A Nigerian film has just had a very big moment on one of the world’s most important film stages.
Dear Ajayi, directed by Damilola Orimogunje, has won two awards at the Venice International Film Festival the Bisato d’Oro Award for Best Cast & Performances and the CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Prize.
But the awards are only part of the story.
Dear Ajayi is the first Nigerian film to compete in Venice Days, marking a new milestone for Nigerian cinema on the international stage.
Set in 1990s southwestern Nigeria, the film follows two estranged sisters who return to confront family, faith, ambition and old wounds surrounding their ailing mother.
And now, that Nigerian story has left Venice with two awards.