Lady
Filmed in the chaotic streets of Lagos, Nigeria, Olive Nwosu's first feature is a striking neo-noir that crackles with tension. One of the traffic-choked city’s few female cab drivers, Lady is independent, isolated, and mistrustful, surviving by staying laser-focused on her own business. Her foundation is shaken by the sudden reappearance of Pinky, the sister-like childhood friend who abandoned Lady years ago and became a sex worker. Tempted by the promise of money, time with Pinky, and a possible path out of a nation on the brink of political and social combustion, Lady reluctantly accepts a job driving Pinky’s crew of glamorous, reckless coworkers through the dangerous netherworld of Lagos nightlife. Writer-director Nwosu, fresh among Africa’s new wave of auteurs, shines with her debut. The cast, which won the Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble at Sundance, is phenomenal, crafting a moving portrayal of the unexpected sisterhood that finally breaches Lady’s armor. —D. Quinones
Director/s
Olive Nwosu
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and based between London and Lagos, Olive Nwosu is a filmmaker and storyteller whose work lives at the intersection of culture, meaning, and craft. With an MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University School of the Arts (BAFTA-Pigott Scholar, Alex Sichel Fellow), Olive crafts image-rich, emotionally resonant films that interrogate the ways we belong, resist, and transform. Her short films include Troublemaker (2019), the first Igbo-language film on the Criterion Channel; and 2021’s Egúngún (Masquerade), which won multiple international awards. Olive’s work is informed by the intersectional nature of her life across multiple continents and identities. Her mission is to create urgent, globally ambitious, cinema through a 21st-century African lens.
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