Celestina Aleobua Turns Questions of Belonging Into Award-Winning Films

There is a form of displacement that comes from living across borders without fully settling into any one identity. Too Nigerian in some spaces, insufficiently so in others; perceived as too African in the West, yet constantly negotiating what that label even means.

For Celestina Aleobua, this sense of in-betweenness has been a lifelong reality. Born in Lesotho to Nigerian parents, raised in South Africa, where her belonging was often contested, and now based in Toronto, her life has unfolded across multiple cultural landscapes. 

These layered experiences now shape her work as a filmmaker, informing stories that navigate migration, identity, and the shifting meaning of home.

What could have been a story of displacement has become something far more powerful. At 37 festivals and counting for her film Tina, When Will You Marry?, Aleobua is proving that the stories of Africans in the diaspora, those caught between tradition and modernity, between ancestral expectations and personal desires, are not merely Nigerian stories or Canadian stories. They're human stories. And the world is paying attention.

Travelling Without Leaving Home

Aleobua's love affair with storytelling began in South Africa.

"I very quickly learned that I really was intrigued by people's life experiences, their stories about their parents, their ancestors, what they do in their home," she explains. 

"And I just felt that I was gaining a wealth of experience just by hearing stories. I fell in love with storytelling because I was like, I feel like I can travel without actually travelling, or I can experience life without actually doing the thing, but just by vicariously living through somebody who has gone through an interesting experience."

For a long time, she wondered what life might have been like if she had grown up elsewhere, if belonging had been easier. But eventually, that question exhausted itself.

“It stopped making sense to think about what could have been,” she says. “I became more grateful for what is. And what is, is that I’ve experienced so many cultures. That allows me to take very small, specific stories and make them feel global.”

Creating the Work

Aleobua initially wanted to act. But in Canada, the roles she kept auditioning for felt limiting.

“Nurse. Police officer,” she says flatly. “I didn’t care for the lines. I still don’t.”

So in 2017, she made a pivot. Directing became the role that felt most like home. And also the one that scared her the most.

“I didn’t train formally as a director or producer, or even as an actress,” she admits. “So I’ve been winging it. And when you have a crew relying on you to have all the answers, imposter syndrome shows up fast.”

For years, she felt guilty asking people to show up for projects without large budgets. Until a realisation shifted everything.

“I understood that while my dreams were coming true, so were theirs. People were learning. Gaining experience. Finding language for stories they wanted to tell, too.”

That shift from guilt to shared purpose changed how she led. And how she understood collaboration.

When asked what Western audiences most misunderstand about African filmmaking, Aleobua doesn’t hesitate.

“Representation swings between extremes,” she says. “Extreme poverty or extreme wealth. Nothing in between.”

What’s missing are the mundane stories, the quiet, ordinary lives that still carry depth, humour, contradiction.

She is drawn to “interesting people living mundane lives,” especially Black people framed without spectacle. Films like Tina, When Will You Marry? work precisely because they strip away exoticism and allow audiences to recognise themselves.

At screenings, audience members from vastly different backgrounds respond the siame way.

“They come up to me and say, ‘This is happening in my family too.’”

That recognition is the point. It reminds people that culture may differ, but pressure, desire, and fear are universal.

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When a Film Becomes a Mirror

Aleobua never anticipated the reach Tina, When Will You Marry? would have screening at over 37 festivals and continuing to travel internationally.

But she understands why it resonated.

“It holds a mirror to Nigerian society,” she says. “It questions things we’re often told not to question.”

Marriage pressure, generational expectations, silence disguised as respect, these are conversations many in her generation have been afraid to initiate. The film gives permission.

“That’s what I’m most proud of,” she says. “That it gives people courage.”

While Tina, When Will You Marry? explores cultural pressure, Aleobua's short film Second Wind ventures into darker, more painful territory: sexual abuse and its aftermath. 

It's scheduled to screen at Surreal 16 (S16) in Lagos from December 1-5, 2025.

Aleobua's experimental film The People of Sand asks a provocative question: what would African countries have been like if they'd never been colonised?

Her most ambitious project yet is Jaded, a television series she's developing with co-creator Naira Adedeji. 

The series, which won two awards at TIFF during pitch season, follows two first-generation Nigerian-American women who realise their lives have been shaped by parental and societal pressure rather than their own choices, and decide to change that.

Beyond her own filmmaking, Aleobua has taken on the role of curator with her Five Resilient Women screening series, showcasing short films by emerging African filmmakers.

The series was born from two realisations: first, that last year's crop of African short films represented some of the most exciting, authentic storytelling she'd seen; and second, that these films deserved wider audiences. 

She is quick to note that collaboration remains her goal. Working in isolation, especially in Canada, has limits.

Returning to Lagos regularly and witnessing the community-driven energy of its film culture has been transformative.

“I’m trying to absorb that,” she says. “And take it back with me.”

Responsibility

Aleobua believes diaspora filmmakers carry responsibility, not to romanticise or simplify, but to tell the truth carefully.

“Research matters. Consultation matters. Authenticity matters,” she says. “Especially when you’re educating.”

For now, her focus is Jaded, a series she is co-creating with Naira, which has already earned recognition during pitch season. 

At its heart are two women navigating identity, culture, and self-definition again, standing on the border between worlds.

The Legacy She Hopes to Leave

When asked what she hopes audiences will say about her work decades from now, her answer is simple.

“That Celestina was bold,” she says.  “That she asked important questions.” “And that her visual style was stunning.”

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