All quotes sourced from interviews with The Nation, Afrocritik, and Jerry Chiemeke.

On 6 September 2025, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde premiered her first feature film as a director at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival. The screening marked a shift in a career that spans over three decades. Not a return but a reintroduction on her own terms.

She called the film Mother’s Love. It was shot in less than two weeks, self-financed, and built around a quiet confidence. The story follows a young woman raised in extreme privilege whose NYSC year forces her to confront grief, identity, and class beyond the boundaries of her Lagos upbringing. At its heart is a mother-daughter dynamic. So is the quiet strength that often lives between generations of women.

The project began in disorder. “I shot the first film under pressure,” she told The Nation. “I came on vacation and Ruth [Kadiri] called me. She said, ‘There’s a whole revolution on YouTube,’ and she didn’t give me peace of mind. She said it would take only three or four days. I gave in, told my producer, ‘If I don’t like it, no one will see it.’”

They went ahead with it. Fuel was scarce and power was unreliable. Still, something clicked. “I’m a perfectionist. I didn’t have time to even do proper pre-production. But the whole task emboldened me. So I asked, ‘What if we did a feature?’ That’s how Mother’s Love came about.”

The result is compact and emotionally intimate. Five characters. One country. Nothing extra. “We had to find a story my energy could carry,” she told Afrocritik. “Something I was passionate about.”

The film draws from her life. It reflects her experience raising a first daughter, and her memory of her own mother. “With first daughters, mothers feel they have to be extremely strict,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to tell that story, but from a different lens. Not the crying mother we’re used to in Nollywood. My mother was very independent. She was strong.”

The film was not designed for cinema release. “I shot for worst case,” she told The Nation. “I assumed it would go to some kind of streamer. But then we adjusted the edit to match a cinematic experience.”

The process was uncertain. “I kept second-guessing myself. I was scared. I started editing and losing momentum. But then people saw it. They applauded. I gained the confidence again.”

The film shifts between Banana Island and Makoko. It stages the extremes of Lagos. Not to shock, but to offer emotional contrast. “In Nigeria, the very rich live on Banana Island. Just across the ocean, you have Makoko,” she told Afrocritik. “We shot there because it might not exist much longer. It mattered.”

Shooting in Makoko was hard. “Makoko is hell to shoot in,” she said. “You deal with so many clusters, so many approvals. We even had a moment where people threatened to destroy our equipment. But we made it through.”

Omotola has long worked at the intersection of artistry and strategy. In 2019, she launched TEFFEST, The Entertainment Fair and Festival, to spotlight the business of entertainment. She has been vocal about the need for systems in Nollywood, from distribution to unionisation. “We need to level up,” she said. “I’ve been consistent about that since I was a teenager.”

Her shift behind the camera comes with standards. When asked how she chose her cast, she was firm. “In my generation, we were passionate and disciplined. I avoid actors who don’t have work ethic. I won’t project any actor who isn’t ready for the global stage.”

The cast includes Noray Nehita, Ifeanyi Kalu and Nosa Rex. The film will premiere in Nigeria in 2026. An international release will follow. But Omotola is already thinking about what comes next.

“I’ve always directed,” she told Afrocritik. “Just not for a career. I’ve rewritten scripts, consulted on characters. I just didn’t take the credit. But now, I want to own that part of myself. I’m ready.”

She is focused on real stories. “I’ve always been drawn to human stories. Now I’m leaning more toward true-life stories. The kind that have the power to change something.”

After thirty years in Nollywood, as actor, entrepreneur, mother and now director, Omotola is not restarting. She is building. With clarity. With precision. With her name, still, on the marquee.