'Mami Wata' will end the year with a screening this December

CJ Obasi's black and white movie, Mami Wata, will close its year with a final screening this holiday season.

According to Obasi, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mami Wata will make a special presentation at the Surreal 16 Film Festival in Lagos on Saturday, December 9, 2023. He said, "Perfectly symbolic to end the year’s run with my S16 comrades…See y’all in Lagos".

The festival which will hold at the Alliance Auditorium will also include a discussion with Obasi about the movie's journey.

The feature story is set in the remote West African village of Iyi, where the villagers worship the mermaid deity with some guidance from Mama Efe, played by Rita Edochie, who acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity.

Mami Wata took the nation by surprise with its black and white themed cinematography but most importantly the many international heights it keeps breaking.

From its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year, to the African premiere at FESPACO, and international deals along the way, Mami Wata hasn't stopped being the talk of the town everywhere it goes.

A huge achievement was the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) announcing the movie as Nigeria's official submission for the Oscars 2024, on October 15, 2023.

And now, after a brief Nigerian theatrical run in September 2023 and a United Kingdom viewing in November, it closes the year with one more screening here in Nigeria.