1. Daniel Oriahi – A Ghetto Love Story and The Weekend
Daniel Oriahi will always have 2024. He helmed two of the year’s best films. A Ghetto Love Story follows two childhood lovers over the course of several years. The Weekend is the story of Nikiya and Luke, a couple who embark on a trip to meet with Luke’s family. Both films remind anyone who has forgotten that Oriahi is quite a master of the bitter aftertaste of realism. Very few directors in Nollywood are as willing to embrace the darkness that can befall even both the innocent and the guilty.
2. Ifeoma Chukwuogo – Phoenix Fury
Ifeoma Chukwuogo wrote and directed Phoenix Fury, a film of such scale and ambition that the lady should perhaps host a masterclass on storytelling and film financing. The story of Ifeatu, Phoenix Fury is feminist and realist. It deals with Biafra and its aftermath. It covers one woman’s life and her quest for vengeance. It is a sprawling tale that is proof of what Nollywood can produce with more imagination and a visionary writer-director working the reins. The film is not yet available to the public. Hopefully, that changes soon. The film stars Ama K. Abebrese, Ijeoma Grace Agu, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, and RMD.
3. Korede Azeez – With Difficulty Comes Ease
In With Difficulty Comes Ease, Korede Azeez pays loving attention on a small canvas. A widowed woman navigates the complexities of grief and tradition and Azeez follows her every move, making no false step as she directs Uzoamaka Aniunoh to a career highlight. Other filmmakers make work on a bigger canvas and budgets. Azeez is working from a bigger heart.
Alongside Aniunoh, WDCE also features Abdullah Adamu, Mnena Akpera, Ummi Baba-Ahmed, and Michelle Dede.
4. Jack’enneth Opukeme and Adebayo Tijani – Farmer’s Bride
Two heads are better than one isn’t always true. It is true, though, on Farmer’s Bride, a film directed by Jack’enneth Opukeme and Adebayo Tijani. The film is essentially an examination of the toxicity of a certain kind of love, or maybe it’s a certain kind of lust. A beautiful young woman is given to an older man in marriage. It’s a grudging union that disintegrates when the young woman meets a lusty young man. In the absence of caution, things begin to fall apart. A rather small film with a handful of characters, the chemistry between all of the cast members is one reason the film works so well. Another reason, of course, is that the directors appear to replicate the chemistry off-screen.
