Following their appearance at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, the Nigerian brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri will showcase their newest film, Clarissa, at the Cannes Film Festival sidebar Directors’ Fortnight.
According to the organisers of the sidebar, the coming edition will feature projects “from 19 countries on five continents, with notable contributions from a number of countries with little or no international exposure, such as Nigeria, Sudan, Guatemala, Venezuela and Cyprus”. Notably, the brothers are the only African filmmakers with feature projects in the sidebar.
Clarissa is an adaptation of the Virginia Woolf 1925 novel, Mrs Dalloway, and it stars Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri and Nikki Amuka-Bird. In December 2025, it was announced that famed firm NEON had acquired its distribution. A revered novel from the acclaimed British writer, Mrs Dalloway entered the public domain in 2021.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 12th until May 23rd.
