Nigeria and Ghana will have a notable presence at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, with four West African films selected across TIFF’s Special Presentations, Centrepiece, Short Cuts and Discovery programmes.
Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa will screen in Special Presentations, where it will have its North American premiere. The Nigeria-US co-production, which premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in Directors’ Fortnight, is a contemporary adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, relocating the story to Lagos. Sophie Okonedo plays Clarissa, a Lagos socialite preparing to host a party while confronting memories of her younger years and the life she might have had. The cast includes David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ayo Edebiri and Joke Silva. The world rights of Clarissa is with NEON, set to oversee the film’s theatrical release in the United States in December.
Daniel Oriahi’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives will have its world premiere in Centrepiece, marking EbonyLife’s return after Elesin Oba. The adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s acclaimed novel centres on Bolanle, a young university graduate who becomes the fourth wife of Baba Segi, a wealthy polygamist. Her arrival unsettles the existing household, where each of the older wives has a different relationship with their husband and a secret of her own. The ensemble is led by Odunlade Adekola, Omowunmi Dada, Bimbo Ademoye, Iyabo Ojo and Mercy Aigbe. Its TIFF premiere comes ahead of its planned Nigerian theatrical release in December.
Kaelo Iyizoba’s The Spectacular Death of Prisca gives Nigeria another entry in Short Cuts, where it will have its world premiere. Described by TIFF as a love letter to Nollywood, the short follows a devoted mother on her daughter’s wedding day who is suddenly pulled into the chaotic world of an old Nollywood film, where she must embark on a surreal mission to save her daughter. Starring Genoveva Umeh and Rita Dominic, the film is also a proof of concept for Iyizoba’s planned feature A Nollywood Story after the filmmaker participated in the 2025 TIFF Filmmaker Labs.
Ghanaian feature Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and The Burdens of Excess will make its world premiere in Discovery, TIFF’s section for emerging filmmakers. Directed by Christine Boateng and Hajara Musah Chambas, the debut feature follows three women whose lives intersect around Accra’s Kantamanto market. The story touches on the lives of kayayei, the women and girls who work as head porters in Ghana’s markets, while placing their experiences within a broader story of sisterhood, survival and the pressures placed on women.
The wider African selection includes Rwanda’s Ben’Imana, Central African Republic’s Congo Boy, South Africa’s Future Tense and Chad’s Soumsoum, The Night of the Stars, all screening in the Centrepiece section.
Running alongside the main festival from September 10-16, the inaugural TIFF: The Market will host investors and industry professionals for acquisitions, sales and global dealmaking. FilmOne Entertainment will participate as one of six African buyers at the new market, while Nigerian distributor and Blue Pictures Entertainment CEO Joy Odiete will be speaking as part of TIFF’s Buyers in Focus: Austria, Germany, Nigeria, USA programme, which spotlights leading buyers and distributors from the four territories.
Earlier announced in May at Cannes, Moses Babatope, CEO of Nile Media Entertainment Group, is part of the market’s global Advisory Committee, where he will contribute to shaping the new industry platform and its opportunities for African filmmakers and businesses.
The festival takes place from September 10-20, 2026.
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