Following a recent report of the Africa No Filter initiative with Korede Azeez, Fuchi Nwaturuocha, and Hajarat Alli on Daddy Bear, What Kept Me Up can confirm that principal photography has now wrapped on the faith-based family drama. The project, which wrapped on August 25, enters post-production, with more details about the project now announced.
The feature film follows Fahd (played by Jammal Ibrahim), a father raising a newborn and his pre-teen daughter after losing his wife during childbirth. Set in Abuja and lensed by Fadamana Okwong (The Boy Who Gave), the film centres on fatherhood, caregiving and grief while also examining Muslim family life. Other cast members are Ummi Baba-Ahmed (With Difficulty Comes Ease), Dera Osadebe, Ame Aiyejina (Beyond The Veil), and Ijapari Ben-Hirki (The Almajiri).
Daddy Bear began as a story by Hajarat Alli brought to Cardinal StoryWorks, the script development unit of Cardinal Productions (founded by Azeez). Together, they developed the screenplay before getting funding from Africa No Filter.
Alli previously wrote Monitoring Spirit, an award-winning short film during her time at EbonyLife Creative Academy, where she was part of the 2021 cohort.
In a statement, Alli spoke about how surreal it has been “watching Daddy Bear move from an idea on the page to a story that began to take root in everyone who worked on it,” hoping the film “will leave that same impact on everyone who watches it.”
Azeez joins Alli as co-director, following credits that include the Netflix-UNESCO anthology film Halima’s Choice, her feature debut It Blooms in June under the First Features Initiative, and 2024 With Difficulty Comes Ease (a Cardinal and Nemsia project).
“From a story Hajarat brought into our writing room to a finished film, this has been a real journey, and I’m glad to have co-directed her debut feature with her,” Azeez added.
Producer Fulfilment “Fuchi” Nwaturuocha has also been involved with Daddy Bear since the screenplay stage. Her previous producing credits include Azeez’s With Difficulty Comes Ease and Ekene Som Mekwunye’s Ewo. She is also co-founder of Riverside Productions.
Nwaturuocha’s connection to the story is personal, having grown up with a widowed father and experienced the loss of her mother during her pre-teen and teenage years. She has described the experience of growing up alongside a grieving father as part of what informs her relationship with the film.
Her work on Daddy Bear has also raised questions about what happens to independent Nigerian films after production. Nwaturuocha says she is interested in “exploring community cinema as both an audience-development and distribution strategy,” describing an approach that could take the film into communities through smaller, shared screenings.
Daddy Bear, backed by CcHUB in partnership with Africa No Filter, is currently in post-production and is slated for release later this year in community cinemas. More details will be announced soon.
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