These Five Nigerian Short Films Confront Topics We Often Avoid Talking About

As they are implied, short films are like short stories; they explore many months or years of experiences within a short, limited period of time. Short films allow audiences to explore characters’ many little lives, and trust them to imagine the rest of their lives. In Nigerian film, probably due to the complexity of themes Nigerian films explore, short films are not as celebrated as feature-length films. However, there are short Nigerian films that have explored topics that are not often discussed, or not openly discussed.

Let’s look at these five Nigerian short films and what they touched on.

Japa

Japa, as a word, is most likely one of the most used words in Nigeria in the past decade. It means relocation abroad. The japa experience presents different realities to different people. In this short film, “Japa”, written by John Amarachi, we experience many experiences that many Nigerians experience with relocation from the spiritual perspective. Generally, it is often said that “don’t tell your dream to anyone.” But Nigerians, spiritually-induced, take that notion a step further. The person you chatted with yesterday or this morning could be relocating to Canada or Poland in the next hour. And you wouldn’t know.

This is what “Japa” explored from the angle of lovers. In the film, two lovers hide their japa dreams from each other because their parents told them not to inform anyone. While one feels bad for informing their partner just a day before their relocation, they have no idea their partner, too, is set for Germany.

This short film confronts and challenges us to ask: Should this norm continue?

A Japa Tale

Similar to “Japa” but from a different perspective. “A Japa Tale”, written by Dika Ofoma, tells the…