On September 8, C.J. Obasi’s Mami wata took off and powered through international records. It was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. For the film’s cinematography, Llis Soares received the Special Jury Prize at the World Dramatic Competition.
Mami wata also won three honors at the Prix de la Critique Paulin S. Vieyra: Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleure Décor (Set Design Award). Dekanalog purchased it for distribution in North America. It even made it to the highly coveted NYTimes review tables.
It also had a lineup of lit premieres: Filmfest München, Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and Festival Cinemas d’Afrique in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Yes, Mamiwata had charted its course and created a market for itself.
So, why did it just make 2.4 million naira on its first weekend? Why did the excitement for this great film fade so quickly when it arrived in Nigeria? Why did one of 2023’s most celebrated Nigerian films lose steam when it arrived in its native country?
Audiences complained about the inconvenient nature of showhouses. According to Okay Africa, Filmhouse confirmed 41 theater locations across the country, accounting for roughly 60% of the total sites capable of screening the picture—a figure the distributor praises because cinemas “took the risk of showing a black and white film.”
Nice point, except that viewers claim that the films were either scheduled to show at 12:00 noon or around 4:00 pm. No marketing degree is required to understand that this automatically excludes the working-class audience from the already small audience that the limited showing venues have generated.
There have also been reports that, in order to avoid showing specific films, certain cinemas feign technical difficulties—a circumstance that rarely occurs with non-niche films.
As a result, experts are accusing foul play and demanding explanations from the film’s distributors, FilmHouse Cinemas. Film House responded that they were investigating the matter and would contact the cinemas involved.
However, a few weeks after this promise, Silverbird Cinemas, where most of the complaints came from, yanked Mamiwata off their list completely.
With this and the barest minimum marketing employed for this film, we are inclined to agree that something fishy is going on. Is this sabotage in progress?
What are your thoughts? Do you believe this is a trend in niche films?
