C.J. Obasi

C.J. Obasi (also known as "Fiery" or "The Fiery One") is a Nigerian film director, screenwriter and editor.

His debut feature – a zero budget film Ojuju premiered at the Africa International Film Festival in November 2014, and won the award for Best Nigerian Film. It also got him the Trailblazer of the Year award in March 2015, at the Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA).

His third feature, Mami Wata, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition for the film's cinematography.[1]

Early life and career
Born in the city of Owerri, the capital city of Imo State, Nigeria, Obasi grew up watching Hammer Horror films, reading Stephen King novels and watching film adaptations of his work. From the young age of 3, he would watch classic films and his favorite superheroes and villains; recreating them in hand-drawn comic books.

After attending the Government Secondary School, Owerri, Obasi studied computer science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, southeastern Nigeria. In 2012, he set up Fiery Film Company, with his wife, the TV and film producer, Oge Obasi and the late screenwriter Benjamin Stockton.

Obasi's directorial debut came in 2014 with Ojuju; a zombie thriller film. The movie was screened in various festivals around the world, including the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Shockproof Film Festival in Prague, New Voices in Black Film Festival in New York, Nollywood Week Festival in Paris, Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Africa International Film Festival where it won the award of the Best Nigerian Film and others; garnering universal acclaim from the likes of internationally renowned critics such as Todd Brown of Twitch Film, Tambay A. Obenson of Shadow and Act, and Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter. Remarkably, Ojuju is a zero budget movie.

His second film, O-Town, was released in 2015 to even more critical acclaim. A crime thriller, O-Town, also written by Obasi, tells the tale of a small town mired in crime. O-Town was inspired by Owerri, the place where Obasi was born.

In 2018, Obasi directed the film adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's africanfuturistic short story "Hello, Moto". The short film, Hello, Rain, stars Keira Hewatch as Rain, a scientist and witch. In February 2017, Fiery Film Production optioned the short story and began production.

It had its world premiere at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, on 6 May 2018.

Mami Wata

Obasi first came up with and began developing Mami Wata in 2016. After writing a few drafts, he took part in a number of labs to help refine the script. In an interview with CNN, Obasi stated he "wanted to make a hyper-stylised film" with its style rooted in substance, taking inspiration from his favourite filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa and David Lynch. The characters Prisca and Zinwe were inspired by Obasi's late sisters. Production companies attached to Mami Wata include Obasi's Fiery Film Company, Guguru Studios, Palmwine Media, Swiss Fund Visions Sud Est, and Ifind Pictures of France. Principal photography took place on location in the rural villages of Benin and wrapped in January 2021. At the Sundance Film Festival, cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition for the film's cinematography. It also picked up three awards at FESPACO - Prix de la Critique Pauline S. Vieyra (African Critics Award), Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleur Décor (Set Design Award). It was acquired by Dekanalog for North American distribution.

In October 2023, it was selected as the Nigerian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards by The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC). It has been nominated in the Best International Film category of the 39th Independent Spirit Awards.