth over the past few decades. From humble beginnings marked by low-budget productions to a global entertainment force recognized on streaming platforms and international festivals, Nollywood has undoubtedly come a long way. However, beneath this rapid expansion lies a pressing concern-the noticeable shortage of truly skilled, well-trained actors.

A Nollywood set. Photo: Free stock Getty Images

“A real actor is not just someone who appears on screen. A real actor understands character psychology, emotional truth, timing, body language, and the subtle art of storytelling. ”

— Eliel Otote A

Today, it is easier than ever to become an “actor” in Nollywood. Social media popularity, physical appearance, or mere connections often serve as entry tickets into the industry. While accessibility is not inherently a bad thing, it has led to a dilution of professional standards. Acting, a craft that demands discipline, emotional intelligence, and technical skill, is increasingly being reduced to mere line delivery and surface-level performance. Actors now exhibit themselves rather than interpret the character they are to play!

A real actor is not just someone who appears on screen. A real actor understands character psychology, emotional truth, timing, body language, and the subtle art of storytelling. They do not merely recite scripts-they live them. Unfortunately, many productions today suffer from performances that lack depth, authenticity, and emotional connection. This gap is what audiences feel when a story fails to resonate, regardless of how good the script or production quality may be.

One of the root causes of this problem is the absence of proper training. Unlike more established film industries where actors undergo rigorous preparation through drama schools, workshops, and continuous practice, many Nollywood actors skip this crucial phase. Some feel “too big” to learn. The result is a growing number of performers who have visibility but lack versatility and longevity. Watch five movies starring such lousy actors, you will think you’re watching five episodes of the same drama. No character differentiation! You only see the actor and not the role!

Another contributing factor to this dearth of good actors is the fast-paced nature of film production in Nollywood. Tight schedules often leave little room for rehearsals, character development, or actor coaching. Directors, under pressure to deliver quickly, sometimes settle for mediocrity rather than excellence. Over time, this cycle reinforces itself, creating an industry where quantity overshadows quality.

However, this narrative can change-and it begins with intentional training and skill development.

ArtsWORKSHOP

That is why you should attend ArtsWORKSHOP with my Friends and I on June 6th, 2026. If you are passionate about acting and truly want to stand out in Nollywood, then this workshop is not just an option-it is a necessity. Or, you can encourage others to participate in the workshop! It is designed to bridge the gap between aspiring performers and professional actors.

Here are the benefits:

1. Mastery of Acting Fundamentals

You will learn the core principles of acting-character analysis, emotional memory, improvisation, voice control, and stage/screen presence. These are the tools that separate amateurs from professionals. And as resource persons for the workshop, I carefully selected “Real Actors”…Yes, you heard me…not “models!”

2. Industry-Relevant Techniques

You will be exposed to techniques that are applicable both on stage and on camera, helping you adapt to different roles and production styles within Nollywood. And for references, material aids/e-books/audio/video etc will be given to all participants.

3. Confidence and Authenticity

Many actors struggle with confidence or overacting. This workshop will help you find your natural rhythm and deliver believable performances that connect with audiences.

4. Networking Opportunities

You will meet like-minded creatives, industry professionals, and potential collaborators who can influence your journey positively.

5. Position Yourself for Longevity

Fame without skill is temporary. Skill, however, builds a career.

This workshop equips you with the foundation needed to sustain long-term success in Nollywood.

The future of Nollywood depends not just on better cameras or bigger budgets, but on better actors-artists who respect the craft and are willing to grow. If you are serious about becoming one of them, then this workshop is your starting point.

Don’t just aim to be seen on screen. Aim to be remembered. Register now! Limited slots available!

Eliel Otote A
(Actor/Filmmaker/Author/Trainer)
Eliel is an author of many books and articles on Nollywood including “Getting Into Nollywood Professionally: The Actor’s Companion” And the Nolly-pedia and “Pioneering Nollywood: The Trials and the Errors (An Auto-ethnographic Account)”

For more stories told from an African perspective, follow us at africarelatedinc

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Politics In Film: Are Black Stories Going Extinct In America?

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By Africa-Related, New York

Over the decades, Black Public Media has invested over $17 million in films and other stories and helped nurture the careers of many acclaimed documentary directors and other creatives.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA MAKES URGENT GIVING TUESDAY PLEA

After losing $1.8 million in funding, national nonprofit asks the public to donate to ensure Black stories are never again subject to political whims

NEW YORK (November 18, 2025) — The Harlem-based national nonprofit Black Public Media, from which Congress snatched back $1.8 million of allocated federal funding last July, is making a pressing plea to the public for support this holiday season. The appeal is part of its grassroots plan to raise $9 million over the next two years from individual donors, as well as large contributions from foundations and corporations. BPM, which has funded popular documentary films and immersive media projects about the Black experience to the tune of $17 million since its founding in 1979, is asking people who care about the future of Black stories to make a donation by GivingTuesday (December 2). 

The proceeds raised will fuel BPM’s Black Stories Production Fund, launched in response to the federal government’s recent defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB, which was the largest supporter of BPM, is now winding down its operations.

“Public media is for every American, and every American should be reflected in its programs and documentaries,” said BPM Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz. “For nearly 50 years, Black Public Media has worked to ensure that fact. This year, the public needs to take a stand to ensure that Black stories are never again subject to the whims of politics.”

BPM is asking the public to donate as little as $5 or as significant a contribution as they wish at: https://secure.everyaction.com/IkFxVSdjX0qpQkceW1r27g2. It also invites foundations and other funders to support the Black Stories Production Fund. The Fund will ensure that films like The Inquisitor, the Barbara Jordan documentary scheduled to premiere in January 2026;Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed, Ailey; Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, Daughters of the Dust, I Am Not Your Negro, Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, Mr. Soul, When Claude Got Shot and hundreds more are able to come to public media and beyond.

The group has nurtured the careers of generations of filmmakers and creatives who have unearthed and brought Black stories to television screens, movie theaters and personal devices across the U.S.

BPM also supports the next generation of creative technologists in emerging media (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies), and works to connect them to opportunities and equipment to shape impactful immersive projects.

To find out more about BPM, visit blackpublicmedia.org or follow it on social media at: @blackpublicmedia (IG, FB, TikTok and LinkedIn).

“Public media is for every American, and every American should be reflected in its programs and documentaries. ”

— Leslie Fields-Cruz - BPM Executive Director

ABOUT BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA:

Leslie Fields-Cruz BPM Executive Director. Photo credit Yekaterina Gyadu

Black Public Media supports the development of visionary content creators and distributes stories about the global Black experience to inspire a more equitable and inclusive future. For 45+ years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM-supported programs have won five Emmys, 10 Peabodys, five Anthem Awards, 14 Emmy nominations and an Oscar nomination. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of Black stories.

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For media inquiry, contact:

Cheryl L. Duncan
Cheryl Duncan & Company, Inc.
cheryl@cdcprnews.com

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Highlights: DELA Premieres at KNUST, Kumasi

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BY Africa-Related, Ghana
Photos: blaxTARLINES /KNUST Museum

DELA: The Making of El Anatsui , premiered in The Great Hall at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on August 4, 2025. The celebrated Emeritus Prof. El Anatsui, took center stage in the award-winning biographical documentary, as well as in person. He walked the same stage at the prestigious Great Hall, where, as a young undergraduate in 1968, he collected his degree in Fine and Applied Arts.

Staff and students turned up in mass to pay homage to the old student, who went on to become a globally renowned sculptor. The event highlights include a music performance by Buju Baja, an exhibition of artworks in the film, showing drawings, illustrations and paintings by Bright Ackwerh, Uchenna Ohagwu, Yifat Bezalel and Ghariokwu Lemi.

In her opening remarks, the film’s director, Oyiza Adaba thanked the organizers and urged viewers to take note of the many lessons from Prof. Anatsui’s life and legacy. On his part, the Artist acknowledged KNUST for its solid foundation in shaping his entire being. He spoke fondly of his days at the University and the profound impact on trajectory of his career, while also charging students to chart their paths with courage and authenticity.

The screening event is part of the on-going DELA Campus Tour, and was hosted by the Department of Painting and Sculpture/KNUST Museum/blaxTARLINES.

Senior members of the Faculty in attendance include Dean School of Arts and Built Environment Prof. Karî’kachä Seid’ou, Edwin K. Bodjawah Head, Department of Painting and Sculpture, George Buma Ampratwum and Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro). Also present were Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh (Painting), Dr. Mrs. Dorothy Amenuke, (Sculpture), Mr. E. Eyram Donkor (Sculpture), Prof. Ebenezer Kofi Howard (Vice Dean-Faculty of Art), Dr Kofi Adjei (Ceramics), Prof. Samuel Nortey (Ceramics) and Rev. Martin Owusu Adi-Dako ( Communication Design).

Follow the film: @elanatsuifilm.

EL Anatsui’s SPEAKS at DELA KNUST PREMIERE

“As a teacher, I’ve taught for many years, 5 years in Winneba and 47 years in Nigeria and I’ve learned from my students... The journey in art is so interesting. Art teaches us so many things in unique ways.”

— El Anatsui

EXHIBITION: Artworks In The Film

DELA: Artworks in the Film by Africa-Related

Photo Gallery

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6th Chinua Achebe International Conference and Exhibition!

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Welcome to the 6th Chinua Achebe International Conference and Exhibition!

As Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I am delighted to welcome scholars, artists, students, and guests from around the world to our newly upgraded home—a space now brimming with art, ideas, and the enduring legacy of Chinua Achebe.

This year’s theme, Africa’s Democratisation Journey: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, comes at a time when Africa’s democratic experiment faces profound challenges. Together, through conversations and a vibrant art exhibition, we honour Achebe’s legacy of critical thought and creative resistance.

Join us at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, 23rd July 2024.

Venue: Seminar Room 1, Institute of African Studies [New site, off UBA Gate on Greenhouse Road], University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Google Meet joining info: meet.google.com/nfn-viyg-nyh

Join by phone (US) ‪+1 210-951-8557‬‬ PIN: ‪874 061 744‬#‬‬‬‬

Time: 10:00 am WAT

Keynote speakers: Rufai Oseni [ Arise TV, Lagos, Nigeria; Title: "African Democratic Journey: Pitfalls and Possibilities"] & Professor Ifeanyi C. Ezeonu [ Department of Sociology, Brock University, Canada; Title: "The Nigerian Economic Cul de Sac: Critical Reflections on Liberal Democracy and Its Challenges for the Next Generation"]

Special thanks to our Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oguejiofo Ujam, for his unwavering support; my co-convener, Prof. Raphael Njoku [Department of History, Idaho State University, Pocatello, USA.]; the Local Organising Committee led by Prof. Chima Korieh; our dedicated volunteers; and the staff and students of the Institute who made this vision a reality.

Please join us. Let’s make this gathering a spark for new ideas and a beacon of hope for Africa’s democratic future.

Professor Ozioma Onuzulike

Director, IAS-UNN

IG: @ozioma.onuzulike

#AchebeConference2025 #UNN #InstituteOfAfricanStudies #AfricaDemocracy #ChinuaAchebe #Nsukka

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Oyiza Adaba Bags 2025 'Bronx Recognizes Its Own' (BRIO) Award

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Africa-Related, New York

Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) selected 42 recipients for the 2025 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) Award.

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For over 35 years, BCA’s BRIO Award has recognized artists from a wide range of creative disciplines who demonstrate proficiency, knowledge, and intense practice in their chosen art form.

A celebration ceremony of all BRIO winners' outstanding achievements was held on Thursday, June 12th the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, to honor the 42 recipients of the award this year. Each awardee also received a sum of $5000 to support their work. 

Among the awardees is Oyiza Adaba, an award-winning Nigerian producer and journalist and Bronx resident, whose 30-year career has been focused on bridging the media gap with deeply impacting news and television and film productions. Her feature documentary "DELA: The Making of El Anatsui" (2023) is highly praised globally for bringing African art and culture to international audiences.

Oyiza Adaba is recognized for her role in documentary filmmaking and dedication to the borough’s creative history.

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Echoes of the Landfill: Turning Ghana’s Plastic Waste into Art

ECHOES OF THE LANDFILL

Art from the Margins of Environment and Economy

Curatorial Statement by Beatrice Bee Arthur

Echoes of the Landfill is not another art exhibition. It is a radical reclamation where plastic waste is reimagined as both medium and living testimony to our callous disregard for the environment. A collaborative effort by the Museum of Science and Technology (MST) and ArtfullyYours, Bee Arthur Creative Productions for World Environment Day 2025, this exhibition convenes six Ghanaian eco-conscious artists—Obed Addo, Beatrice Bee Arthur, Essilfie Banton, Andrea Ghia, and Salim—who excavate the hidden politics within discarded plastic: narratives of colonial residues, neoliberal excess, and quiet acts of African resilience.

Landfills are the unmarked graves of globalisation. Here, Accra’s streets and shorelines become archives of abandonment—water sachets like shed skin, flip-flops as fossilised footprints, toy limbs tangled with fishing nets. These are not inert objects but silent accusers, materialising the violence of an economy that treats both people and land as disposable.

The artists in this exhibition do not recycle—they resurrect trash. Through sculpture, installation, painting, poetry, and photography, they force plastic to confess: as a relic of extractivism, a marker of climate injustice, and paradoxically, a medium for African futurity. Indigenous philosophies of circularity collide with the toxic immortality of synthetic materials, asking: What does it mean to "dispose" when there is no "away?"

Without institutional funding, this project embodies its own thesis: resourcefulness as resistance. The artists’ grassroots mobilisation mirrors the informal economies that already transform waste into worth across Africa. Echoes of the Landfill is thus both mirror and megaphone—refusing the neoliberal spectacle of sustainability to center community-led epistemologies.

This is NOT an exhibition about waste. It is an intervention in time. A demand to rewrite the lexicon of value: that a bag is not "single-use" but a generational artifact; that those who scavenge are archivists of the Anthropocene.

ARTISTS

Obed Addo

"My work is about dignity—finding it in discarded things, and in ourselves."

Beatrice Bee Arthur

"This exhibition is the toxic truth where plastics and capitalists lie."

Salim

"When I sculpt from trash, I think of ancestors. Would they forgive us?"

Andrea Ghia

"In painting about plastic pollution, I am confronting the ability of permanence to outlive memory."

Essilfie Banton

"Each artwork I make is a conversation with discarded materials. I want the viewer to see the soul of what we discard."

Nii Noi Candos

---“We are not just picking up plastic—we are picking up the pieces of a broken system. Every salvaged fragment is a challenge to the world that discarded it.”

Data Point: Ghana generates 1.1 million tons of plastic waste annually—less than 2% is recycled.

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Steps Toward Investment-led Strategy In U.S-Africa Relations

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Senior Bureau Official Troy Fitrell’s Commercial Diplomacy Trip to West Africa

Digital Press Briefing

The Senior Bureau Official for the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, Ambassador Troy Fitrell and U.S. Ambassador to Cote D'Ivoire, Ambassador Jessica Davis Ba.  Ambassador Fitrell reviewed his commercial diplomacy trip to West Africa and outlined the State Department’s new commercial diplomacy strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. 

You can find the full transcript of the briefing here:

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A Group Exhibition of Art and Poetry on Wate

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Now Live! The Mmiri bụ Ndụ (Water is Life) Exhibition Documentary 🌍💧

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IAS-UNN announces that the official documentary of the Mmiri bụ Ndụ art and poetry exhibition is now available. The exhibition, curated by the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in collaboration with Our Water and Health Network Africa, formed part of the 4th International Conference on Water in Africa. Through powerful visual art and poetry, Mmiri Bu Ndu examines the presence, absence, social history, and state of water in Africa and in African life.

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32nd New York African Film Festival Launches in May

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER AND AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE THE COMPLETE LINEUP FOR
THE 32ND NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, MAY 7–13

Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of

Afolabi Olalekan’s feature debut, Freedom Way

Inheritance, Mweze, Black Tea, Freedom Way, and Everybody Loves Touda

New York, NY (April 9, 2025) — Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) and African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) will partner to present the 32nd edition of the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF). NYAFF features more than 30 contemporary and classic films from Africa and its diaspora screening at FLC May 7 through May 13, with 100 films in total as the festival continues at other esteemed New York City cultural venues throughout the month of May, with many filmmakers in attendance for post-screening Q&As. Since its inception in 1993, the festival has been at the forefront of showcasing African and diaspora filmmakers’ unique storytelling through the moving image.

This year’s theme, “Fluid Horizons: A Shifting Lens on a Hopeful World,” honors the resilience of African youth and the forebearers who paved the way for them. As cinema was an integral part of the African continent’s struggle for independence and the triumph of its liberation, this edition of the festival celebrates the African youth who have turned to their cameras to document their experiences and the influence of those who came before them. With a multitude of genres ranging from comedies to experimental films, the 32nd New York African Film Festival offers a multidimensional take on African culture, history, and cinema.

“In a world of uncertainty, the 32nd New York African Film Festival presents a vision of the future through the eyes of Africa’s youth—bold, determined, and endlessly creative. As the youngest and fastest-growing continent, Africa is brimming with stories that demand to be told, not just as reflections of today’s challenges but as blueprints for a future shaped by resilience and possibility,” said Mahen Bonetti, NYAFF founder and AFF executive director. “This year’s festival is a testament to the power of cinema to inspire, provoke, and remind us that hope is always in motion.”

The Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of Afolabi Olalekan’s feature debut, Freedom Way, a powerful tale of the limitless drive of Nigerian youth, which follows the lives of nine individuals set on a collision course in a fast-paced, electric thriller shot on location in Lagos. The Centerpiece film is Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s Memories of Love Returned, an intimate, nuanced documentary about the transformative power of photography, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and named best documentary at the Africa International Film Festival. Closing Night will feature the shorts program “In the Arms of the Mother,” which spotlights films by or about African women from all walks of life, including the world premiere of Kounkou Hoveyda’s We Will Be Who We Are; the North American premieres of Dika Ofoma’s God’s Wife and Anil Padia and Michael Mwangi Maina’s Temple Road; the U.S. premiere of Zoé Cauwet’s Le Grand Calao; the New York premiere of Mariame N’diaye’s Sira; and Kagure N. Kabue’s Iron Fist.

This year’s NYAFF will also spotlight the Democratic Republic of the Congo through the works of veteran and emerging Congolese filmmakers such as Mwezé Ngangura, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Nelson Makengo, David-Pierre Fila, Sammy Baloji, and Xavier Mwamba. Their films include the U.S. premiere of Baloji’s The Tree of Authenticity, a gripping documentary recounting the ecological destruction that began at the time of colonization through the voices of two emblematic scientists.

The festival will also host the North American premiere of Furu by Fatou Cissé, the daughter of legendary filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, which explores the impact of forced marriage on young women in Mali. Two additional features making their U.S. debuts include Awam Amkpa’s The Man Died, based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka; and Ndar, Saga Waalo, Ousmane William Mbaye’s powerful documentary about Saint-Louis, Senegal, the port of colonial penetration into West Africa.

Special programs include a free panel presented by AFF and OkayAfrica on May 10 entitled “From Then to Now: Celebrating 15 Years of African Cinema,” featuring a discussion with four acclaimed filmmakers from this year’s festival and offering a rare opportunity to reflect on the creative shifts and enduring themes shaping African cinema today. Two free art exhibits running May 8–13 in the Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center include “Congo RE-Vue: A Fresh Perspective by Emerging Congolese Talent,” a dynamic digital photo exhibition dedicated to highlighting the vibrant talent of the next generation of Congolese artists; and Bereket Adamu’s “All Night We Waited for Morning, All Morning We Waited for Night,” a welded steel light sculpture and animated video that reflects on African resistance, migration, and global interconnectedness.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 10, at 2pm ET, with an early access period for FLC Members starting Thursday, April 10, at noon. Ticket prices are $17 for the general public; $14 for students, seniors, and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members. See more and save with a 3+ Film Package ($15 for general public; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for FLC Members), the $99 All-Access Pass, or the $79 Student All-Access Pass. Contact info@africanfilmny.org for information about attending the Opening Night Party.

The festival continues at Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem from April 15 to 18 and at Brooklyn Academy of Music under the name FilmAfrica from May 23 to May 29 during DanceAfrica, and culminates with an outdoor screening at St. Nicholas Park on May 31.

The programs of AFF are made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts,  Bradley Family Foundation, Color Congress, NYC & Company, The New York Community Trust, French Cultural Services, Manhattan Portage, Organization de la Francophonie, Essentia Water, Ministre du Tourisme République démocratique du Congo, ZOPMEDIA, South African Consulate General, National Film and Video Foundation, and Motion Picture Enterprises.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
The Opening Night premiere of Freedom Way on May 7 will take place at

the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th Street).

All other films will screen at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 W. 65th Street).

Opening Night

Freedom Way

Afolabi Olalekan, 2024, Nigeria, 83m

New York Premiere

Faced with unfavorable laws and incessant police harassment, three young co-founders struggle to keep their start-up alive. A motorcyclist faces dark times with his family after losing his livelihood. A doctor struggles with his conscience on the job while battling outdated government policies. A police pair find themselves on different sides of the law with a difficult choice to make. The lives of nine individuals are set on a collision course in Afolabi Olalekan’s feature debut, a fast-paced, electric thriller shot on location in Lagos.

Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30pm – Q&A with Afolabi Olalekan

Thursday, May 8 at 4:00pm

Centerpiece

Memories of Love Returned

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, 2024, Uganda/U.S., 76m

Luganda and English with English subtitles

New York Premiere

On April 24, 2002, filmmaker Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s car broke down in the small town of Mbirizi, Uganda. While waiting for it to be repaired he stumbled upon a small photo studio and met photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, whose work spanned from the late 1950s to his death in 2006. This chance encounter turned into a 22-year journey documenting and exploring Kibaate’s life and photography and the profound impact it had on Ntare’s life and the lives of the entire community he documented. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, this intimate, nuanced documentary about the transformative power of photography was named best documentary at the Africa International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival. 

Saturday, May 10 at 6:30pm – Q&A with Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine

Closing Night

Shorts Program 4: In the Arms of the Mother

110m

This program of short films by and/or about African women includes Mariame N’diaye’s Sira, Anil Padia and Michael Mwangi Maina’s Temple Road, Dika Ofoma’s God’s Wife, Kagure N. Kabue’s Iron Fist, Zoé Cauwet’s Le Grand Calao, and Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda’s We Will Be Who We Are.

Tuesday, May 13 at 8:30pm

Sira

Mariame N’diaye, 2023, France, 24m

Soninké and French with English subtitles

New York Premiere

To stay with her daughter and her husband, a young Malian woman living in France in the 1980s has to abide by one condition.

Temple Road

Anil Padia, Michael Mwangi Maina, 2024, France/Kenya, 13m

Swahili with English subtitles

North American Premiere

Inspired by childhood experiences of women-only ceremonies and family Polaroids from the 1950s to the 1970s, Temple Road recreates the spiritual and ritualistic preparation of a woman. Weaving a dreamlike narrative, it blends rituals from Kenyan Indian heritage with diverse Kenyan cultures, reflected in a multicultural cast and interwoven ceremonies. Emphasizing the reverence women deserve as the pillars of society, the film is both a tribute to the past and a call to recognize women as bearers of culture, tradition, and life amidst rising violence against women in Kenya.

God’s Wife

Dika Ofoma, 2024, Nigeria, 15m

Igbo with English subtitles

North American Premiere

A young widow is propositioned by her late husband’s brother. When she refuses his advances, he threatens to have her ousted from her husband’s home, and she has to reconcile her personal convictions and Catholic beliefs with her in-laws’ demands.

Iron Fist

Kagure N. Kabue, 2024, Kenya, 15m

Swahili with English subtitles

In Nairobi’s bustling streets, hardworking mother Wangari, haunted by trauma, discovers empowerment in a local boxing gym. Her unexpected journey sparks a transformative rebirth, fostering resilience and a thriving spirit amid life’s fiercest battles.

Le Grand Calao

Zoé Cauwet, 2024, France/Burkina Faso, 27m

Mooré and French with English subtitles

U.S. Premiere

It’s a hot day, as it often is in Ouagadougou. It’s also a very special day for a group of women taking a long-awaited getaway, a moment of discovery, and a break from the hustle and bustle of the world and their lives. A few tourists are there too, a wealthy family from Burkina Faso is lounging around, and a few soldiers are watching over the place. It’s a small world that moves slowly around the Grand Calao’s swimming pool. Until sunset, the women spend a moment out of time, talking about their lives and their problems, while exploring the new sensation of their bodies in the calm blue water.

We Will Be Who We Are

Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, 2024, Sierra Leone, 16m

World Premiere

In Sierra Leone, best friends Aya and Boi decide to marry each other in an attempt to escape society’s pressures to conform.

Black Tea

Abderrahmane Sissako, 2024, Mauritania/Luxembourg/Taiwan/Côte d'Ivoire, 111m

New York Premiere

Mandarin, French, English, and Portuguese with English subtitles

After saying no on her wedding day, Aya leaves the Ivory Coast for a new life in the buzzing “Chocolate City” of Guangzhou, China. In this district where the African diaspora meets Chinese culture, she gets hired in a tea boutique owned by Cai, a Chinese man. In the secrecy of the back shop, Cai decides to initiate Aya to the tea ceremony. Through the teaching of this ancient art, their relationship slowly turns into tender love. But for their burgeoning passion to lead to mutual trust, they must let go of their burdens and face their past.

Thursday, May 8 at 6:30pm – Q&A with Abderrahmane Sissako and producer Kessen Tall

Tuesday, May 13 at 3:15pm

Everybody Loves Touda

Nabil Ayouch, 2024, Morocco/France/Belgium/Denmark/Netherlands, 101m

Arabic with English subtitles

New York Premiere

Irrepressible Touda dreams of only one thing—being a Sheikha, a respected traditional Moroccan performer. Empowered by the songs of resistance and emancipation of the fierce female poets who came before her, she takes the stage every evening in provincial bars. Tired of performing under the lustful gaze of men, Touda sets her sights on leaving her small village for the bright lights of Casablanca, where she hopes to be recognized as a true artist—and secure a better future for her and her son. The latest from award-winning director Nabil Ayouch (Casablanca Beats, Horses of God) premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was Morocco’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Monday, May 12 at 8:30pm

The Fisherman

Zoey Martinson, 2024, Ghana, 105m

New York Premiere

Atta Oko has spent his life as a proud traditional fisherman in rural Ghana. When he is suddenly forced into retirement his life takes a whimsical turn as he is partnered with a modern, bougie talking fish. As fishy chaos ensues, Atta and his three quirky “associates” navigate the vibrant streets of Accra, chasing their shared dream of owning a fishing boat. Filled with laughter, magic, and the rich culture of Ghana, The Fisherman is a heartwarming tale of family, resilience, and the enduring spirit of a true fisherman.

Sunday, May 11 at 1:00pm – Q&A with Zoey Martinson

Furu

Fatou Cissé, 2024, Mali, 67m

Bambara with English subtitles

North American Premiere

This powerful social drama from director Fatou Cissé, daughter of legendary Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, explores the impact of forced marriage on young women in Mali. The film follows Tou, who is pressured to marry an older man after becoming pregnant, and Ami, who resists village pressure to wed in favor of her independence. Through these parallel stories, Furu examines the complex and often painful choices young women face when their futures are shaped by tradition rather than personal agency. The film confronts the enduring practice of forced marriage and its psychological consequences, offering a poignant and urgent reflection on gender, autonomy, and resistance within a patriarchal society. Preceded by a clip from Cissé’s 2022 documentary A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father, an intimate portrayal of the life and career of Souleymane Cissé.

Friday, May 9 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Fatou Cissé

Identity Pieces / Pièces d’identités

Mwezé Ngangura, 1998, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Belgium, 97m

Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo, Tshiluba, French, English, and Dutch with English subtitles

In Mwezé Ngangura’s modern comic fairy tale, Mani Kongo, King of the Bakongo, embarks on a trip to Belgium to find his beloved daughter, Mwana, whom he has lost touch with. Dignified and outfitted in full regalia, the African king walks into a society that neither respects his title nor values his humanity. On arriving in Belgium, he has to cope with the very best and the very worst of the Black diaspora, as well as with prejudices rampant in European society, and finds good friends amongst the poor, lower-class whites—showing that nothing is ever black or white.

Saturday, May 10 at 3:45pm

Juju Factory

Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 2006, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 97m

French with English subtitles

Kongo lives in the Matonge district of Brussels, where he is writing a book. His editor wants a kind of traveler’s book spiced with ethnic ingredients. However, Kongo is inspired by his vision of complex and tormented souls that he meets at all proverbial and literal crossings. His story, and Juju Factory’s narrative, follow invisible trajectories intertwined with Congolese history and Belgium’s ghosts.

Sunday, May 11 at 8:45pm – Q&A with Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda

The Man Died

Awam Amkpa, 2024, Nigeria, 105m

U.S. Premiere

Based on the harrowing prison memoir by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, The Man Died is a powerful tale of resistance, courage, and the unyielding human spirit. Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s civil war, the film chronicles Soyinka’s imprisonment without trial by a brutal military regime determined to silence his voice. Through solitary confinement, torture, and deprivation, Soyinka’s resolve to fight against tyranny and injustice only grows stronger. Interwoven with flashbacks to his earlier life as a writer and activist, the film reveals the profound inner strength and unbreakable spirit that drive Soyinka’s resistance. As he documents his experiences on scraps of paper smuggled out of his cell, his writings become a beacon of hope and a call to action for others living under oppression. The Man Died is not just a personal story but a universal testament to the enduring power of truth and the necessity of standing up against tyranny. It is a poignant reminder that in the face of oppression, silence is not an option, and the human spirit can never truly be extinguished.

Tuesday, May 13 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Awam Amkpa

Mweze

David-Pierre Fila, 2020, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 80m

French and Lingala with English subtitles

David-Pierre Fila’s documentary on Mwezé Ngangura—the visionary Congolese director of Kin Kiesse; Life Is Beautiful; Changa Changa; The King, the Cow and the Banana Tree; Pieces d’identités; and The Governor’s New Clothes—unfolds as a meditation on history, politics, cinema, image, and time. Shot in Kinshasa, Ouagadougou, and Brussels, it is not a biography but an introspective exploration of Mwezé’s life today in Belgium, where he has settled with his family. What emerges is a self-portrait conceived by Mwezé himself, a collage of images layered with sound impressions. From the very first frames, the film presents itself with an understated elegance and subtle charms, its subject less concerned with intellectual discourse and more with stirring the heart.

Saturday, May 10 at 1:30pm

Ndar, Saga Waalo

Ousmane William Mbaye, 2024, Senegal, 91m

French and Wolof with English subtitles

U.S. Premiere

Ndar, the original name of Saint-Louis, an island at the mouth of the Senegal River in the former Waalo kingdom, was the port of colonial penetration into West Africa four centuries ago. An economic, cultural, and political crossroads, it served as a laboratory for the “civilizing mission.” Commerce, town planning, education, and mixed heritage were the instruments for French colonists to assimilate populations, establish themselves in the country, and exploit the wealth. While some cannot deny history and have kept their Saint-Louisian way of living intact, others want to put an end to the colonial heritage. For many young people today, it is time to think about history differently. Yet everyone has managed to preserve their keen sense of living well together.

Sunday, May 11 at 6:30pm – Q&A with Ousmane William Mbaye and producer Laurence Attali

Rising Up at Night / Tongo Saa

Nelson Makengo, 2024, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Belgium/Germany/Burkina Faso/Qatar, 96m

Lingala with English subtitles

As the Congo constructs Africa’s largest power station, Kinshasa and its inhabitants are trapped in literal darkness, waiting and struggling to get access to electric light while also dealing with extensive flooding and preparing to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. Nelson Makengo’s first feature documentary, which premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival Panorama, is a vivid portrait of Kinshasa’s residents—their hopes, disappointments, religious faith, and resilience. Makengo’s subtle, fragmented storytelling captures a population reinventing itself while immersed in the beauty of Kinshasa’s nights.

Preceded by

Profiling

Zaza Mon Amour, 2025, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 15m

French with English subtitles

World Premiere

In Marseille, a city of rich cultural diversity that still carries the deep scars of segregation, three childhood friends reunite after years apart, but what begins as a joyful gathering takes a tragic turn due to racial profiling. 

Friday, May 9 at 8:30pm

The Tree of Authenticity / L’Arbre de l’Authenticité

Sammy Baloji, 2025, Belgium/Democratic Republic of the Congo, 89m

French and Dutch with English subtitles

U.S. Premiere

Nestled in Africa’s largest rainforest lies one of the many gravesites of the West’s efforts to control nations and nature—one of the world’s largest tropical agricultural research centers. Located on the banks of the Congo River, the Yangambi INERA Research Station was a booming scientific center in its heyday, but today, it is an amalgam of jungle and ruin. Sammy Baloji’s gripping documentary The Tree of Authenticity recounts the stigma of ecological destruction that began at the time of colonization through the voices of two emblematic scientists who worked at Yangambi between 1910 and 1950, Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert. Their stories embody the legacies of colonial modernity and trace the origins of today’s environmental injustice.

Preceded by

The Planet of Water

Leonardo Gámez Gil, 2024, Mexico, 3m

Spanish with English subtitles

New York Premiere

In the near future, humanity—obsessed with saving water while destroying its own planet—faces a devastating environmental crisis. Humans begin to explore space in search of water, and in their absence, the Earth regenerates itself.

La Serpiente de Shelmeca

Laura Bermúdez, 2023, Honduras, 3m

Miskitu and Spanish with English subtitles

New York Premiere

The second most important rainforest in the Americas hides an archaeological secret of an ancient indigenous population, known today as Ciudad Blanca. Wildres Wood, the first biologist from the Miskitu ethnic group, embarks on a journey to the heart of the jungle to protect Honduras’ most important treasure for the world.

Monday, May 12 at 6:00pm

 New York African Film Festival Shorts Programs

 Shorts Program 1: Notions of Home

102m

This program of diaspora short films from around the globe includes Ahmed Samir’s Grandma, Hans Augustave’s Nwa (Black), Adesola Thomas’s Sister Salad Days, Devin Powell’s Where Are You From?, Shawn Antoine II’s Green Bay, Rhys Aaron Lewis’s Run Like We, and Francis Y. Brown’s Blinded by the Lights.

Thursday, May 8 at 9:15pm – Q&A with Shawn Antoine II, Hans Augustave, Daty Kaba, and Ahmed Samir

Friday, May 9 at 3:00pm

Grandma

Ahmed Samir, 2024, Egypt, 23m

Arabic with English subtitles

North American Premiere

While living in isolation, Mona and her young son await the birth of a new baby while still carrying the weight of the grandma’s recent death. When her son begins listening to her pregnant belly, convinced his grandmother’s spirit exists inside and wants to return, Mona is unsettled by his quiet certainty. As she struggles to comfort him, she confronts her own fears of failing as a mother, of being unable to fill the absence left behind, and of opening herself to the unknown. With each passing moment, the fragile balance between grief and hope threatens to collapse, forcing her to face the life growing inside her and the love she’s afraid she can’t give.

Nwa (Black)

Hans Augustave, 2024, U.S., 20m

English, French, and Haitian with English subtitles

Nwa is a candid, emotional coming-of-age film about Frantz, a first-generation Haitian-American boy, torn by the decision to get the haircut he knows his strict immigrant father would approve of, or a trendy cut connecting him to the Black American culture he’s been warned by his father not to embrace.

Sister Salad Days

Adesola Thomas, 2024, U.S., 18m

When an asexual double dutcher’s religious father forces her to get married, she enlists her friends and fiancé to stop the wedding and free her older sister whose soul is trapped on their father’s land.

Where Are You From?

Devin Powell, 2025, U.S., 13m

World Premiere

While Sherif, a 14-year-old Senegalese adolescent student in the U.S., watches international cinema, George, his 11-year-old American host, disrupts his bouts of escapism. Both characters have an issue: Sherif misses home and George has nothing to do. They solve this problem by watching movies together, but George can’t keep quiet.

Green Bay

Shawn Antoine II, U.S., 2024, 2m

World Premiere

On a green-skied shore, a woman’s dance becomes a sacred ritual that summons an extraterrestrial being.

Run Like We

Rhys Aaron Lewis, 2024, U.K., 13m

New York Premiere

It’s the 2012 London Olympics and the whole world is going crazy for the fastest man on the planet: Usain Bolt. Everyone apart from Alvin, an awkward 14-year-old who hates sports and constantly disappoints his Jamaican father, Lester, an ex-athlete who can’t understand why his son is “so soft.” So when Alvin is unexpectedly nominated to represent his class in the upcoming school sports day, it could be his last chance to make his dad proud and prove that he can be just like Bolt.

Blinded by the Lights

Francis Y. Brown, 2025, Ghana, 13m

World Premiere

A powerful and visually striking allegory, Blinded by the Lights explores the insatiable greed of the African leader and the devastating cost of betrayal. Set against the backdrop of a nation trapped in the cycle of neocolonialism, the film unpacks the illusions of power, the corruption that festers behind closed doors, and the silent suffering of a people forgotten by those meant to lead them. With bold symbolism and a haunting narrative, Blinded by the Lights is a chilling reflection on leadership, legacy, and the price of selling one’s soul for power.

 Shorts Program 2: Mzansi Moments

101m

This collection of short films from South Africa includes Ntokozo Mlaba’s The Passage, Michelle Name and Onke Meje’s Intsikelelo Yamanzi, Nduduzo Shandu’s Gogo, Phumi Morare’s Why the Cattle Wait, Hachimiya Ahamada’s Zanatany, When Soulless Shrouds Whisper, Kgomotso Sekhu’s Shap Shap, and Zoe Ramushu’s Damsel, Not in Distress.

Saturday, May 10 at 8:45pm

The Passage

Ntokozo Mlaba, 2024, South Africa, 12m

Southern Sotho and Zulu with English subtitles

North American Premiere

When Mrembula learns that Dakalo has opened a case of rape against him, he blackmails Bafana, his best friend and Dakalo’s boyfriend, into fabricating a story. Bafana tries to resist but realizes that with his hopes of making it out of the hood, it would be better to go with Mrembula’s story than to end up living his days in a jail cell. Mrembula thus sits Bafana down as they recreate the recollections of the events that unfolded on that fateful night in

the passage.

Intsikelelo Yamanzi

Michelle Name, Onke Meje, 2024, South Africa, 8m

English and Xhosa with English subtitles

North American Premiere

When Cape Town encounters an extreme stretch without water, things get desperate. Perhaps it’s a little boy who returns us to our humanity.

Gogo

Nduduzo Shandu, 2024, South Africa, 13m

Zulu with English subtitles

Introduced to storytelling at a young age from her own grandmother, Nduduzo Shandu crafted a story of a lifetime bond between a grandmother and her grandson.

Why the Cattle Wait

Phumi Morare, 2024, South Africa, 20m

Xhosa with English subtitles

New York Premiere

A folklore love story about a Nguni goddess who must find and convince her former mortal lover to return to the eternal world with her, before she destroys the earth.

Zanatany, When Soulless Shrouds Whisper

Hachimiya Ahamada, 2024, Belgium/Madagascar, 27m

Malagasy with English subtitles

New York Premiere

Majunga, Madagascar, December 1976. A wind of revolt sweeps through the city. Ali, a second-in-command in a bookbinding workshop, is raising his two daughters alone. One morning, before going to work, he witnesses what seems to be a simple neighborhood quarrel….

Shap Shap

Kgomotso Sekhu, 2024, South Africa, 10m

English and Tswana with English subtitles

U.S. Premiere

After surviving multiple attempts on his life in a dangerous village, 13-year-old Mmusi sets out to find his father in the township but is taken in by a strict Jehovah’s Witness. Homeless and judged by society, he struggles to survive in a harsh and unforgiving world. On his journey to reunite with his mother in Johannesburg, Mmusi faces discrimination but discovers hope and strength through unexpected friendships. Just as his life begins to improve, he receives a scholarship to go to the United States, but without a fixed address, his future remains uncertain.

Damsel, Not in Distress

Zoe Ramushu, 2025, South Africa, 11m

Aluta​​ infiltrates a crew of party girls who are hustling Johannesburg’s rich and powerful using charm and deception, but what the crew doesn’t know is Aluta is on a secret mission to find her missing sister. But when a job goes wrong, she’s betrayed and needs to stay one step ahead, or she’ll be the next target.

Shorts Program 3: Centennial Legacies

119m

Marking a century of history, culture, and resistance, this short film program honoring the visionaries and movements that shaped the past and continue to inspire the future includes Lou de Lemos’s The Legend of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s It Was Four Years Ago, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s Ousmane Sembène: The Making of Ceddo, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda’s The Draughtsmen Clash, and Lebert Bethune’s Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom.

Sunday, May 11 at 3:30pm – Q&A with Leburt Bethune, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, and cultural historian Danielle Brito

Monday, May 12 at 3:00pm

The Legend of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

Lou de Lemos, Puerto Rico/U.S., 1986, 25m

Spanish with English subtitles

This biography tells the story of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican of African descent who dedicated his life to studying African history and collecting Black-related materials from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa. His collection forms the core of the collection found today at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research center of the New York Public Library.

It Was Four Years Ago / C’était Il y a Quatre Ans

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, 1954, France, Senegal, 9m

French with English subtitles

An African student at his desk hears a song from his homeland on the radio. He feels transported back several years to the time when he was preparing to leave for France. He sketches a few dance steps. Meanwhile, his French girlfriend arrives to continue his classical music education. Listening to the first classical record, his mind wanders back to Africa.

Ousmane Sembène: The Making of Ceddo / L’envers du Décor

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Senegal, 1981, 25m

Wolof and French with English subtitles

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra captures Ousmane Sembène, one of the greatest African filmmakers, during the filming of Ceddo. The Making of Ceddo was completed after four years of production, while Ceddo itself was censored by the Senegalese authorities under the Senghor regime until 1983.

The Draughtsmen Clash / Le Damier

Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, 1996, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 40m

French with English subtitles        

The Draughtsmen Clash tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who spends a sleepless night playing checkers with a pot-smoking vagabond who claims to be the all-round champion. However, the rules of the game entail the opponents howling vulgar and foul obscenities at one another. The champion proceeds to insult, and trounce, the president. His reward, and his fate, will not surprise anyone.

Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom

Lebert Bethune, France, 1964, 20m

Bethune’s film portrays Malcolm X at a time when his views were evolving to include what was going on in the world at large. It features interviews filmed during Malcolm X’s trip to Europe and

Africa shortly before his assassination in the United States, interspersed with scenes of African rebellion.

Special Programs

 Art Exhibition: “All Night We Waited for Morning, All Morning We Waited for Night” by Bereket Adamu

“All Night We Waited for Morning, All Morning We Waited for Night” is a welded steel light sculpture and animated video that reflects on African resistance, migration, and global interconnectedness. Constructed from steel, cotton, hide skin glue, ink, paint, and a lightbulb, the piece combines material and conceptual tension, with light and movement obscuring as much as they reveal. Depicting winged African figures, it explores themes of environmental disruption, self-agency, and intergenerational relationships that transcend borders. The work’s shifting figures and forms resist fixed meaning, creating a narrative suspended between presence and absence, illuminated and obscured.

The accompanying animation extends this instability, allowing figures to dissolve and reform as the object is made and un- made, while the illuminated steel structure flickers between clarity and obscurity, revealing only partial truths. Through its dynamic interplay of sculpture and animation, the piece moves beyond monumentality, capturing a fluidity of political, environmental, and personal change in an ongoing, layered rhythm that defies stand still interpretation.
Thursday, May 8 – Tuesday, May 13 – FREE
Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Congo RE-Vue: A Fresh Perspective by Emerging Congolese Talent

Congo RE-Vue is a dynamic digital photo exhibition dedicated to highlighting the vibrant talent of the next generation of Congolese artists. This project focuses on young Congolese photographers who, with fresh eyes and a forward-thinking approach, are redefining how their country is viewed both within its borders and beyond. Their vision is one of progress, creativity, and optimism. At the heart of Congo RE-Vue is a dedication to contemporary Congolese culture, seen through the lens of photographers (with future editions to include filmmakers) who are reshaping the narrative of their country.

Curated by Cecilia Zoppelletto and produced by ZOPMEDIA in collaboration with ZEKE and Preston Witman Productions, Congo RE-Vue is an exploration of the artistic innovation coming out of Congo today, crafted with care and pride. This is more than just a photo exhibition—it is a movement, a statement, and an invitation to experience Congo through the eyes of its next generation.

The works featured in Congo RE-Vue are a testament to the immense talent of Congo’s young photography generation. From intimate portraits to bold social commentary, each artist brings their own unique perspective, offering a fresh lens through which to see the beauty, challenges, and triumphs of Congo. This first edition includes the works of Christelle Emulu, Arsène Mpiana, Hardy Bope, Henock Diba, Luther Lupeta, Antalya Mbafumoya, and Fortune Lula.

Thursday, May 8 – Tuesday, May 13 – FREE

Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

From Then to Now: Celebrating 15 Years of African Cinema — Presented by AFF & OkayAfrica
The African Film Festival (AFF) and OkayAfrica present From Then to Now: Celebrating 15 Years of African Cinema—a thoughtful exploration of the evolving landscape of African film. Bringing together four acclaimed filmmakers featured in this year’s festival, this panel offers a rare opportunity to reflect on the creative shifts and enduring themes shaping African cinema today. Panelists include Abderrahmane Sissako (Black Tea), Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda (Juju Factory), Afolabi Olalekan (Opening Night film Freedom Way), and Fatou Cissé (Furu), who also honors the profound legacy of her father, the late Souleymane Cissé. Together, they trace the threads of continuity and change across a decade and a half of cinematic storytelling, offering insight into the present moment and the future of the art form.
Saturday, May 10 at 11:30am – FREE
Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cinema as an essential art form and fosters a vibrant home for film culture to thrive. FLC presents premier film festivals, retrospectives, new releases, and restorations year-round in state-of-the-art theaters at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. FLC offers audiences the opportunity to discover works from established and emerging directors from around the world with a passionate community of film lovers at marquee events including the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films. 

Founded in 1969, FLC is committed to preserving the excitement of the theatrical experience for all audiences, advancing high-quality film journalism through the publication of Film Comment, cultivating the next generation of film industry professionals through our FLC Academies, and enriching the lives of all who engage with our programs.

Rolex is the Official Partner and Exclusive Timepiece of Film at Lincoln Center.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on X, Instagram, and Bluesky.

AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, INC.
Since 1990, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) has bridged the divide between postcolonial Africa and the American public through the powerful medium of film and video. AFF's unique place in the international arts community is distinguished not only by leadership in festival management, but also by a comprehensive approach to the advocacy of African film and culture. AFF established the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) in 1993 with Film at Lincoln Center. The New York African Film Festival is presented annually by the African Film Festival, Inc. and Film at Lincoln Center, in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music and Maysles Cinema. AFF also produces a series of local, national, and international programs throughout the year. More information about AFF can be found on the Web at www.africanfilmny.org. You can follow AFF at @africanfilmfest on X and Instagram.

For press inquiries regarding Film at Lincoln Center, please contact:

John Kwiatkowski, Film at Lincoln Center, JKwiatkowski@filmlinc.org

Eva Tooley, Film at Lincoln Center, ETooley@filmlinc.org

For press inquiries regarding African Film Festival, Inc., please contact:

Cheryl Duncan, Cheryl Duncan & Company Inc., cheryl@cdcprnews.com

Water is Life group exhibition of art and poetry

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Mmiri bụ Ndụ - (Water is Life) group exhibition of art and poetry commemorating the 4th International Conference on Water in Africa by *Our Water and Health Network Africa. Opens at 2 pm Wednesday, 19th March 2025, at the Institute of African Studies Museum, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and runs until Friday, 18th April 2025, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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The long-anticipated solo exhibition Ozioma Onuzulike:

The long-anticipated solo exhibition Ozioma Onuzulike: Who Knows Tomorrow opened to an enthusiastic audience yesterday, 14th March 2025, at the Marc Straus Gallery in New York.

In Ozioma Onuzulike’s workshop in Nsukka, Nigeria, the fiery core of the kiln is a crucible of radical transformation. Within this space, the artist experiments, explores, and forges a universal language - one without a name, yet shared across borders. Here, art transcends national divisions, creating dialogues that connect rather than divide. Using pigments from the UK, clay from Nigeria, and exhibiting in New York, Onuzulike’s work speaks in a boundless, cross- cultural discourse.

A major source of inspiration for Onuzulike’s work is his mentor and teacher, Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui, particularly his series of broken pots from the 1970s. Onuzulike extends these ideas to his art making; his process - cutting, smashing, and subjecting clay to violent force - mirrors historical ruptures, evoking war and colonial exploitation. Fire, both destructive and creative, is central to this narrative, transforming materials in an irreversible act of transmutation.

A recurring motif in Onuzulike’s work is the palm kernel, symbolising Africa’s extracted and discarded resources. Whether human or material, Africa has long been exploited without regard for ethics or sustainability. His work features palm kernel shells, both natural and clay-fabricated, together with glass, evoking Venetian trade beads historically used in transactions, including the transatlantic slave trade. Once a symbol of subjugation, these beads have re-emerged as markers of wealth and status - Onuzulike reclaims them, integrating the legacy of trade into contemporary cultural expression.

Deeply rooted in local traditions that have endured for centuries, Onuzulike draws inspiration from his surroundings, incorporating material and non-material heritage, from the intricate patterns of Kente and Babariga textiles to the impermanent lines of Uli design; from naming his works after figures of political and social significance to naming his heavy creations after types of clothing and armour - a purpose they can never serve. All of this informs his practice, adding layers of historical references and semiotic relationships that are evident not only in the forms and textures of his sculptures but also in their very names.

These themes can be seen in Royal Alkyabba, Onuzulike’s most ambitious work to date, a majestic large-scale cape comprised of over 35,000 individually cast ceramic pieces and palm kernels woven into a glorious tapestry. In another more playful work, FlaMboyant Armour for Femi Falana I, Onuzulike brings new colour, reverence, and humour to his oeuvre, naming the piece after Femi Falana, an important human rights activist in Nigeria, participating in a regional custom of naming children, fashion, and other acquisitions based on the circumstances of their birth or significant events of the time.

Onye ma echi—who knows tomorrow? This Igbo maxim echoes throughout Onuzulike’s work, embodying the unpredictability of history, identity, and transformation. Through ceramics, he navigates a complex web of associations, drawing on traditional practices of making, dressing, naming, and thinking to interrogate the shifting relationships between symbols and meaning. In a world of rapid political and environmental change, his work becomes a discourse on history and resilience, asking what is lost, what is reclaimed, and what the future might hold.

The gallery is proud to present Ozioma Onuzulike’s second solo exhibition in the United States. Onuzulike (b. 1972) is Professor of Ceramics and African Art History, and Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His solo exhibitions include Seed Yams Of Our Land at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos, Nigeria (2019), along with a presentation of his poetry collection of the same title also published by the CCA. His works were included in the exhibition at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK, arising from the [Re:]Entanglements research project led by Professor Paul Basu. Onuzulike is a fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Centre, Umbertide, Perugia, Italy, where he completed a residency under the UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursary for Artists. He is a 2011 recipient of the African Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and a 2010 Leventis Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of London Centre of African Studies, SOAS; and an alumnus of the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, USA. His work is represented in numerous important collections, including the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos, Nigeria; Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK; Princeton University Museum, Princeton, NJ; The Design Museum, Munich, Germany; Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; Donnersberg Collection, France.

Ozioma Onuzulike: Who Knows Tomorrow will remain open until April 26, 2025, at the Marc Straus Gallery, 57 Walker Street, New York, New York, 10013. You may follow the artist’s work on Instagram @ozioma.onuzulike.

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#GloryBeToGod

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Submission Open: One World Media Awards 2025

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Celebrating underreported stories from around the world

One World Media is looking for impactful journalism in print, digital media, audio, film and broadcast mediums, as well as feature and short documentaries that raise awareness of global and local issues, covering underreported topics or offering new approaches to more familiar stories. Additionally, since last year we opened the “Innovative Storytelling” category for media using new technologies and platforms, such as TikTok, gaming, data, VR, AR, XR or AI.

Free entries are available for students who are from and based in the global south and for organisations interested in entering the “Press Freedom” category. Discounts are available for those in the global south for all categories, please see the website for details.

You can read all about the application process and enter a submission here.

The deadline for entries is 6 February 2025 at 17:00 GMT+1.

https://oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/

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CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM IN OUR CHALLENGING 21ST CENTURY SOCIETY IT IS NOT PARTY TIME. INSTEAD, WE MAY BE BACK TO THE CATACOMBS

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Paper Presented at the Annual Pastors’ Conference of the Realm of Glory International Churches Lagos, January 15, 2025 By Rev. Fr. George Ehusani Executive Director, Lux Terra Leadership Foundation

Dear friends, sisters and brothers, you are hosting this 2025 edition of your annual Pastors’ Conference in the context of a very vicious, aggressive, vengeful and vindictive form of secularism in the world, that is accompanied by practical atheism, which is openly demonstrated in the lives of many modern-day men and women, including even some of those who fill up our Churches on Sundays. Practical Atheism is the new way of life whereby many people, while not openly rejecting God and religion, are daily making choices and conducting their public and private affairs, as if God does not exit, and in total disregard for God’s commandments, and fragrant violation of critical values and virtues which have always been associated with persons with any measure of religious consciousness. Let me highlight the point with a few examples: In July 2024, the organisers of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic games in Paris, decided to desecrate a principal symbol of the Christian religion, by making a public mockery of the scene of the Last Supper in a shameless parody, that involved satanic images as well as homosexual, lesbian or LGBTQ++ symbols. Opinion leaders across the world (including Muslims and even people who are not known to have any religious affiliations), reacted with outrage at this public expression of blasphemy and disrespect for the religious sensitivities of the globlal population of Christians. Last week the news broke out that US Nigerian Professor Uju Anya, is now legally married to her lesbian lover, Dr. Sirry Alang, who is a Cameroonian American. In this country Nigeria, the LGBTQ+ madness is today spreading like wildfire. It is being aggressively promoted around the world by not only individual campaigners and NGOs, but also whole governments.

A number of those we call celebrities in Nigeria today, who have millions of young people following them, have often been recruited by powerful international organisations, as agents, to spread these new gender ideologies, by which strange and unnatural sexual behaviours, which the Christian Scriptures squarely condemns as abominable and damnable (See Romans 1:20- 32); the same behaviours that only a few decades ago used to be diagnosed as mental illness; are now defended and promoted as alternative lifestyles and fundamental human rights, such that those of us who express moral outrage at the normalization of these perversions, are blackmailed as homophobic, condemned as religious bigots, and sometimes subjected to persecuted for defending the traditional Christian position in these matters. In spite of the Same Sex Prohibition Act of 2014, we see homosexual practices being openly advertised in the social and regular media today, and viewed by some as progress. Among the many aggressive LGBTQ+ campaigners in Nigeria today, we even have one who calls himself a Christian pastor. He is Jide Macauly, founder of what he calls the House of Rainbow International Church, where homosexuals and transgender persons are not only warmly welcomed, but earnestly celebrated for their courage to come out openly to declare what they call their sexual orientation. And many of our young people appear fascinated by these horrifying developments. If you do a quick google search on the number of young people following Bobrisky, you would be utterly amazed. He has over 3 million followers on Facebook and almost 5 million followers on Instagram. He has almost the same number of followers on social media as Pastor Enoch Adegboye! Brothers and sisters, are you beginning to see what I am talking about?

Your 2025 Pastors’ Conference on the theme, The Cross and the Altar, is happening at a time of widespread loss of God-consciousness, or the rejection by many of any spiritual reference point for the human person and the human society. You are gathered here amid the growing scourge or epidemic that the famous 20th Century Psychologist, Viktor Frankl, identifies as existential nihilism, which is the widespread loss of any sense of meaning and purpose in human existence. Existential nihilism emanates from the loss of the consciousness of God, and any sense of transcendence in the contemporary society. We are confronted today with a much more serious problem than the fact that people are stealing, cheating, committing fornication or engaging in Yahoo-Yahoo. Many young people do not know why they are alive, and some are ready to end it any day, at the slightest provocation. The widespread rejection of any spiritual reference point by an ever-increasing number of men and women in our generation, gives rise to the existential frustration which Augustine of Hippo alludes to when he declares that “the Lord has created us for himself, and our hearts will remain restless, until they rest in him.” The Scriptures of our Judeo-Christian religion and the testimonies from all other major religious traditions sufficiently demonstrate that the more human beings move away from God, the more they move away from the consciousness of spiritual or supernatural realities, and the more they are motivated wholly and entirely by materialistic, this-worldly ultimate goals; the more confused, senseless, restless and violent they become. Yes, as the men and women of our generation move farther and farther away from God and the things of God, they gradually become disoriented and confused about their true identities, about the purpose of their lives, and about the meaning of the very physical bodies they carry around.

Is it not instructive that multiple psychopathologies, including widespread drug addiction, rampant cases of depression, suicide ideation, and actual suicides, appear to be increasing geometrically in the same age and among the same generation that has witnessed what is called the “sexual revolution,” when men and women are being told that they no longer need to exercise any restraints, and when all inhibitions in sexual expression, are gradually being seen as vestiges of a dying primitive era? The truth that stares modern humanity in the face, is the same one that dawned on Augustine in the 4th Century A.D., namely, that the human heart is either home-bound or death-bound; and there appears to be no resting place in between! Yet, a cursory survey of the dominant segments of our own youth culture in this country, Nigeria, especially as displayed in popular movies, comedy skits, music and dance, including some of what people call Gospel music today, will reveal that even though our Churches are often filled up on Sundays, and though the public practice of religion still appears to be thriving in our society, all is however not well with us. All is not well with us, because our youths are speedily abandoning the path of Christian virtues and values, and they are losing their souls to the social and moral decadence of the age.

Christian youth in this country and elsewhere these days, are often the ones with the least respect for religion and religious persons. They are often the ones denigrating the Church, blackmailing and insulting religious leaders, desecrating religious symbols, and recklessly engaging in acts that used to be identified as blasphemy and sacrilege. Most of the young Nigerians who are today addicted to pornography, and those engaged in internet fraud, Yahoo Yahoo and Yahoo+, or those allegedly engaged in ritual killing (of their mothers, their sisters and girlfriends, for quick money), are often youths brought up Christian homes, but who seem to have lost their way, and are now in the den of the devil. Traditional African religious rituals have suddenly become very attractive for many Nigerian youths, who are today not only enlisting as devotees of traditional deities and ancestral cults in their villages, but many are actually becoming priests and priestesses of some of these traditional African religious cults; the kind of cults that 3 their parents were never exposed to, because their grandparents had abandoned them to embrace Christianity!

Just last week, at the opening ceremony of the annual retreat in Anambra State, of all the Bishops of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Governor Chukwuma Soludo raised an alarm over a frightening development that I am well aware of myself. He observed that this is a very trying moment in the history of Christianity in our society today. Though the Anglican Church claims to have up to 20 million Nigerians officially registered in their books, and though the Christian Church as a whole, boasts of more than a 100 million registered members in Nigeria, he wondered how many of these 100 million people, most of who were brought up in Christian homes, are still Christians. He said the question is even more pertinent in the Southeast, as in his view, the fastest growing religion in the Southeast is idolatry. He said from Anambra to Imo, and from Abia to Enugu and Ebonyi, there is a massive resurgence in idolatry, with traditional shrines springing up everywhere, and that they are recruiting young people massively, young people with names like Emmanuel, Joseph, and even some bearing the name Christian, but they are carrying their shrines. He said the leaders of the Church in Nigeria must now engage in a sober reflection, asking themselves the question: Why are the young y leaving Christianity in droves? He said the leaders must constantly re-examine their purpose, asking themselves, “Are we still serving the purpose? Are our ways in conflict with our purpose?” He wondered whether in the eyes of some people in Nigeria, religion has not become a business, where the transactions have gradually overwhelmed the transformation.

We are living through very challenging times, especially for truly religious people, as there is very little sense of spirituality and transcendence left in the popular culture, and sometimes even in some of our Churches that have been turned to theatres of endless entertainment. The powerful agents of the global culture have become increasingly secular, and aggressively anti-religious and vengefully anti-church. These are difficult times indeed. We are at the threshold of a new dark age, and a new era of Christian persecution, when truly committed agents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be challenged to embrace martyrdom that will come from different directions, including even from within the Church itself. Today, an increasing number of men and women who were raised in Christian homes and schools, are rejecting the true gospel of Christ, and instead they are choosing to dine with the devil and to give themselves over to the most reckless forms of debauchery, self-indulgence and moral depravity. The religion of many who flock to our churches on Sundays, often has no depth at all. It is often a transactional religion that is devoid of serious elements of Christian spirituality or the godly life, such as is exemplified in Jesus Christ himself and in those we celebrate as the saints of the Christian Church. We cannot see in the life of many who fill our Churches in Nigeria, evidence of people who have truly encountered the God of Jesus Christ and fallen in love with Him; people who have had the same experience of the all-consuming power of God's love, and now and again can exclaim like Prophet Jeremiah (in Jeremiah 20:7), “You have seduced me Lord and I have allowed myself to be seduced; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed...” Instead, many of those we have in our Churches are still trapped at the infantile (transactional) level in their religiosity; that level at which prayer is not aimed at lifting the heart and mind to God, but aimed at appeasing, bribing, manipulating or twisting God's hands into doing our will; that level at which attempts are even made to coerce the God of love into destroying one's enemies, etc. This kind of religiosity is like a pack of cards that will come crashing down in the face of the enormous existential challenges that are ahead of us.

Our Churches and auditoriums are filled to capacity, yes, but many of our members have not been well formed in Christian spirituality and Christian morality. Yes, indeed, the harvest of the 4 Lord is plentiful but true labourers are few. The vineyard of the Lord today is made up of many ignorant but arrogant, fun-seeking, power hungry, enemies of God and enemies of Christ, who shamelessly display and audaciously promote abominably perverse behaviours that insult the sensibilities of god-fearing people of all times. In this kind of degenerate dispensation, we all must brace up for action, and assume our roles as born-again Christians - priests, pastors and evangelists, faithful witnesses of Christ, and courageous defenders of the Christian faith, not with swords and javelins as in the days of the Crusaders of the Middle Ages, but with the intellectual, spiritual and moral resources of our faith.

To function as faithful witnesses of Christ, and to answer the call to be pastors and agents of evangelism in the 21st Century, is going to be a very difficult and challenging spiritual, pastoral and social enterprise. To live our lives and discharge our duties effectively as witnesses and defenders of the Christian faith today, may be a via crucis – that is, the way of the cross, which may take some of us toward Calvary. When I consider the many forces that are mounting viciously and aggressively against the Christian message today, I feel compelled to go around warning my fellow priests, pastors, and evangelists, that “it is not party time;” that we are being called to thread the painful path towards Calvary. The challenging task before us will daily demand of us a high degree of faith commitment, for the radical witness to the Gospel of Christ which an age of widespread unbelief and debauchery such as ours requires of us.

The good Lord desires to save the people of every generation, but the appropriate character disposition, the depth of spirituality, and the degree of sacrifice required of the agents of the gospel who are to be sent to each generation, will be determined by the peculiarities of each generation. Those of us who embrace the call of Christ to minister in his vineyard today, are in for some very serious business. It is not party time all. These days, when I see Christian pastors and preachers, dressed in expensive clothes and designer jewelry, flying around in private jets or firstclass compartments of air planes, or driving around with motorcades, sometimes with police escorts and civilian bouncers, I often turn to those around me, and say, “Ewo o - awon eleyi o mo nkan nkan!” See, these ones don’t know anything. In other words, such priests, pastors and preachers that still carry themselves around at this point in time, with what we can describe as a high degree of ecclesiastical and clerical triumphalism; such church leaders are reveling in the past glories of medieval Christendom, when bishops, priests and pastors, lived like medieval feudal lords, monarchs and emperors. That era in European Christianity was brought to a brutal end by the violent French Revolution of 1789 to 1892. We in the Catholic Church have learnt a few lessons from the history of medieval Christianity in Europe. That is why you are not likely to see a Catholic Pope, Cardinal or Archbishop, anywhere in the world these days, living an openly flamboyantly lifestyle, no matter how rich his church or his diocese may be.

Now, as the world gets more and more engulfed in the darkness that manifests itself in new forms of paganism, such as we see in the radical Gender, Transgender and Non-Binary ideologies that aim to destroy traditional religious and family values; and as our own youth population are increasingly turning towards new forms of paganisms in Nigeria, Christian pastors, and the generality of Christians, are today called upon to stand up to be counted among the true followers of Christ, by disciplined lives of meaning and purpose. We are called upon to quickly get ourself educated in the complex dynamics of the times we live in, so we may courageously confront the neo-paganism of contemporary society, with the light of the Christian gospel which never dims.

Those the Lord requires as pastors, preachers, and evangelists in our society today, should be persons who daily submit themselves prayerfully as instruments in God’s hands for the salvation of souls. Those the Lord requires as agents of Christian evangelism today, should be persons of extraordinary courage and fortitude, who accept the call to shine the light of Christ amid the 5 darkness of contemporary society, and to constitute themselves into signs of contradiction to a world of ruthless and aggressive competition for wealth and power, and mindless devotion to the cult of sensual pleasure. Those the Lord requires as pastors, preachers and evangelists today, should be persons of faith, who can interpret the signs of the times, as well as offer gospel discernment on the socio-historical circumstances of their people.

Let me be very blunt with you: We are in the midnight hour, and the Ship of Peter (the Church), is battling amid very turbulent waters, as is sufficiently demonstrated in the spiritual and moral crisis to be found in our various Churches today. At this time of widespread mediocrity, hypocrisy and apostacy among many Christians, including even among high-ranking personalities in our Christian Churches, the Lord requires men and women of extraordinary commitment that would be part of his remnant few, who, with a heightened sense of sacrifice, would be holding the fort, standing in the gap, and putting on the whole armor of God against the wiles of the vicious enemies of God’s people. For as St. Paul reminds the Ephesians, “it is not against flesh and blood that we must contend, but against principalities and powers, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places…” Therefore (he says), “take on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand firm … and quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (See Ephesians 6:10-17).

The challenges I have outlined above are even more pressing for Christian pastors and Christians who are young parents, as we would have to practice our Christian faith and raise our children in a world that is becoming terribly hostile to any form of religiosity and spirituality, and particularly hostile to traditional Christian values; a world that is completely different from the one in which many of the older pastors here grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. When those of us in the older generation of today were growing up, the principal agents of socialisation included the Family, the Church, and the School, in that order. And those whom the children saw as heroes and mentors to be emulated, were from among their parents, their church leaders and their teachers. But all that has changed today. With the mobile phone in the hands of our children, the television in our homes, and the billboards littering our towns, villages, and highways, the more powerful influencers of our children’s values today, are often social media personalities, popular musicians, movie stars, comedians, and sundry entertainers. Many of these celebrities are school dropouts, products of broken homes or dysfunctional families. Many of them are drug and alcohol addicts, serial polygamists, and unrepentant sexual perverts. Some of them are known psychiatric cases. Others regularly display symptoms of one psychopathology or the other. But they are all rich and famous. They all have millions of young followers on social media. This is why they are called social influencers, and they are regularly recruited as “brand ambassadors” by unscrupulous agents of corporate organisations.

Thus, in the absence of good parenting; and in the absence of adequate and effective strategies for appropriate instructions in Christian values and morals for our children and youth, these celebrities who are themselves often in need of spiritual, psychological, and social rehabilitation, have unfortunately become the prime influencers, the principal inspirers, the key mentors, and the chief opinion molders of our vulnerable and gullible young people. So, I really do not envy those who happen to be young Christian parents today. Christian parenting today involves a lot more effort and investment than was required when many of in the older generation were growing up. Those who are still raising young children today should recognize that their children may not turn out to be good Christian children, simply because they pray at home and ensure that the children follow them to Church on Sundays.

Parents of young children will need to do a lot more, with the grace of God. They will need to be Christian parents in all truth and with all seriousness, making their homes domestic Churches, 6 giving loud witness to Christian values, and teaching their children from their earliest days, to become signs of contraction to the evil generation; to stand out and shine their light amid the surrounding darkness; and with all boldness, to defend the hope that is in them, as St. Peter urges believers in 1 Peter 3:15. This is by no means an easy task, but with God all things are possible. After all, the Lord has promised us that the powers of hell will not prevail against his Church. And we know that the One who called us to be Christians and to be ministers of the of the Gospel in season and out of season, will not abandon us in this critical season. May the certainty of his presence sustain, strengthen, and comfort us, as we renew today our commitment to defending the true faith that Jesus left us. Amen.

Before concluding, I would like to challenge all those who, like me, are senior citizens, to take responsibility for the future generation. Many of our young people are today behaving like sheep without shepherds. Many have lost their souls to debauchery and depravity as we noted above. So, we need experienced older people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, to help these young people answer the most profound and critical question of life’s ultimate meaning and purpose; questions which the young people seem to be grappling with daily. In the face of the tragedies and frustrations of life, and especially in the face of the mess which successive generations of rogue leaders have made of our country Nigeria, we need a “remnant few” from among the experienced members of the Christian community, who have been sufficiently schooled by both the positive and negative experiences of their lives, and who have learnt some of the profound truths of their human existence, so they can now become teachers, inspirers and mentors of the younger generation in a life of discipline, virtue, meaning and purpose. I challenge those of the older generation, to take responsibility for the future, by using their time and resources, their skills and talents, their rich knowledge and privileged exposures, their successes and achievements, but also your failures and disappointments – from which hopefully they have learnt good lessons – to disseminate those values and principles, and promote those norms and habits, that will make for meaningful existence for future generations of humanity. It is in this way that those of us in the older generation today would live the rest of our lives purposefully, that we would age gracefully, and that at the end, when the Lord calls us, that we would have the honour of exiting this world, as it were, gallantly!

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Ozioma Onuzulike's exceptional talent has been recognised on a global scale.

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Image: Ozioma onuzulike, Embroidered Babariga Armour for Fubara (Power Series), 2024, earthenware and stoneware clays, glazes, recycled glasses and copper wire, 145x122x5cm.

Ozioma Onuzulike's exceptional talent has been recognised on a global scale. He has been shortlisted as one of 29 Finalists representing 18 African countries for The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize (NSAAP) 2025, an annual award for contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora sponsored by Schroders. The shortlisted artworks, including Onuzulike's, will be presented to the public in a Finalist Exhibition at Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa, from 4 February to 20 April 2025.

Onuzulike’s ceramic tapestry, titled Embroidered Babariga Armour for Fubara, is a masterpiece of intricate craftsmanship. It has been constructed from 3,189 handcrafted ceramic palm kernel shell beads woven together using copper wire to resemble a sumptuous West African elite gown called “Babariga” or “Agbada”. The clay shells were first bisque-fired, then selectively dipped into glazes before being inlaid with glass from crushed recycled bottles and re-fired to very high temperatures. His laborious studio processes made the shells resemble glass beads, historically used as tokens to buy enslaved Africans. However, beads are now considered prestige items and emblems of high social status in many regions of Africa. Created by Onuzulike at the height of the struggle for political power between the governor of the oil-rich Rivers State in Nigeria and his political godfather, this piece brings to mind both “agbada” dress (emblematic of the affluence of political figures) and the medieval plate-armour and speaks about political turmoil in Africa.

Ozioma Onuzulike is a professor of ceramic art and African art history in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also the Director of the Institute of African Studies at the same university. He is considered a prominent voice in Africa's contemporary ceramic art practice.

To view Ozioma Onuzulike’s other works, you may follow him on Instagram @ozioma.onuzulike.

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FILM REVIEW: Unmissable Traces Of DEMAS NWOKO In Animation VAINGLORIOUS

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By Oyiza Adaba, New York

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Vainglorious Poster: Produced by STL Productionz

Vainglorious is a studio animation short, creatively conceived as a school project by two talented students of Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Since its release in 2024, Producer Sebastien Abou-Chakra and Writer/Director Gabriel Oshiomati 'Mati’ Ugbodaga have garnered attention and praise, with numerous notable selections and impressive awards wins at global film festivals.

FILM REVIEW

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Vainglorious is set against the backdrop of the traditional Northern Nigerian boxing style known as "Dambe". The story revolves around the conflict between the talented Haruna, a young boxer dedicated to his craft who must confront Ayeana, a father striving to secure his daughter's future. Both men face painful struggles of identity and risking their loved ones; in a fierce battle between tradition and modernity.

Creative Techniques

The animation team skillfully leveraged body language, visual contrast, facial expressions, and evocative music to effectively and powerfully communicate the characters' exhaustion or remarkable resilience throughout the animation.

• The scene where all three characters lie facing the stars, exhausted from fighting, shows how  body language and positioning is used to depict the characters' physical and emotional fatigue after their ordeal.

• The character Idia is described as “a spirited and caring young girl whose strong will and tough nature are evident in her every action.” The young girl’s small frame contrasts her fierce spirit and shows her resilience and determination despite her stature. 

• The use of facial expressions and eye contact to convey complex emotional dynamics between the characters, is noticed in the conflict between the father and daughter, where their eyes connect. The emotional connection between the young girl and her father was a key element that heightens the overall impact of the narrative.

• The music accompanying these scenes heighten each  emotional impact and reinforce the characters' states of mind.

“We wanted the music to be perfect, because Nigeria and music is a big thing. I believe that music makes or breaks a film… We didn’t want computer generated music or anything like that. We needed somebody on that talking drum with their hands. ”

— Sebastien Abou-Chakra (Producer Vainglorious)

Vainglorious Writer/Director Gabriel Osiomati 'Mati’ Ugbodaga and Producer Sebastien Abou-Chakra (Photo by STL Productionz)

Production Team

The production took place at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and STL Productionz, and this alone points to a collaborative academic environment where students and faculty worked together to bring the project to life. The animation team included a large number of talented individuals and this diverse team of artists  brought different skills and perspectives that helped elevate the visual quality and storytelling of the animation.

The collaborative approach to the music for example, composition helped create a cohesive musical score that enhanced the emotional impact of the animation. It had additional contributions from Bemba Bangura and other key personnel like animation supervisor Selena Perez, Jonathan Cox, Alexa Morales, and Mahogany Martin as the FX animation lead.

Cultural & Personal Influences

Mati and Sabestien are both outstanding in their passion for animation and storytelling, which was shaped by their upbringing in Nigeria and family backgrounds. Sebastien is of Lebanese descent and grew up in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. Oshiomati became interested in animation from a young age, growing up as ‘art royalty’ in Lagos and Abuja. With the "Master Builder" Demas Nwoko as a grandfather, Mati's cultural heritage and family history in Nigeria plays an important role in cultivating his creative and artistic inclinations.

Demas Nwoko at home in Idumeje Ugboko, Delta State Nigeria

Demas Nwoko's artistic influence in Vainglorious

“I always knew I wanted to do something art related. Even before I pieced together what my grandfather was, I was into animation as a child. Finding out more about my grandfather further pushed that, because it added a weight on my shoulders that I didn’t know I had. By then, I already knew I wanted to do art adjacent to my grandfather. I want to make a name for myself as well, and also still honor my grandfather (Demas Nwoko) and his work.”

— Gabriel Oshiomati Ugbodga (Writer/Director VAINGLORIOUS)

This film highlights both their creative vision and artistic skills within the animation industry.

MESSENGERS

Learn more about Vainglorious featured in Season 4 of the TV series MESSENGERS. Coming in Q1 2025. Subscribe to @africarelatedinc for notifications. 

ALBUM REVIEW: Godwin Louis Compels in Psalms & Proverbs

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By Oyiza Adaba, New York

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Album Cover: Godwin Louis’ “Psalms and Proverbs”.

Our spotlight is on Godwin Louis's compelling sophomore album "Psalms and Proverbs," where we will take the time to break down its various tracks in detail. We will engage in a thoughtful discussion about the impressive organ masterpiece featured in the collection, highlighting its profound intensity and the deep thoughts his musical influences evoke throughout the listening experience.

ALBUM REVIEW

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Based on my deep and attentive listening of Godwin Louis's album "Psalms and Proverbs,” I can confidently conclude that the diverse musical influences found throughout the album, as well as the various artistic collaborations featured within it, are intricately woven into the overall theme and message that the artist is trying to convey.

1. African and Haitian influences: Several tracks prominently feature traditional African and Haitian beats, rhythms, and distinctive instrumentation. This musical choice not only reflects Godwin Louis's own roots but also highlights the album's strong connection to his rich cultural heritage and experiences, particularly through his collaborative work with artists in Togo.

2. Meditative and prayerful elements: The organ opening of “Pwoblem Yo” (track 4) serves as convincing evidence of his deep church upbringing, while other tracks such as "Psalm 121" and the various sections of "Psalm 23" offer a meditative and prayerful quality. . This suggests a pervasive spiritual and reflective theme that resonates deeply throughout the entire album. The lead single single Showers of Blessings/ Kplolanyuiade brings listeners to the church with an offering a jazzy and joyful melange of sounds inspired by hymns and other religious songs from the Caribbean and West Africa. Personally, it is reminiscent of the depth behind John Coltane’s ‘The Creator has a Masterplan’.

3. Blending of genres: The album skillfully blends a variety of genres, seamlessly incorporating elements of jazz, blues, rock, and carnival-like sounds. This rich diversity reflects the album's broad appeal and its ability to reach a wide range of listeners from different musical backgrounds, whether they are fans of jazz, gospel, Latino, African music, or world music.

4. New York influence: Tracks 11 and 12 distinctly highlight the album's connection to the vibrant New York jazz scene, thereby adding yet another significant layer of cultural influence. One cannot help but notice Godwin's upbringing in Harlem resonating prominently throughout the journey of “Psalms and Proverbs.”

Band Group photo (photo credit Blue Room Music)

The album features Louis on alto and soprano saxophone, Billy Buss on trumpet and flugelhorn, pianist Axel Tosca, organist Johnny Mercier, drummer Obed Calvaire, percussionist Markus Schwartz, bassist Hogyu Hwang and Trinidad-born trumpet star Etienne Charles.

Overall, I would assert that the diverse musical influences displayed by Godwin Louis in "Psalms and Proverbs" significantly contribute to a rich and multifaceted album that genuinely celebrates the artist's cultural heritage, spiritual journey, and impressive artistic versatility. Ultimately, this creative work serves to uplift and bless the listener in meaningful ways, as I experienced it.

About the artist

The Grammy-nominated Godwin Louis (pronounced god-win lou-ee) is a celebrated saxophonist and composer. He was born in Harlem, New York to Haitian parents and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut and in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and also teaches at the summer music camps of the Connecticut jazz nonprofit Back Country Jazz. “Psalms and Proverbs” is Louis’s follow-up to his debut “Global”, released in 2019. The album is available internationally through the Blue Room Music label

MESSENGERS S4

Discover Godwin Louis in Season 4 of our TV series MESSENGERS, arriving in early 2025. Subscribe to @africarelatedinc for updates.  

Bronx Council on the Arts Community Engagement

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by Oyiza Adaba

Event Flyer

Event

Artsist Engage - Get Together

Since its founding, BCA has been committed to offering direct services and funding to systematically underresourced and underrepresented groups - artists of color, women, veterans, and the LGBTQ+ community, among others. This legacy of sharing space, connecting, and building brought the community together on November 8, 2024

With drinks, music, light refreshments to go, the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) hosted a night of connection and reflection at their East Tremont location in the Bronx, New York.

In attendance were artists, staff, and community leaders such as Elena Martínez (Co-Artistic Director, Bronx Music Heritage Center) and Daniel Freeman (Director, Inspiration Point, and Chanelle Aponte Pearson, BCA Programs Manager, who shared experiences and community initiatives.

Photos by Africa-Related

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Welcome to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

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By Oyiza Adaba

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 Gateway National Recreation Area was established in 1972 to offer a national park service experience to an urban audience. Gateway is a large, diverse urban park with 27,000 acres spanning Sandy Hook in N.J. and Jamaica Bay and Staten Island in N.Y. It is the 4th most visited National Park Service unit with more than 9.2 million annual visitors. 

Video courtesy of National Park Service

Staff from Gateway National Recreation Area and Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy hosted foreign journalists for a press tour of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.  The Foreign Press Center New York organized this tour for members of the foreign press to cover the most recent park activities and initiatives to create a living shoreline, mitigate the impacts of extreme weather, and ensure overall climate resilience not only for this site but also for the surrounding communities. With the devastation and loss from recent hurricanes and floods, public-private partnerships like this are one of the ways coastal communities are working to mitigate environmental degradation and other losses.

LESSON FOR COP29

Climate conferences like the recently concluded COP29 can learn a lesson or two from Jamaica Wildlife Refuge - a prime example of one putting its climate dollar where its mouth is. 

"In the distance, you can see the New York City skyline."

Tucked away in the Queen's Rockaway area is a wildlife refuge that houses a one mile gravel trail visited by 9.2 million visitors yearly, a wide species of rare birds and a preservation story that even Hurricane Sandy couldn't wash away. 

It is no longer news that the earth's land mass is shifting and disappearing due to natural weather occurrences like hurricanes, erosion, drought, tsunamis, etc.

When Hurricane Sandy hit the New York area in 2017, much of the land where the Refuge sits, was wiped away, causing the devastating loss. For its minders, the Gateway National Recreation Area, it was an  opportunity to find new ways to reclaim the conservatory. 

Gateway, the fourth most visited national park unit, was established in 1972 to offer park services to urban audiences through its large diverse urban parks, with 27,000 acres spanning Sandy Hook in New Jersey and Jamaica Bay on Staten Island in New York. 

On this day, Daphne Yun, Terri Carter and Elizabeth took members of the for press on the mile long tour that showed some of the experiments, trials, failures and ultimate success stories that went into rebuilding the shoreline after the storm. 

With mitigating future impact in min, the team adopted both scientific and experimental tricks to 

Worthy of emulation by coastal communities around the world is how the goal became attainable through public private partnership - a structure that kept all stakeholder accountable and paid attention to the littlest detail. 

The Jamaica Wildlife Refuge is open to the public for trail walks, birdwatching. There is a shop/museum on the premises. 

Photos by Africa-Related

Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation

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Bruce Onobrakpeya

Birthday of the month of August

Bruce Onobrakpeya was born on August 30th 1932, in Agbarha-Otor in what is today known as the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He is reputed to be Africa's greatest printmaker and one of the finest in the world.

Bruce Onobrakpeya would have very few rivals in innovative and experimentalist print making in our time. Not only is he a great draughtsman, master printmaker - in the professional sense of the word, he is also noted for his paintings and mixed media installation art.  Since 1966, he has discovered, innovated and perfected several techniques both in printmaking and relief sculpture. In addition to his experiments in mixed media and his reputation as a book illustrator, art teacher, author and folklorist, he is also one of the pioneers of modem Nigerian art and a leading member of the Zaria Art Society (renamed by the Emir of Zaria, to The Zaria Art Ambassadors). This important and now famous Zaria group, has been credited with laying the theoretical foundations for contemporary Nigerian art, in the late 1950s.  According to the critic Olu Oguibe  in 1991 “Onobrakpeya has not only proved himself an artist of unassailable worth, he has also strode the expanses of internationalism, exhibiting and executing commissions all over Africa, Europe and America and several parts of the World”

Onobrakpeya is a gifted teacher and mentor of several generations of successful artists. In 1999, for instance, he initiated The Harmattan Workshop Series, with a vision to empower artists. This annual retreat and gathering for artists now in its 13th edition, has become a new Mecca for visual artists. It is the longest running non-formal education for visual artists in West Africa. The workshop has been described as lofty, noble and life transforming because it brings in artists from all over the world to share their experiences in an atmosphere of brotherhood and camaraderie. This is perhaps his greatest legacy and contribution to the contemporary arts of Africa.

Bruce Onobrakpeya is not without honour, he was jointly designated by UNESCO and the Federal government of the Republic of Nigeria with the honour of “LIVING HUMAN TREASURE” a befitting tribute to a man whose whole life has been ruled by one passion: The Celebration of the arts of our motherland, and by extension our humanity as a people.

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'DELA' Interview: Remembering Tam Fiofori

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By Oyiza Adaba

UNCLE TAM

1942-2024

Filmmaker Visionary Historian Critic

This interview was conducted in June 2021 for the biographical documentary DELA: The Making of El Anatsui, directed by Oyiza Adaba

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The legendary Tam Fiofori, during his interview for ‘DELA’.

“I’ll be a bit rude and say that the Nigerian Elite is yet to be civilized in terms of the arts. We must be quite blunt. Look at our political leaders, our so called, big rich men. Go to their houses. How many artworks Do you see? How many books do you see?”

— Tam Fiofori

Rest In Peace

From all of us

Africa-Related & DELA! Team

“... we don’t have beauty in our society, and it manifests in the way we behave, because it’s become a dog-eat-dog society, a rat race where the drive is to acquire money and wealth.”

— Tam Fiofori

Follow the Film

“We must be a bit careful about The Western world defining and grading our creative people in all genres, from music to literature to the arts. EL ANATSUI is one of Africa’s greatest artists, that’s the way I’ll describe him. In terms of contemporary art. He is very outstanding. He’s a huge figure, and he’s a great credit to art from Africa.”

— Tam Fiofori

@elanatsuifilm @africarelatedinc

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