EXCLUSIVE: Next week, Nigerian filmmaker Damilola Orimogunje (For Maria Ebun Pataki) debuts his second feature film, Dear Ajayi, at the Venice Film Festival as part of the parallel Giornate degli Autori section. The title is the first from Nigeria to play in the competition. Check out the first trailer for the film above.
The film’s synopsis reads: In 1990s Southwestern Nigeria, sisters Ade and Titi Ajayi lead vastly different lives under the shadow of their late father’s home. Ade, a devout Christian and the family’s sole breadwinner, struggles to understand her younger sister Titi, an aspiring singer whose independent spirit challenges convention.
When their ailing mother comes to live with them, old resentments resurface, forcing both women to confront grief, faith, ambition, and the fragile bonds that hold a family together.
As each sister searches for love, purpose, and freedom, their choices begin to reshape not only their own futures, but the lives of everyone around them. Through intimate domestic spaces, music and visual art, Dear Ajayi is a deeply human portrait of family, sacrifice and the enduring hope of finding one’s place in the world.
Orimogunje directed from a screenplay he also wrote. His debut feature, For Maria Ebun Pataki (2020), premiered at Film Africa London, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. As a producer, his credits include All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White (2023), which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Teddy Award for Best Feature.
Dear Ajayi is a 2O9INE Films production. The co-producers are Mayana Films, Depth and Optics Productions, and Zynox Productions. Luminalia is handling world sales on the title.
Watch the trailer above.