AFRIFF to Open 12th Edition with Lonzo Nzekwe’s Crime Thriller ORAH

The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) has announced its 12th edition happening from the 5th to 11th November 2023 in Lagos.

In keeping with the festival’s tradition, AFRIFF’s Founder and Festival Director, Chioma Ude announced the film ORAH as its opening night movie.

According to her, this is a bold step to drive home its theme, ‘Indigenous 2.0 Global’ for this year’s edition before the participating Nigerian and International movie enthusiasts who will grace the festival’s annual opening gala night.

ORAH is written and directed by acclaimed Nigerian/Canadian filmmaker Lonzo Nzekwe (Anchor Baby).

While the film was produced by Nzekwe, Floyd Kane (Diggstown) and Amos Adetuyi (The Boathouse), it was shot in Canada and Nigeria in late 2022.

Ude expressed: “Filmmaking is evolving rapidly in Africa with Nigeria at the forefront of the renaissance.

“This year’s edition is designed to continue to reiterate the opportunities for African films and storytelling to reflect ‘global’ perspectives for the sustained success of more local films globally.”

The director emphasised their intent to continue to empower their storytellers to explore ideologies and techniques that connect with the larger global audience.

She added: “ORAH is positioned as the open night movie to drive this expectation.”

A character-driven crime thriller, Orah showcases the story of a female taxi driver in Toronto embarking on a revenge tour. It is to avenge the death of her son who is brutally murdered by a high-profile Nigerian criminal in a drug trafficking operation.

Nzekwe describes how the movie became a revenge drama when in real life his brother was murdered in 2016 by a stray bullet fired by a corrupt police officer with the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Nigeria.

He narrated: “That’s when the revenge angle became more intense. I had to travel to Nigeria to get to the root of how my brother was killed.

“That’s when the rage I had inside, and the pain I saw on my mother’s face led to revenge thoughts to getting my pound of flesh.

Nzekwe said he realised the only way to deal with that was to channel it through a film, and I poured everything into my script.

Starring Oyin Oladejo as Orah Madukaku (Star Trek-Discovery), the additional cast includes Lucky Onyekachi Ejim (Kim’s Convenience) as Bami Hazar.

Agape Mngomezulu as Tariq Hazar (The Parker Andersons); Morgan Bedard (Hard Rock Medical) as Eli Pope; Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama (Titans) as Lace.

Oris Erhuero (We Were Once) as Agent Garuba; O.C. Ukeje (Brotherhood) as Agent Uche Odi; Femi Lawson (Because We Are) as Jimoh Sholola; and Christopher Seivright (Take Note) as Vincent Bailey.

Developed over 11 years, Nzekwe was grateful to finally shoot with the cast and crew assembled.

He also expressed excitement to shoot part of the film in Nigeria, which according to him, plays a crucial role.

Nzekwe also noted: “I set out to create a tragically gripping and gratifying crime thriller with a gritty look that gives the audience a visceral, authentic experience into the life of our hero and her journey to avenge the death of her son.

“The exceptional talent of the actors cast in each role truly brings the story to life.
Not only does the script offer a strong and smart female role model in the lead role, but the supporting characters are well-rounded with traits of real, everyday people drawn from diverse ethnic backgrounds and walks of life.”

He hopes that ORAH’s themes of justice versus revenge, redemption, freedom, corruption and family separation will have a lasting impact on its viewers and positively inspire them.

As a Nigerian-Canadian filmmaker, Nzekwe felt he was uniquely qualified to tell this story of an illegal immigrant who was smuggled into Canada and sold into sex trafficking at age 15 by her uncle.

The film was shot in and around Sudbury, Ontario in the fall of 2022 with additional principal photography taking place in Lagos, Nigeria in December 2022.

With cinematography for ORAH by Ricardo Diaz (Subjects of Desire), production design by Mark Kowalsky (Frat Pack), costume design by Chantel Bedward (Stupid For You ), editing by Marc Roussel (Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities), and music by Felipe Téllez (Tomorrow).

ORAH is produced by Circle Blue Entertainment and Freddie Films in association with IronFlix Inc., with the participation of Telefilm Canada, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), and ONCreates Film Fund. Level Film is the Canadian distributor.