Ema Edosio-Deelen’s When Nigeria Happens Set to Premiere: A Bold New Chapter for Nollywood
Lagos, Nigeria – April 6, 2025
Nollywood is abuzz with excitement as award-winning Nigerian filmmaker, producer, and journalist Ema Edosio-Deelen prepares to unveil her third feature film, When Nigeria Happens. The film’s premiere is poised to be a landmark event in Nigeria’s vibrant entertainment landscape. Known for her gritty, authentic storytelling, Edosio-Deelen is set to deliver a contemporary dance film that promises to resonate deeply with Nigerian audiences while pushing creative boundaries in Africa’s largest film industry.
TL;DR: Ema Edosio-Deelen’s When Nigeria Happens, Nigeria’s first contemporary dance film, premieres soon, blending street dance and drama to explore youth resilience and challenge Nollywood norms.
The Story: A Dance Through Resilience
When Nigeria Happens is not your typical Nollywood fare. Billed as Nigeria’s first contemporary dance film, it weaves a powerful narrative around Fabo, a talented street dancer whose dreams are upended when his mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s, goes missing. Shot across Lagos’s pulsating locales—Makoko, Abulegba, Obalende, and Carter Bridge—the film pulses with the city’s chaotic energy, which Edosio-Deelen describes as a character in itself. The cast, featuring veteran actors Alex Usifo and Jidekene Achufusi alongside singer Ego (known for her work with Lagbaja), blends seasoned talent with real street dancers trained in a unique fusion of ballet, hip-hop, and capoeira, set to an Afrobeat-infused score.
The story, inspired by a poignant encounter Edosio-Deelen had with a security guard struggling to support his family on a meager N30,000 salary, explores the resilience and shattered dreams of Nigeria’s youth. “I wanted to tell stories about everyday people—not poor and sad the way the West often sees us, but stories that celebrate our strength and fight,” Edosio-Deelen said in a recent media chat. The film aims to spark conversations about survival, talent, and systemic challenges, with the director emphasizing, “It’s a mirror held up to society, asking: Why do we live like this?”
Challenges: Dancing Against the Odds
Bringing When Nigeria Happens to life was no small feat. Filming in Lagos’s unpredictable streets presented logistical hurdles—from navigating traffic and power outages to securing permits in bustling, underserved areas like Makoko. Edosio-Deelen, who co-directed with renowned Nigerian dancer Qudus Onikeku, faced the added challenge of merging dance and narrative cinema, a novel approach in Nollywood. “The cast had to learn contemporary Nigerian dance styles on the fly,” she noted, highlighting the physical and creative demands placed on her team.
Funding, a perennial issue for Nigerian filmmakers, also loomed large. Following her debut Kasala!—made with just N4 million ($10,000) from personal funds—Edosio-Deelen has spoken candidly about the struggle to finance authentic stories outside Nollywood’s commercial mainstream. While details on the budget for When Nigeria Happens remain undisclosed, the project’s ambition suggests a step up, likely supported by her growing reputation and partnerships like that with Onikeku.
The Director: A Visionary Voice
Ema Edosio-Deelen is no stranger to breaking molds. Her 2018 debut, Kasala!, a comedy about four Lagos youths hustling to fix a borrowed car, won critical acclaim and traveled to over 30 international film festivals, landing on Netflix. Her sophomore effort, Otiti (2022), tackled personal and societal themes with a seamstress protagonist, earning praise at festivals like AFRIFF and Brazil’s International Film Festival. Trained at the New York Film Academy and the Motion Pictures Institute of Michigan after a computer science degree in Nigeria, Edosio-Deelen honed her craft as a BBC video journalist and EbonyLife TV director before striking out as an indie filmmaker.
Her work consistently challenges Nollywood’s glossy stereotypes, favoring raw, relatable tales of the working class over the industry’s penchant for romantic comedies and melodrama. “I’m passionate about showing young people there’s a world for their stories,” she told Innollywood in 2022, a mission evident in her mentorship of emerging filmmakers and her YouTube tutorials on the craft.
Impact: A Shift in Nollywood’s Rhythm
When Nigeria Happens could mark a turning point for Nollywood, an industry often critiqued for prioritizing quantity over innovation. With over 2,500 films produced annually and a market value of $6.4 billion (as of 2024), Nollywood is a global force, yet it struggles with technical polish and diverse storytelling. Edosio-Deelen’s fusion of dance and drama—backed by a cast blending street authenticity with veteran gravitas—offers a fresh aesthetic that could appeal to both local audiences and international festival circuits.
Posts on X reflect the anticipation, with MobilePunch noting its significance as a “powerful exploration of Nigeria’s youth.” The film’s focus on resilience amid chaos aligns with a growing demand for narratives that mirror Nigerians’ lived experiences, potentially challenging cinema chains to rethink their reliance on formulaic blockbusters. If successful, it could inspire a wave of genre-blending projects, further elevating Nollywood’s global profile alongside recent streaming hits on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Nollywood Ties: Tradition Meets Trailblazing
While rooted in Nollywood’s storytelling ethos, When Nigeria Happens diverges from the industry’s mainstream. Unlike the slapstick comedies or lavish dramas that dominate box offices—like Funke Akindele’s recent hits—Edosio-Deelen’s film echoes the “New Wave” movement of directors like Abba Makama and Kemi Adetiba, who prioritize quality and authenticity. Yet, it retains Nollywood’s core strength: reflecting Nigerian life, albeit through a dance-driven lens rarely seen before.
The premiere, slated for a private screening at Surreal 16 on December 13, 2025 (as teased by Edosio-Deelen on X in December 2024), is already generating buzz as a must-see event. With no official wide release date yet, speculation swirls about its potential to follow Kasala!’s path to streaming platforms or festival acclaim. As Edosio-Deelen herself posted on April 4, 2025, “The sum of these experiences is imbued in this film—I’m so excited to share this with you.”
For Nollywood, When Nigeria Happens isn’t just a premiere—it’s a statement. Whether it reshapes the industry or cements Edosio-Deelen as one of its boldest voices, this film is poised to make waves, one dance step at a time.
