Popular Zikoko serials Naira Life, Love Life, and Sex Life are taking an on-screen adapted form in an anthology film series, Zikoko Life, created by Anita E. Eboigbe and produced by Blessing Uzzi.
Big Cabal Media is following up its recent nonfiction programming with fiction as it announces Zikoko Life, an anthology film series produced by Bluhouse Studios. Premiering on July 12 on YouTube, the three-part series adapts Zikoko’s intimate editorial franchises into stories centred on love, sex, and autonomy, particularly from the perspective of Nigerian women.
The anthology opens with What’s Left of Us, written by Victor Daniel and directed by Daniel alongside Olamide Adio. Referencing Marriage Story and Revolutionary Road as inspirations, it stars Caleb Richards (Beyond the Veil) and Tolu Asanu (Mr & Mrs Okoli) as a couple grappling with the emotional fallout when Mariam, a wife and mother, decides she no longer wants to have more children. “We wanted to show how economic disparity often becomes a tool of control in marriages,” said co-director Victor Daniel. “It’s also about body autonomy. What happens when a woman says no, even in marriage?”
In My Body, written and directed by Uzoamaka Power, a newlywed couple faces unexpected hurdles as they attempt to consummate their marriage, prompting a painful unlearning of everything they’ve been taught about sex, desire, and faith. Power (Mami Wata) also stars alongside Andrew Yaw Bunting (Water & Garri). “I wanted to tell a story where a woman is seen and understood,” Power explains. “Too often we hear things like ‘she can just lie there and let him take it’ when people discuss sex in marriage. It’s exhausting. My Body imagines a way forward.”
The final entry, Something Sweet, written and directed by Dika Ofoma (God’s Wife), stars Michelle Dede (With Difficulty Comes Ease), Ogranya (Freedom Way), Oladozie Chiedoziem, and Kanyin Eros. It follows a stable woman in her 40s who finds herself unexpectedly falling for a younger man, and opens the door for noise in her otherwise quiet life. “At its core, this film is about reminding women, especially older women, that love doesn’t end at a certain age,” said Ofoma. “You can still feel butterflies in your 40s. You can be desired, and you can choose.”
The anthology seeks to expand on Zikoko’s mission to reflect real-life Nigerian experiences in ways that are emotionally resonant and unfiltered. “We wanted to expand Zikoko’s emotional universe and give these real-life truths the space they deserve that is cinematic, beautiful, and disruptive,” said series creator Eboigbe.
“I see these films as emotional time capsules that portray African women in ways that feel real and rotted. We have worked hard to make them our stories, not imported or idealised,” Producer Uzzi (who also doubles as showrunner) said. These aren’t just films. They’re emotional time capsules.”
Zikoko and Big Cabal Media most recently produced the Nana Aisha Salaudeen-led HER docuseries, which spotlights women across various fields, with three episodes released so far and more narrative works in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, Bluhouse Studios, the production company behind Zikoko Life, is preparing to release its first feature film in cinemas this July and will participate in the Locarno Open Doors programme in August.
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UPDATE 02.07.2025: Blessing Uzzi’s role as showrunner was added to the story.
