After nearly a decade in development, principal photography has officially begun on Dear Ajayi, the eagerly anticipated sophomore feature from Damilola E. Orimogunje, who became known for his emotionally arresting 2020 debut, For Maria Ebun Pataki.
Orimogunje returns to the director’s chair in what has been teased as a delicate, deeply personal meditation on grief, familial bonds, and the unspoken burdens often carried by Nigerian women.
Set in the late 1990s in southwestern Nigeria, Dear Ajayi follows the fragile reunion of two estranged sisters (Bimbo Akintola & Tosin Adeyemi) who are forced to confront old wounds and unspoken truths after the sudden death of their father and their mother’s unexpected illness. Dear Ajayi promises a contemplative exploration of silence, duty, and womanhood in a cultural landscape where emotional labour is rarely acknowledged.
Other cast members are William Benson (The Fire and The Moth), Uzoamaka Power (With Difficulty Comes Ease), Lanre ‘Iya Awero’ Hassan (King of Boys), Michelle Dede (Love & Life), Antar Laniyan (Ijakumo), Tope Tedela (The Lost Okoroshi), Chioma ‘Chigul’ Omeruah (Eyimofe), Baaj Adebule (The Men’s Club), Iya Rainbow (Oga Bolaji), and Kalu Ikeagwu (A Lagos Love Story).
In 2022, Dear Ajayi was selected for the Ouaga Film Lab, a platform dedicated to the development and co-production of film projects, where it won 3 awards, including the Sud Écriture Award – a grant that supported the project’s participation in the Sud Écriture writing workshop (a film writing workshop held in Tunisia and Morocco). It also won the Groupe Ouest Award and the World Cinema Fund – Audience Design Award.
During its development phase, the project was also involved at the Strategic Audience Design at the Berlinale and Nouveau Marché (a film marketplace in Montreal, Canada)
“This is a film about what is left unsaid,” Orimogunje explains. “About women who stand on opposite sides of belief and freedom, yet are bound by blood, silence, and duty. I’ve lived with this story for years, and it’s time to let it speak.”
Orimogunje first gained international recognition with For Maria Ebun Pataki (2020), a searing and intimate portrait of a woman struggling with postpartum depression. The film screened at festivals such as Film Africa, BFI London Film Festival and FESPACO, earning Orimogunje a place among a new generation of Nigerian auteurs.
His influence continued as a producer on Babatunde Apalowo’s All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, which won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlinale in 2023.
The cinematography of Dear Ajayi is credited to K.C. Obiajulu (Over the Bridge) and the film will be produced under the 2o9ine Films banner by Orimogunje and veteran producer Bose Oshin, whose credits include Eyimofe and Nigerian Prince.
Dear Ajayi is co-produced with Depth and Optics Productions, with an expected premiere in 2026.
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