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In 2019, Nigerian cinemas witnessed the debut of Oloture, a gripping film exploring the shadowy depths of human trafficking. Premiering on Netflix’s global platform a year later, it introduced audiences worldwide to the relentless journalist Ehi Oloture.

Posing undercover as a sex worker, she sought to expose a sinister operation preying on vulnerable women. Yet by the film’s climax, her investigation had escalated far beyond what was expected. Now finding herself thrown onto a mysterious bus, Oloture’s harrowing ordeal was only just beginning.

Five years later, Netflix released Oloture: The Journey, a limited series resolving to continue the protagonist’s compelling journey. Wary traffickers were now alert to the hidden mole in their midst.

Stranded and isolated, Oloture faced her most dangerous mission yet—navigating treacherous terrain to safety while eluding those desperate to silence her truths. Meanwhile, other down-trodden souls like Beauty embarked on perilous quests of their own.

Oloture: The Journey is the sequel to the 2019 Nigerian film Oloture, but strangely enough, this one happens to be a mini-series consisting of three episodes. Compared to the film, this one is way more plot-heavy, and the storytelling is extremely messy. So many things happen; random characters are introduced every now and then; the story takes many unexpected turns; add to that the terrible editing and a genuine lack of cinematic value. Even for fans of the film, this one can’t be a good experience. And the worst part is that the ending is not quite conclusive, which might just be a deliberate thing to take the franchise forward. Let us take a closer look and discuss the ending. Just in case you need a refresher of the story prior to the series, here’s our recap.

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens in the Series?

Picking up right from where they left off,...

The Nigerian human-trafficking drama Oloture made quite an impact back in 2019 when it was released on Netflix. The story ended on a cliffhanger, and a follow-up was certainly due, and we finally have one. But before going into Oloture: The Journey, you might need a recap of what has happened so far. In this article, we’re just going to provide you with that, along with what we thought about the film. In case you feel like giving it a rewatch before starting the next chapter, you can always stream it on Netflix.

Spoilers Ahead

What Happened in the Film?

The story opens at a Nigerian brothel in the center of Lagos. Sex-worker Ehi flees from a drunk customer without even getting paid, which makes everyone surprised and her boss, a middle-aged woman, angry. It is soon revealed that Ehi is actually a journalist from The Scoop who’s working...

Oloture: The Journey follows investigative journalist Oloture as she attempts to uncover the human trafficking network in Lagos. The series is a sequel to the 2019 film, Oloture, which ended on an ambiguous note. When the situation escalated out of control, Oloture was warned by her boss, Theo, to give up on her investigation and return home. Still, she was not ready to abandon her covert mission yet. She had agreed to join the group of girls who were to be trafficked to Italy; she had informed Theo about it, and she thought that would help her expose the network. When Theo arrived with the police, it was too late, and the bus had already left. Beauty was the only one who managed to escape after her sister, Linda, was decapitated when she was found talking over the phone. The series follows Oloture and Beauty and their journey into navigating a world full of evil.

In Her Perfect Life, Onajite Johnson-Ibrahim (played by Pearl Thusi) appears to have it all. She’s a 39-year-old entrepreneur with the perfect Instagram profile — a fantastic career, a loving husband (played by Ahmed Ibrahim), and two bright and beautiful children — but Onajite is secretly suffering from depression. She’s contemplating suicide.

Iyawo Mi (My Wife) follows the story of Eniola (Bolaji Ogunmola). Economically, she’s on the other end of the scale to Onajite, living in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Lagos. Her husband, Kunle (Lateef Adedimeji) works as a driver. One night he returns home to find his wife in the throes of madness, hallucinating, screaming at their children and threatening to kill them. With little understanding of mental illness and no access to a support system, he decides to take matters into his own hands, with tragic results.

These are two stories of women on the edge.

Nigerian Media Mogul Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media, will present a keynote on diversity and inclusion in the global film and television industry at the MIPCOM Cannes confab next month.

Abudu, a regular on The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Global Entertainment list, will present the keynote at MIPCOM on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the Grand Auditorium in Cannes. The event directly proceeds the 7th edition of Mipcom’s Diversify TV Awards, the only global honor recognizing the promotion of diversity and inclusion at international media organizations.

In her 20 years in the media industry, Abudu has built up EbonyLife Media into one of Africa’s leading production companies, with a slate of local theatrical blockbusters — Fifty, The Wedding Party, Your Excellency, Òlòtūré — and television series, including Blood Sisters, Netflix’s first original Nigerian series, which was a global top ten hit on the streamer,...

You could call the 40 executives on THR‘s inaugural International Women in Entertainment — Film list “the survivors.” As seismic disruptions rocked the indie world, from Covid shutdowns to the decimation of the special cinema market, these women have found a way to secure the money and the partners to keep making the stories they care about — often told by filmmakers from ignored or underrepresented groups — and get them out to the audiences that love them, worldwide. In a business that lionizes ego, these bosses — some who run pan-national mini-studios, others who oversee boutique operations with a handful of employees — have made an art out of collaboration, understanding that only by pooling their resources, by co-producing, co-financing or distributing one another’s movies, and by mentoring and encouraging young (often female) filmmakers, can the polyglot world of international indie cinema survive.

Mo Abudu

CEO, EbonyLife Media (Nigeria)

Mo Abudu

Abudu got...

In a bid to expand Prime Video in key African markets, Amazon Studios is recruiting a London-based head of Nigerian originals, Variety has learned.

In a recent job posting, the streaming platform has said it’s looking for an experienced senior creative executive to work with its Nigeria originals team, and oversee both scripted and non-scripted content. The role will report directly into Ned Mitchell, the Los Angeles-based head of originals for Africa and the Middle East for Amazon Studios.

“You will create a welcoming ‘Home for Talent’ to include creators and artists who represent the best of Nigeria,” reads an ad for the role. “You will cultivate talent of all levels and backgrounds and elevate Nigerian voices and stories for the enjoyment of audiences in Nigeria, Africa and the world. You will ensure that Originals, and the teams working on them, include and reflect Nigeria’s diversity across gender,...

Netflix has released the trailer for its first original TV show out of Nigeria, “Blood Sisters.”

Produced by leading Nigerian production company EbonyLife Studios, founded by Mo Abudu, the four-part crime thriller directed by Biyi Bandele and Kenneth Gyang will launch globally on the streaming service on May 5. The show is Abudu’s latest project for Netflix as part of her multi-title deal with the platform.

Set in Lagos, “Blood Sisters” follows a Nigerian wedding where the bride — who is fed up of being beaten up by her partner — accidentally kills the groom the night before their big day. The show tackles themes of intra-family relationships, physical and substance abuse, love, commitment and relationships.

An official description bills “Blood Sisters” as “an ode to life in the city [of Lagos] as it brilliantly juxtaposes the various socio-economic divides in Africa’s most famous commercial and social hub.”

EbonyLife Studios CEO Abudu said:...

An action-adventure series written by Rowan Athale is in development.

BBC Studios Drama Productions has signed a development deal with Nigerian television pioneer Mosunmola ‘Mo’ Abudu, a producer and CEO of global entertainment network EbonyLife Media.

The deal, which was brokered by CAA, will see BBC Studios Drama Productions develop a new action-adventure series with EbonyLife Media.

The drama, titled Reclaim, is written by 2011 Screen Star of Tomorrow Rowan Athale. It is based on an original idea by Abudu, Heidi Uys and Bode Asiyanbi.

The six-part thriller follows the story of a team of art thieves looking to return artworks...

The sheer number of films streaming on Netflix on any given day can make finding and deciding on what films to watch an arduous journey through an overabundance of content, navigating with an interface that’s not exactly the most ideal. To assist, IndieWire already runs a monthly series that highlights movies and television series worth streaming on every major platform in the U.S.

As an extension of that popular ongoing series, IndieWire will also publish monthly lists of films and television series that specifically tell Black stories and are streaming on those same major streaming platforms. The list will be updated regularly as new titles become available, and existing titles are replaced. It’s a move partly inspired by what has been referred to as a nationwide racial reckoning, as well as recent reports by the Motion Picture Association and other organizations revealing that so-called ethnic minority groups generally watch more movies,...

When Nigerian cinemas reopened in September after a months-long lockdown, Moses Babatope, co-founder of the distributor and production company FilmOne Entertainment, began looking ahead to a busy fall season that could get the local industry back on track.

“We were just beginning to see a recovery,” Babatope says, with “Fate of Alakada” — the third installment in Toyin Abraham’s blockbuster Nollywood franchise, directed by Kayode Kasum — bursting out of the gate after an Oct. 1 Nigerian Independence Day release. A slew of highly anticipated Nigerian titles were to follow. “Local films started driving our recovery. Whereas everybody was concerned about Hollywood films, we started seeing local films driving the return of cinemas,” he adds.

But days later, Nigeria erupted in nationwide protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a notorious police unit with a long record of brutality, eventually leading to wider demonstrations against corruption and police violence. Security forces turned on peaceful protesters,...

International media reports have painted many dire pictures of African struggles in recent years: Nigerian women and girls trafficked for exploitation, African migrants caught in slavery-like conditions in Libya, and others dying as they cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in search of better lives. As these situations continue, African filmmakers have started to take note. Mati Diop’s Cannes-prize winning “Atlantics” provided one high-profile recent example, but it’s hardly alone. In Nigerian filmmaker Kenneth Gyang’s Netflix film ‘Òlòtūré’ (“Endurance”) tackles the same troubling subject matter in unflinching detail.

Set in Lagos, “Òlòturé” is the story of a naïve young journalist (Sharon Ooja) who goes undercover to expose the brutal underworld of human trafficking. She’s caught off-guard by the dangerous environment she finds, a place teeming with cruel traffickers, pimps, madames and unscrupulous politicians. She ultimately bonds with a group of prostitutes and becomes deeply buried in their world.