Damilola Osikoya leads ambitious production drive as Black Market prepares to bring thousands together for Guinness World Records attempt in Lagos

On September 26, Tafawa Balewa Square will become one enormous cinema.

At the centre of the transformation is Switch Visuals Productions, led by its CEO Damilola Osikoya, working alongside Rixel Studios on an ambitious attempt to make Guinness World Records history with the premiere of the new Nollywood feature Black Market.

The plan is audacious. Organisers are targeting 50,000 people watching the same film
simultaneously at TBS, exceeding the existing Guinness World Records benchmark of 43,624
people, established in the Philippines in 2015.

But the scale of the September 26 undertaking extends far beyond putting up a screen and filling seats.

For Switch, the challenge is one of experience, production and scale: taking one of Lagos’s most recognisable public spaces and helping transform it into the setting for a mass cinematic experience capable of placing Nigerian entertainment on a global stage.

Dami sees that ambition as part of something bigger. “There is nothing more inspiring to me than seeing young people challenge conventions and push the boundaries of innovation,” Dami said when the project was announced. “This project is especially close to my heart because it represents what is possible when bold ideas meet determination and collaboration.”

That philosophy sits naturally within the trajectory of Switch, a brand increasingly associated with creating experiences at the intersection of entertainment, production and culture. And collaboration is crucial to the scale of the undertaking.

Rixel Studios, led by filmmaker Nora Awolowo, is behind Black Market, its second feature
following 2025’s Red Circle. Rixel describes itself as a Lagos based full service production company spanning film, photography, audio and graphic media, with innovation and creativity among its stated core values.

Nora has described the record attempt as part of Rixel’s determination to find new ways of pushing Nigerian filmmaking beyond conventional boundaries. “We are excited to go on this journey as a team,” she said, adding that one of the company’s goals as young filmmakers is to continue finding creative ways to innovate.

Together, Switch Visuals and Rixel Studios, with FilmOne Studios and Signet Ring Studios, are therefore attempting something considerably larger than a traditional red carpet premiere.

The September 26 event is planned as an eight-hour experience running from 2:00pm until 10:00pm, with a red carpet from 3:00pm and food, games, music and other creative experiences surrounding the main screening.

The project has also attracted an extensive network of partners, including MTN, Puma, Swoop, PlaystreetNG, Oraimo and Shuttlers, alongside the Lagos State Ministry of Culture.
At the heart of it all, however, remains a Nigerian film.

Directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, Black Market was shot in Abeokuta and features an ensemble cast including Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Ibrahim Yekini (Itele D Icon), Scarlet Gomez, Omowunmi Dada, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok and Uzor Arukwe, among others.

For Osikoya, the significance of September 26 is therefore not merely the number Guinness World Records ultimately verifies. It is the statement behind attempting it in the first place.

A Nigerian film. A Nigerian production ecosystem. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the heart of Lagos. If the attempt succeeds, Black Market will enter the record books. But irrespective of the final count, the undertaking demonstrates a different kind of ambition emerging within Nigerian entertainment one in which filmmakers and production companies are no longer thinking only about what appears on the screen, but about the scale of the experience that can be built around it.