THE LEGEND OF THE VAGABOND QUEEN OF LAGOS

PG15

THE LEGEND OF THE VAGABOND QUEEN OF LAGOS

Genre

Fiction

Running time

101 minutes

Year

2024

Language

Pidgin and English

Subtitle

English and Arabic

Country

Nigeria, South Africa, Germany and United States of America (USA)

Director

James Tayler, Bisola Akinmuyiwa, Elijah Segun Atinkpo, Tina Edukpo, Samuel Okechukwu, Temitope Ogungbamila, Mathew Cerf

Bio

Producer

Bisola Akinmuyiwa, James Tayler, Mathew Cerf, Andrew Maki, Megan Chapman, Mohammed Zanna, Mustapha Emmanuel, Michael Henrichs

Cast

Temiloluwa Ami-Williams, Kachi Okechukwu, Teniola Adelesi, Adosu Segun Segara, Agunto Noray, Debo Adedayo, Gerard Avlessi

Scriptwriter

Bisola Akinmuyiwa, Elijah Segun Atinkpo, Tina Edukpo, James Tayler, Mathew Cerf, Samuel Okechukwu, Temitope Ogungbamila

James Tayler

James Tayler has made three fiction feature films, working with the Yes! That's Us collective and as an alumnus of the Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talent Campus and Project Market, Produire au Sud Nantes, and África Produce. While his films address urban displacement, he has also helped set up grassroots media teams in South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Bisola Akinmuyiwa

Bisola Akinmuyiwa grew up in Itun Agan community, an informal settlement nestled alongside the port of Lagos. She is a founding member of the Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation media team, committed to telling stories that shine a light on local human rights abuses. As well as making films, she is a paralegal serving her home community.

Elijah Segun Atinkpo

Elijah Segun Atinkpo comes from Otodo Gbame, the community that provided the model for this story. When his home was demolished during the forced eviction of his community in 2017, he pursued a career in film as a way to spotlight their story and spur change.

Tina Edukpo

Born and raised in Otodo Gbame community, on which our film is based, mother and social advocate Tina was deeply involved in resistance to the forced evictions of 2017 and the protests and campaigns that followed. Her understanding of Egun folklore gave shape to the film’s magical realism; she also led the film cast’s work within these displaced communities.

Samuel Okechukwu

Samuel Okechukwu grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, but his mother comes from Ghana, where he spent several of his teenage years. As a gifted cinematographer, he was Director of Photography on If Walls Could Talk (African film festival, 2023) and camera operator for our film, taking the lead in sculpting the film’s visual language, as well as being a writer and director.

Temitope Ogungbamila

A filmmaker from Isale Akoka community in Lagos, Temitope is focused on shifting the accepted narrative about Lagos’s informal settlements. She organizes workshops in photography and digital storytelling within her community to help that happen and to teach young people useful skills. She also hopes to become a lawyer to help local women confront gender-based violence and discrimination.

Mathew Cerf

Matthew Cerf is an award-winning narrative and documentary film-maker, photographer,
and writer from the United States who specialises in co-creative, grassroots storytelling. He spent three years in Lagos teaching film and working on projects aimed at giving a voice to poor urban communities; his inspirations are Kat Cizek’s co-creation manifesto, The Third Cinema movement and the work of Mary Ellen Mark.

SHOWTIME

Tue 10. Dec

Culture Square - Cinema 4

9:45 PM - 11:31 PM

Price: 40 SAR

Wed 11. Dec

Culture Square - Cinema 2

1:15 PM - 3:01 PM

Price: 40 SAR

The Agbajowo Collective bring a lively mix of legend and community struggle to a fable grounded in Nigeria’s real-life mass evictions. In 2017, the state government and corrupt police colluded to burn out and bulldoze the waterside shanty town of Otodo-Gbame, leaving thousands homeless. Those who resisted were beaten, jailed or worse. In the fictionalised version - called Agbojedo - young mother Jawu, living in the floating slums on the lagoon that gives Lagos its name, is compelled by the spirit of the great warrior king Egbaezen to stand firm against these forced evictions, unifying her poor but loyal community behind her in an epic multi-genre adventure containing a stash of extorted money and a magical African Grey parrot.

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