Olive Nwosu’s Lady opened the 15th Africa International Film Festival in Lagos, which runs from 1 to 7 November. It is Nwosu’s debut feature, a film about a Lagos cab driver who spends her nights ferrying sex workers across the city. It won the Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble at Sundance in January, and it was the only Nigerian film in that year’s selection.
The story starts when a long-lost childhood friend, Pinky, moves into the driver’s life. Through her, the driver meets a group of sex workers and is pulled into their sisterhood, and into the danger, joy and corruption that surround their work. Jessica Gabriel leads the cast, alongside Amanda Oruh, Tinuade Jemiseye, Binta Ayo Mogaji, Bucci Franklin and Seun Kuti. The Sundance jury called the film “full of depth and texture” and praised the ensemble for bringing “life and humor and insight” to everyday survival. AFRIFF founder Chioma Ude praised it for showing night-time Lagos vividly without falling back on stock clichés.
Lady is an Anglo-Nigerian production, developed with Film4 and financed by the BFI, Film4 and Screen Scotland, with Level Forward and Amplify Capital. Lagos-based Emperium Films came on as co-producer. Nwosu had already won the Sundance Institute/NHK Award in 2023 for the project, and the film went on to screen in the Panorama section at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Cohen Media Group acquired the US rights through HanWay Films. Culture Custodian reports that there has been no Nigerian cinema release or local distribution announced. Nwosu says she is working to get it into Nigerian cinemas, and that community screenings are under discussion, with Level Forward handling the impact campaign. “We made it to be intentionally legible to a local audience, as well as a global one,” she said.
