5pm | Sunday, May 8, 2022. | Alliance Française Lagos, 9 Osborne Road, Ikoyi | Free Entry. RSVP
Questions around culture, heritage and tradition today come up quite often at our screenings. And in this selection of four short films, the filmmakers remarkably explore different aspects of traditional religion and cultures in modern times. Through their lenses, we see old cultures anew, and encounter young people who are sustaining or rediscovering their traditional religious heritage regardless of stigma and the pressures of modernisation. This screening has been made possible thanks to the filmmakers, Shola Lawal, Okwei Odili, and Olalekan Olafusi who will also be joining us for the Q&A.
So, save the date and be there on Sunday, May 8 at Alliance Française Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre. The screening will start at 5pm prompt (doors open at 4.30pm).
Entry is free. Remember to arrive on time to secure your seat. No face mask, no entry.
No parking on site (commercial parking available around the corner from the venue).
This screening is organised with support from Alliance Française de Lagos and the Embassy of France in Nigeria.
The programme will feature the following short documentary films:
FAITH AND JOURNEY (dir. Okwei Odili; 10′)
A Nigerian musician’s faith is renewed when she encounters African spirituality in the African diaspora. The short documentary is filmed in Nigeria and Brazil, two countries that share a lot of history principally as a result of the Trans-Atlantic enslavement trade. In Salvador Bahia, and other parts of Brazil, many Afro-Brazilian descendants continue in their African ways, and it serves as a mental and creative catalyst and continuum for the singer, renewing her faith and belief in her roots.
ILÉ IFÁ | Where Powers Live (dir. by Shola Lawal; 15′)
The film follows a young priestess painting ancient Yoruba religion and spiritual practice in a new light with new-age tools like social media. Set in Ibadan, Nigeria, the film highlights the discrimination faced by adherents of the practice, a minority often portrayed as sinister in Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry. It pokes at prevalent institutional neglect of indigenous religion worshippers who do not enjoy the political representation accorded to the dominant, albeit foreign religions most follow. (English / Yoruba with subtitles.)
WANING IRON (dir. by Olafusi Olalekan; 10′)
Through the eyes of the Yoruba tradition, we are brought to understand the legendary existence of the god of iron “Ogun” that is not just recognized in the Yoruba land but also in cultures like the Haitian Vodou. We are taken through the rituals ascribed to the welding of iron by the blacksmiths who, regardless of the present technological state of the world hold their cultural practices to heart. (English & Yoruba with subtitles.) View Trailer
WOKO WOKO (dir. by Olafusi Olalekan; 10′)
Masquerade festival is an important activity amongst the Yorubas as it is part of their religious system. Sometimes referred to as Orisa, the masquerade becomes possessed by ancestral spirits while dancing round the community. The Yorubas use these festivals to connect with their ancestors and to also ask for their heart desires. WOKO WOKO is one such masquerade. (English & Yoruba with subtitles.) View Trailer
