Excited to share that a short film I made, ‘Facing the Sun’, will be premiering at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, alongside a new feature doc from fellow PNW filmmaker @cheziktsu
This piece has been in the works for many years, in stops and starts, and excited to share it with the city in which it was filmed.
The film shows a shared humanity that persists across circumstance, through the lens of one man’s work giving free haircuts to Seattle’s unhoused.
Featuring: @betheblessing206
Assistant edit and story dev: @woahjoebo
Original music: @milocantor@djalternative_
Sound design: @petercornell099
Color: @zamathecolourist at @leftpostproduction
And support from @megacities_shortdocs , Films4SustainableWorld and Cinéma Positive
Catch it May 9 at 6:15pm and May 10 at 12:30pm at the SIFF Uptown. Q&A after the screening 🍿
PS I am finally building a dedicated page for film work (@yaya_films_ ) so follow along there for more of the art I like to make with dear friends
3+ weeks, 6672 feet climbed, 5ish whippers, 3 trips to the parilla, several dozen puchos, a couple gastro bugs, and a good deal of banter later. Fingers raw and ego checked. World burning but thank god for Patagonian granite and the day 1 climbing parter @jericklee
The view from Pedra do Arpoador, New Years Eve 2025
Brazil, for many reasons, both pictured and otherwise, might just take the proverbial cake, as they say.
In November, during Lagos Fashion Week, we went into three Lagos waterfront communities to showcase the work of local fashion designers. We planned to release this as an upbeat short piece highlighting community creativity, but the world had other plans.
Forced evictions, aside from being a violation of established law and standing court injunctions, are a knife to the heartbeat of Lagos creativity and ingenuity. We should be building on the resilience & contribution of the hundreds of thousands living in Lagos waterfront communities, not extinguishing it.
As we write this, evictions have now come for Makoko, where we shot much of this film.
If you are moved, I hope you share this piece.
Shout out @skingbmx , Oliver Atinkpo, and Moses Sangoloke for helping make this happen. To @kingvagabon for the BTS.
To @iambrolorin for a heartfelt performance of your song, “Jagun” (out on all platforms), and @michael_truth_ogunlade for the beautiful musicianship. And to @leftpostproduction for helping to make this piece shine.
#EndForcedEvictions #LagosFashionWeek
08.16.2025
Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. For dear friends & family, for our beautiful coast, and for the gift of being able to unfurl every day the endless layers of magic that are Kristina Sokourenko.
Happy wife happy life !
❤️
📸 @daily_flurry@troyosaki@maxbenedict.photo@merrykerrigan
فيلم “أسطورة ملكة لاغوس البوهيمية” يُعرض في #مهرجان_البحر_الأحمر_السينمائي_الدولي.
تقدّم مجموعة أغباجوو مزيجًا حيويًّا من الأسطورة والنّضال المجتمعيّ، في قصّة خياليّة قائمة على عمليّات الإخلاء الجماعيّ الحقيقيّة في نيجيريا. أمّ شابّة فقيرة، مليئة بروح محارب قديم، تواجه المتسلّطين، والمعدّات الثّقيلة القادمة لتدمير مجتمعات لاغوس المطلّة على الماء.
اشتروا تذاكركم الآن عبر الرابط في البايو، وصوّت لفيلمك المفضل وعزز فرص فوزه بجائزة الجمهور من فيلم العلا.
#للسينما_بيت_جديد
The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos is set to screen at #RedSeaIFF24.
The Agbajowo Collective bring a lively mix of legend and community struggle to a fable grounded in Nigeria’s real-life mass evictions. A poor young mother, filled with an ancient warrior spirit, faces down the bullies and bulldozers coming to destroy Lagos’s waterside communities.
Buy your tickets now via the link in bio, and vote for your favorite film and let it shine with the Film AlUla Audience Awards.
#RedSeaIFF #TheNewHomeOfFilm
The world has been good to this film, but last night was the highlight so far. A packed theater filled with community members who poured in their stories into bringing this project to life, finally watching the film they have been waiting for all these years. Two other packed theaters with a hometown audience who finally got all the jokes. 450 people brought together for 100 minutes around 1 story. Yesterday, more than any other day in this crazy journey that has been The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, reminded me of power of film — as a mouthpiece, and a magnet, to call out, and bring together.
Thank you @afriff , and all of our brilliant cast & crew who came through.
The Queen is home and it feels so good!
#EndForcedEvictions #Justice4OtodoGbame
🚨Members of the LVQ team arrived home in Lagos to learn that the community where they shot the film was being demolished by the Lagos State government.
The Agbajowo Collective made LVQ as a call to action to #EndForcedEvictions everywhere and not even a week after the film’s world premiere, 300k people — including some of the actors in the film — face the very same terror that led to the film’s creation in the first place.
Follow @justempower to amplify their call to #SaveSogunro🙏🏾
#thelegendofthevagabondqueenoflagos #savesogunro #endforcedevictions #sorosoke #tiff24
The wait is almost over…
Premiering this Saturday in Toronto 🎞️
•
THE LEGEND OF THE VAGABOND QUEEN OF LAGOS
Starring:
Temi Ami-Williams (@temi_ami )
Debo Adedayo (@mrmacaroni1 )
Written and Directed by: The Agbajowo Collective
A.S. Elijah (@as_elijah )
Akinmuyiwa Bisola (@akinmuyiwagrace )
Edukpo Tina (@olorunwaedukpo )
James Tayler (@yesthatsjames1 )
Mathew Cerf
Ogungbamila Temitope (@milan_documentaries )
Okechukwu Samuel (@sams_documentaries )
Director of Photography: Leo Purman (@leopurman )
Producers:
Mathew Cerf
Megan Chapman (@meganschapman )
James Tayler (@yesthatsjames1 )
Akinmuyiwa Bisola (@akinmuyiwagrace )
Andrew Maki (@awmaki )
Mustapha Emmanuel (@mustify_media )
Mohammed Zanna (@the_new_world_order_1 )
Michael Henrichs (@m.henrichs )
Co-Producer: Chioma Onyenwe (@ch10ma ) // Raconteur Productions (@raconteurprod )
Production Design: Bola Belo (@bola_belo2 )
Edit:
Yiqing Yu (@yyq.mxf )
Mathew Cerf
Khalid Shamis (@the_khalid_the_shamis )
Original Score: Michael Truth Ogunlade (@michael_truth_ogunlade )
Visual Effects:
Lightray VFX
LEFT Post Productions
Sound Design: Peter Cornell (@petercornell099 )
Production Companies:
Slum Dwellers International (@sdi_net )
Justice & Empowerment Initiatives Nigeria (@justempower )
Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation
Die Gesellschaft DGS
And so many more..
#tiff2024 #vagabondqueen #endforcedevictions #thirdcinema
