Nigerian filmmaker Orobosa Ikponmwen is set to present Adanne, his feature directorial debut, at the 2026 edition of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), with the film scheduled to screen on Tuesday, November 3.
Produced by Melon House Production, Adanne is a drama that explores the experiences of three generations of Igbo women, examining how family expectations, patriarchal structures and inherited experiences shape their relationships and individual identities.
At the centre of the story is Adanne, a teenage girl struggling to establish her identity in a family where male children are favoured. As she navigates the expectations placed upon her, her relationship with her mother, Ijeoma, comes under increasing strain.
Ijeoma, meanwhile, finds herself caught between maintaining the image of a perfect wife and confronting the realities of a marriage that is quietly falling apart. Above them stands Akachi, the family matriarch, whose decisions, shaped by survival and the circumstances of her own life, continue to influence the generations that follow.
Through these interconnected experiences, Adanne examines the complicated relationship between love, sacrifice and control, while asking whether generations of women can break away from patterns they have inherited.
The film features Somachi Chilaka as Adanne, Onyinye Odokoro as Ijeoma, Jennifer Umenwa as Akachi, and Kelvinmary Ndukwe as Daniel. It is written by Gold Gerry, who also serves as a producer alongside Lotanna Nwose.
Melon House Production, Adanne represents the company’s first feature film and a project built through years of personal investment and independent effort. According to its production notes, the screenplay took over a year to develop, followed by more than a year of pre-production. The filmmakers also spent three years saving from their day jobs to finance the project, without institutional backing or external funding.
The production process came with its own challenges, including lost filming locations, community conflicts and logistical difficulties. However, the filmmakers describe the experience as one shaped by collaboration and a shared belief in the story they wanted to tell.
Speaking about the film’s central themes, director Orobosa Ikponmwen describes Adanne as an attempt to break silence around the experiences and patterns that women inherit across generations. His vision centres on the quiet ways family expectations and societal structures influence relationships, often allowing difficult experiences to become normalised.
Following its announcement in the third quarter of 2026, Adanne has secured selections at two film festivals and signed a distribution deal with Trino Motion Pictures. Its festival journey is part of a broader plan to reach audiences across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The film will screen at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 5:30 PM at FilmHouse Cinema, Landmark, Victoria Island, Lagos (Screen 1).
With its focus on family, identity and the experiences passed down between generations, Adanne brings an intimate exploration of Igbo womanhood to this year’s festival programme.
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