happy to have co-written Silence Is Loud now showing on @zikokomag ’s youtube channel. the film stars my wonderful friend @uzoamakapower and it’s directed by one of my favourite Nigerian directors @abbatmakama , who i owe many thanks for my first screenwriting gig.
please go see the film now (link in my bio) and tell us what you think. 🙏🏾
grateful for the opportunity to keep developing my debut feature film with La Fabrique Cinéma. huge thanks to the selection committee and the French Institute (@if_officiel ). so blessed for this incredible privilege of being at Cannes this year.
Kachifo (Till The Morning Comes) is produced by @blessinguzzi for @bluhousestudios .
this past weekend gave me moments of deep reflection.
three of my first short films were screened over the course of the weekend. i hadn’t had cause to watch them in a while, and seeing those early works that helped forge me filled me with a deep sense of gratitude.
it was four years ago that i decided on staying committed to filmmaking. to see things unfold like this— to be making films, telling the stories i want to tell, and to know there is a community of people who truly connect with the work, is something that moves me beyond words.
recently was in Berlin for @berlinaletalents . i had applied to the programme twice before. at the time, i treated those applications almost like a gamble. if I got selected, wonderful. if I didn’t, it wouldn’t hurt too much because I hadn’t allowed myself to fully want it.
how wrong i was.
what was clear with this application was that i really wanted it. i took my time with the process. i asked questions. i thought through every question on the form. i read, rewrote, and revised the materials i submitted. i committed my heart to it in a way i hadn’t before. and so when the acceptance came, it felt deeply meaningful. not just because i got in, but because i knew how much of myself i had poured into the process.
it’s something I want to carry forward in the way I approach my life and work now— being more deliberate about the things I want and committing my heart and time to the work required to achieve them.
one duty I have to myself this year is to reignite the state of being I was in 2021/2022, when i decided filmmaking was the path for me. at the time, my goal was simple: commit three years to learning filmmaking while making short films that would help me hone the craft. ( i owe gratitude to the team of people who rallied around and made this possible, especially my friends, Ugochukwu, whom i made my first short films with, and Blessing, my creative partner.)
watching this directing reel, edited by my friend @raymondyusuff_ , felt like a citation of that commitment.
incredible things often happen to me because I believe. and it has been beautiful watching that belief prove true, again and again.
You’re invited to “The Art of Cinema,” a screening of experimental cinema, featuring boundary-pushing moving-image work, which we have curated for this year’s edition of Lagos Gallery Weekend.
On March 7th, 2026, we’ll be showing “Nkemakonam,” by Dika Ofoma (@dikaofoma ) and Ugochukwu Onuoha, and “Banana Boat,” by Kufreabasi Eyo (@kuffyeyo ), both of which explore visual abstraction, and the dynamic intersection of film and contemporary art.
Following the film-screening will be a post-screening discussion between the filmmakers Dika Ofoma and Kufreabasi Eyo. The conversation will be moderated by renowned film critic Seyi Lasisi (@seyivortex ).
#AngelsandMuse #ExperimentalFilm #FilmScreening #MovingImageArt #ContemporaryAfricanArt
thankful to everyone who says yes when i come calling and pours their heart into the work. fully blessed for this team, and i can’t wait for us to gather again.
our labour of love, An Enugu Homecoming, is now streaming on YouTube.
i’ve been deeply moved by the reception and the comments we’ve been receiving. i’m especially moved by the people sharing their stories of Enugu. their first visits. their stays. and how it has become home for them now. i’m so glad you see your stories reflected in this film.
if you haven’t watched yet, now is a good time. link is still in my bio. i’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reading your comments. thank you.
📷: @shutterwhore
i have had the rare privilege of making films about stories that tug at my heart. every film i have made has come from a place of deep connection. stories i birthed. stories i believed in.
as i continue to grow as a filmmaker, i have also worried about change. about commissioned work. about what happens when storytelling, my life’s purpose, also becomes how i make ends meet.
but growth means sinking deeper into adulthood and its responsibilities, i also now live mostly in Lagos; anyone who knows Lagos understands the financial strain of that city. so while i want to remain rooted in who i am as a storyteller, i also have to think about the economics of survival.
this is why An Enugu Homecoming feels special to me.
in May of last year, Eke Urum reached out to me about making a documentary on Enugu. the idea was to present the city as a place to live, work, and study. i jumped at it. within days, i sent a treatment, visualizing my idea for the story. and by mid July, just days before my birthday, we were in Enugu, shooting.
i have lived in and travelled across many parts of Nigeria, but Enugu remains the only place that has ever truly felt like home. An Enugu Homecoming is an expression of that feeling. my journey into filmmaking began in Enugu, and almost everything i have made is rooted there. making this film felt like gratitude, an offering to the city that forged so much of who i am today.
people are often surprised to learn that i was neither born nor raised in Enugu, and that i am not indigenously from there. my first visit was in 2012, when my family spent the August holiday in the city. i continued to return, but i did not fully move there until 2020 for NYSC. still, Enugu became home to me, and i imagine it has done the same for many others who have encountered the city and entered into a relationship with it.
please see the film and ask everyone you know to watch it. I do not have a better why for this request other than, it is my work and i want it to be seen. please share your thoughts too.
i am currently working on a few new things and every engagement with this film is the ginger i need to continue.
the link is in my bio. 🙏🏾
An Enugu Homecoming is now streaming on YouTube. please find link in my bio.
i am incredibly proud of this film and the team I made it with. big love to @uzoamakapower , @stedi.e , and @cbnakuma , who joined me in Enugu and gave their time, talent and heart to this film.
i can’t fully express how grateful I am to @eldivine for trusting me completely with this project and providing the resources we needed to bring our vision to life.
please watch the film on @idunoba_ent ’s YouTube channel and share your thoughts with us.
thank you 🤍.
🇫🇷 À l'occasion de sa sélection en compétition internationale à #LeCourt2026, le réalisateur nigérian @dikaofoma nous présent son court métrage "Obi is a Boy".
Retrouvez-le dans le programme I6 ! 🇳🇬🕯️
🇬🇧 Let the Nigerian filmmaker Dika Ofoma introduce his film "Obi is a Boy", which has been selected in the International Competition of the 2026 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
The film is being screened as part of the I6 program! 🇳🇬🕯️
i made a film about my city with @uzoamakapower and i couldn’t be more thankful to @eldivine and @idunoba_ent for the commission.
Enugu is beautiful, and growing. And in this documentary by @dikaofoma , @uzoamakapower walks us through the city like a sojourner returning home. We feel the energy, the growing technology scene, the sounds, the sights, the places and people that makes the city a beloved home for all its visitors and people.
thank you to everyone who shared their stories with us.
@xaviernkem@oderacollins@eliezerajah@_tappiii@topboyrayy
Jerry Uke
Mr Ernest Obi
Hon. Prince Lawrence Ezeh
crew:
producer & director: @dikaofoma
director of photography: @stedi.e
executive producers: @eldivine , @idunoba_ent & @thevoiceoftheeast
line producer/production manager: @cbnakuma
editor: @editsby__dayo
post-production supervisor: @lekan.mov
drone pilot: @bokehub
Uzoamaka’s stylist: @vcheuba
#AnEnuguHomecoming #Enugu
56 years since the Biafran war.
i remember my first time in Onitsha, or at least the first time memory carries me there. i found the city impressive, but also intimidated by its rowdiness. i was coming from the sleepy town of Gombe, where I had lived all my life in Northeast Nigeria. in Gombe, disorder was reserved for bus parks and the busiest corners of the market, and the loudest sound was the muezzin’s call to prayer.
of course, I had visited other Nigerian cities and towns. Abuja, Jos, Bauchi, Enugu, Numan, Umuahia. but they were closer in temperament to Gombe than Onitsha could ever be, even if it tried.
i carefully removed Lagos from the list because even though Lagos is famed for its chaos, my only interactions with Lagos visiting as a child was mostly from my uncle’s apartment and those trips to bar beach. i wouldn’t be properly confronted with the city’s chaos until I began visiting as an adult.
all this is to say that i cannot imagine Onitsha without the noise, without the constant avalanche of people walking, running, hawking, arguing, surviving. that is why seeing this footage unsettled me deeply.
my annual commemoration of the war has never been grand. sometimes i read a book on the war. sometimes an article about the war. sometimes it is as simple as listening to Eddie Okwedy’s Happy Survival throughout the day, or quietly tweeting/posting #Ozoemena on social media.
this year i have written a piece about my thoughts on this footage and how we engage with the war and its history today.
please find link in my bio.
#ozoemena
