Tola Aladese anchors the beautiful portrayal of Lagos during the holidays in Christmas in Lagos.
Jade Osiberu has a love story with Lagos, and it shows in how she captures the city. It's there in the honesty of the stories she tells through the city's eyes, without the need to embellish or misrepresent. It is also in how the city functions as a playground, a point for the fantastical, a place she happily romanticizes, where any kind of story is possible.
In her latest work, Christmas in Lagos, coming to Prime Video on Friday, December 20, Osiberu shoots Lagos through the eyes of someone deeply devoted to teasing the city's beauty. "The idea was to make it feel magical," Osiberu tells OkayAfrica. "There is a magical sense that you get in December, especially when you enter into the period of events where there's a party, a concert, a birthday, a wedding every single day. The reality of Lagos can get suspended for a bit, and you're in this world that feels really exciting. And that's the energy I was trying to capture in this."
The story, seen through the eyes of Fiyin (Teniola Aladese), is an exciting take on Detty December and the return home for Christmas. The plot follows a group whose lives take major turns during the holiday. At the heart of it, Christmas in Lagos concerns itself with love and all the beautiful and complicated forms it comes in.
The characters in this film—some connected by blood and others by friendship or the dreamy hopefulness of Detty December—grapple with profound questions: How far will they go to attain the love they desire? What can love transform into after experiencing grief and years of distrust? And, ultimately, what types of love, despite their beauty, must be let go? It's a beautiful, observant, yet pleasantly comical story filled with heart and stars. Aladese, Rayxia Ojo, Shalom C. Obiago, Richard Mofe Damijo, Shaffy Bello, Wale Ojo, and other compelling actors deliver memorable performances that will leave a lasting impression.A blessing
Filmmaker Jade Osiberu wanted to depict the chaos and overwhelming energy of spending Christmas in Lagos.
Photo courtesy of Prime Video/Greoh Studios
For Aladese, who anchors the plot, Christmas In Lagos is an answered prayer. The story of her being in the movie began at the premiere of Osiberu's Gangs of Lagos. "I was about to leave when Jade stopped me and told me she was working on a pitch and had my name in it," Aladese says. That encounter morphed into a "life-changing" experience for Aladese. "I'm very grateful for the blessing," she says. "I'm very grateful to have met everybody on set. We were a family while filming this."
Co-stars Rayxia Ojo and Shalom C Obiago share this sentiment about the friendships formed during production. Ojo describes the experience as "incredible" and adds that the cast will cherish it for a lifetime. Ojo, for her part, was captivated by the story's ability to represent the various facets of Nigerian identity. She plays Ivie, a London-based cousin of Fiyin who, like Elo (Obiago), is visiting Nigeria for the holidays. "I didn't feel like it was just an assumption or a stereotypical gaze," Ojo says. "It was very specific. And I was excited to film, and when you feel excited from that point, you know that everything else will be even better."
Obiago says the story made him feel seen as a Nigerian-American for whom there aren't always stories that capture the multiple cultures he straddles. "I was just so happy that there was even space for a character like this," he says. "Seeing that space for this character made me happy. One that's always been a dream of mine to do in the first place. So many people are gonna relate to that."
Celebrating the magnificence of Nigerian culture
For cast members Rayxia Ojo and Shalom C. Obiago, this was a homecoming of sorts.
Photo courtesy of Prime Video/Greoh Studios
In the many love stories explored in the film, a romance between older Nigerians was, for Aladese, the best part. "We don't get to see much of that in Nollywood films, and I told Shaffy Bello, 'I love seeing you in love as an older woman. And so I can't wait for my mom to watch that. I think she'd be excited," she says.
Ultimately, Obiago hopes people will experience the magnificence of Nigerian culture and its vibrant holiday traditions while watching this film. "I hope people will feel the global reach of Nigerian culture," he says.
"I hope it becomes a film that people go back to every Christmas to watch with their family," Osiberu says. "I hope it's one of those where Nigerians feel proud and want to watch it every Christmas, and it feels heartwarming, you gather round, and you want to feel good again like the first time you watched it."
