Nigerian Feature Selected at 70th Berlin International Film Festival

EYIMOFE (This Is My Desire) will have its World Premiere at The Berlin International Film Festival. Directed by twin brothers Arie & Chuko Esiri it will be shown at the Forum section of next month’s 70th edition.

Presented by GDN Studios the film was written by Chuko Esiri and produced by Melissa Adeyemo. It was a 2018 Purple List Award winner and one of ten projects chosen for last year’s IFP Narrative Lab in New York.

100% financed by Nigerian investors and shot on 16mm across Lagos State, Nigeria Eyimofe is a diptych that tells the story of two people’s quest for what they believe will be a better life in Europe.

Described as the alternate migrant tale Eyimofe approaches a much-discussed topic from a new perspective; one in which we get to know who the people caught in raids and rescued from the sea are. Their dreams and desires.

It stars Jude Akuwudike, Tomiwa Edun, Temi Ami-Williams, Cynthia Ebijie, and Jacob Alexander.

One of “Big Three” festivals alongside Cannes and Venice, Nigeria has a history at the Berlinale beginning with Hungarian director Andre Libik’s 1962 documentary short The Ancestors. Produced by the Ministry of Information the documentary highlighted ancestral worship in Nigeria and won the Silver Bear.

In 2018 Chuko Esiri and Adamu Halilu were the first Nigerian filmmakers to screen at the festival. Chuko Esiri’s Besida played in the short film section and Adamu Halilu’s 1976 feature Shaihu Umar, which was restored with the support of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), and German Embassy Abuja, played in the Forum. An adaptation of Sir Tafawa Balewa’s 1955 novella Halilu’s film was the first Hausa feature produced by the Federal Film Unit Kaduna.

EYIMOFE (THIS IS MY DESIRE)
Cast: Jude Akuwudike, Tomiwa Edun, Temi Ami-Williams, Cynthia Ebijie, Jacob Alexander, Chioma Omeruah
Director: Arie & Chuko
Writer: Chuko Esiri
Producer: Melissa Adeyemo, Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri
Executive Producers: Maiden Alex Ibru, Toke Alex Ibru, Olorogun Oskar Ibru, Kayode Akindele, Ifeoma Esiri
Director of Photography: Arseni Khachaturan
Production Designer: Taisa Malouf
Costume Designer: Daniel Obasi
Editor: Andrew Stephen Lee
Music: Akin Adebowale