Joseph Jonathan

Water Girl
ENIFF 2025: Nnamdi Kanagaʼs “Water Girl” Reclaims Ogbanje Narratives With Intimacy and Precision

Water Girl succeeds because it understands the universal through the culturally specific. It is a…

Bad Influencer
“Bad Influencer” Review: Netflix’s South African Series Is a Stylish, Chaotic Tale of Clout and Consequences

Bad Influencer is about the fragile architecture of aspiration in a world where everyone is…

Together Apart, Jumbi, I Can Smell a Rat
AIFF 2025: “Together Apart”, “Jimbi”, and “I Can Smell a Rat” Navigate the Edges of Humanity

Three films — from Nigeria, Uganda, and Egypt — stood out for their attempts to…

Radia
AIFF 2025: In “Radia”, Khaoula Assebab Benomar Crafts a Stark Portrait of Widowhood, Agency, and the Cost of Becoming

Radia is a film that dissects the ordinary to reveal the extraordinary pain and possibilities…

Double or Nothing
AIFF 2025: Rachida SaadiʼS “Double or Nothing” Is a Gamble on Love and Addiction That Plays It Too Safe

Double or Nothing feels tonally inconsistent, unsure whether to lean into satire, tragedy, or domestic…

Adunni: Ogidan Binrin
AIFF 2025: “Adunni: Ogidan Binrin” Is a Story of Resistance Undone by Its Own Execution

Adunni: Ogidan Binrin is a reminder that even the most righteous revolutions can falter when…

Lights Out
AIFF 2025: Enah Johnscott Illuminates the Fragility of Memory and the Fading Architecture of Care in “Lights Out”

Lights Out is not a perfect film; uneven, overly ambitious, and occasionally meandering, but it…

The Herd
“The Herd” Review: Daniel Etim Effiong’s Debut Feature Is Taut and Human

The Herd is a debut that demands attention: not merely for its suspense, but for…

Finding Optel
“Finding Optel” Review: A Tender, Uneven Portrait of Ordinary Lives and the Quiet Radicalism of Small Stories

At a time when African cinema often feels pressured to either moralise or monumentalise, Finding…

Dodo Ikire
“Dodo Ikire” Review: Abdulafiz Opeyemi Shittu’s Ode to the Women Feeding a Nation

What Dodo Ikire ultimately captures, perhaps unintentionally at first, is how deeply entrenched women are…