Nigerian Film, Eyimofe Wins Best Feature Narrative At BlackStar Film Festival
Nigerian feature film Eyimofe, (This Is My Desire) is the winner of the Best Feature Narrative at this year’s BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists.
The Best Experimental Film award went to ”Letter From Your Far-Off Country” directed by Suneil Sanzgiri; Best Short Documentary to ”Dear Philadelphia” by Renee Maria Osubu and Elena Michèle Stephenson, Best Short Narrative to ”Lizard” by Akinola Davies Junior while Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s ”Writing With Fire” won Best Feature Documentary award.
This year’s BlackStar Film Festival lineup included approximately 80 films, including 19 world premieres, representing 27 countries. As well as an array of live programs, panels, and select in-person events and screenings, this year marks BlackStar’s selection by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for both short documentary and short narrative films, making BlackStar’s Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short winners eligible for entrance at the Academy Awards.
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Presented by GDN Studios, Eyimofe is directed by Arie and Chuko Esiri and produced by Melissa O. Adeyemo. Executive producers of Eyimofe include Maiden Alex Ibru, Toke Alex Ibru, Olorogun Oskar Ibru, Kayode Akindele, and Ifeoma Esiri. The film is set in Lagos Nigeria.
The two-chapter film, follows the stories of Mofe (Jude Akuwudike), a factory technician, and Rosa (Temi Ami-Williams), a hairdresser, on their quest for a better life on foreign shores.
Having premiered at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, the film has screened at several prestigious film festivals around the world including the BFI London Film Festival, UK; Cinecitta International Film Festival (CIFF), the Netherlands; Indie Lisboa International Film Festival, Portugal; Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain; and Mostra Sao Paolo International Film Festival, Brazil. It has also won several festival awards including Best Fiction, New Filmmakers’award at the São Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil and
the Achilles Valdosta Award at the Torino Film Festival in Italy.
Eyimofe opened its US screening on July 23, 2021, at the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York, United States, following Janus Film’s acquisition of its rights for the North American market. While the film continues to screen in New York and Los Angeles, going into the second week at the Laemmle Royal and the third week at Film Forum, it has also started a weeklong run in Atlanta, GA (Landmark Midtown), Albuquerque, NM (Guild Cinema) and Winston-Salem, NC (a/perture).
From August 13, 2021, the film will open in Brooklyn, NY – BAM, Hudson, NY – Time & Space Ltd., Tucson, AZ – The Loft Cinema and will also be doing weekend screenings in Dallas at the Texas Theatre on August 14 and 15. On August 20, it will be opening at the Roxie in San Francisco. After San Francisco, the film will continue to open in more cities across the US and Canada.
Find out more on www.eyimofemovie.com