In a bid for further global recognition, audience reach, and funding, the Nigerian film industry has, for years, stretched its branches to different parts of the world, and this is not any different in 2025.
This year, the industry has slithered, once again, into the Red Sea Souk Project Market, a co-production platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival. Scheduled for December 6-10 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Project Market has provided a platform for filmmakers from Asian, African, and Arabian countries to foster investments and international collaborations.
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It was revealed that out of 1,900 submissions, only 40 titles were selected across three areas: 24 projects at development and production stage, 8 works-in-progress titles, and 8 series titles developed through the Red Sea Labs, Series Lab whose 3rd edition started in April in Los Angeles and is expected to head to the market in December.
In these categories, the presence of Nigerian filmmakers is notable. In the Series Lab, there is writer Tomi Folowosele’s Till Death Do Us Part (prod. Orire Nwani); the Projects-in-Development & Production section includes Cheta Chukwu’s Nigeria-UK collaboration, To Catch A Falling Sky (prod. Sheila Nortley); and there is the Works-in-Progress section where CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s La Pyramide currently resides.
A Nigeria-UK-US-Senegal-Brazil project produced by Abbas Nokhasteh, and Andres Borda, La Pyramide: A Celebration of Dark Bodies, seems to be treading on a stable path of production. Last year’s Souk Project Market witnessed La Pyramide (set in Brazil, New Orleans, Louisiana and Senegal) emerge as a project-in-development and this year, it makes its comeback as a work-in-progress that began its filming phase in Brazil around early October. The creative progression of La Pyramide highlights the potential of the Project Market in contributing a pathway for filmmakers and their projects.
For Nigerians, especially indie filmmakers, the Souk Project Market can function as a development bridge. Their projects, if selected, can be nurtured from title development through completion. La Pyramide’s progress from being a development title in 2024 to a work-in-progress in 2025 shows how the Market can be effectively used as a pool to attract stakeholders and to establish a relationship with interested investors, distributors, and potentially like-minded filmmakers.
As La Pyramide continues filming and To Catch a Falling Sky and Till Death Do Us Part engage in the market in December 2025 shows the gradually defining international pipeline for Nigerian projects in the global film ecosystem.
Over the years, the Red Sea Film Foundation has established itself as a major financial force that supports African cinema through its Red Sea Fund. The fund, responsible for supporting over 280 films since 2021, has provided financial backing for filmmakers across Africa, Arab world, and Asia. The fund has notably backed African projects like Sudan’s Goodbye Julia, and Congo’s Omen.
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