The Nigerian filmmaker speaks to Streamdorm about her journey from the EbonyLife Creative Academy to feature filmmaking, the experiences that inspire her storytelling, and the questions she hopes audiences will confront through her Film Africa 2026 selection.
For Nigerian filmmaker Chinazaekpere Chukwu, storytelling begins with an interest in the ordinary experiences that shape people’s lives. From the choices they make to the things they desire and the sacrifices they are expected to endure, she finds meaning in the everyday realities that often go unquestioned.
That perspective informs Her Daughters’ Mother, also known by its original-language title, Oni ómó-Emeté, her feature directorial debut. The Nigerian drama follows Ejiro, a woman whose life is shaped by marriage, motherhood and societal expectations, particularly the pressure to produce a male heir.
Married off at 16, Ejiro returns home in her thirties as a widow with two daughters. Her subsequent marriage to Osato, which promises a more secure future, becomes another source of suffering when she fails to provide him with a son. Through Ejiro’s experiences, the film examines women’s autonomy and the personal cost of living according to expectations imposed by others.
For Chinazaekpere Chukwu, however, the story is not simply about the circumstances Ejiro faces. It also raises a more fundamental question about the freedom women have to make decisions about their own lives.
Selected for Film Africa 2026 in London, Her Daughters’ Mother marks a significant milestone in her career, bringing a story rooted in the cultural realities of Nigeria’s South-South region to an international audience.
In this conversation with Streamdorm, the filmmaker reflects on the experiences that have shaped her creative journey, the questions at the heart of her debut feature, and what she hopes audiences will take away from Ejiro’s story.
Streamdorm: Looking back at your journey from writing and directing for television and short films to making your first feature, what part of that journey forced you to confront yourself the most, and how has it changed the filmmaker you are today?
Chinazaekpere Chukwu: When I came out of EbonyLife Creative Academy in 2021, I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of artist I wanted to be. I only knew that I wanted to make films. Then I met Damilola Orimogunje, who took me under his wing and decided to mentor me. Suddenly, I was being introduced to an entirely different world of filmmaking, one that challenged almost everything I thought I had learned in the months before.
It forced me to confront how much I didn’t know, but also how much more there was to discover. I began to understand that filmmaking wasn’t just about learning the craft or getting things right. It was also about developing a way of seeing, learning to trust my instincts, and figuring out what I wanted to say as an artist. That experience has stayed with me. I think I’m still figuring out the kind of filmmaker I want to be, but I’m much more comfortable with the uncertainty now. I know the kinds of stories I want to tell, and I’m more interested in the questions they leave behind than in having all the answers.
Streamdorm: Every filmmaker has stories they feel compelled to tell, but not every story is easy to tell. What is it about the world, the people around you, or your own experiences that continues to draw you towards the stories you tell?
Chinazaekpere Chukwu: I think I’m drawn to the ordinary, everyday experiences that make us who we are. I want to tell simple stories that replicate lived experiences. It’s that simple. I’m interested in people, in how they navigate their lives, the choices they make, the things they desire, and the things they have to give up. I think there’s so much to explore in the lives we live every day, and I want to make films that reflect that. Stories that feel familiar, even when the circumstances are different from your own.
Streamdorm: Ejiro’s story is shaped by expectations placed on her as a woman, a wife, and a mother, particularly the pressure to produce a male heir. What did you discover about these expectations while making the film that you hadn’t fully understood before you began telling her story?
Chinazaekpere Chukwu: I think what struck me most is how deeply these expectations are woven into the fabric of our lives, to the point where we sometimes stop questioning them. Making this film made me think more about how much of a woman’s life can be shaped by what other people need her to be. And how easily her own desires can become secondary to those expectations. I think that’s something a lot of women will recognize, even if their circumstances are different from Ejiro’s.
Streamdorm: When audiences watch Her Daughters’ Mother, they may leave with different interpretations of Ejiro’s choices and circumstances. What is one uncomfortable question about women, family, or society that you hope the film leaves them wrestling with long after watching?
Chinazaekpere Chukwu: I hope it makes people question how much freedom a woman actually has to make choices about her own life. We often talk about women making choices, but we don’t always interrogate the circumstances in which those choices are made. What does choice mean when your survival, your children’s future, or your place in your family depends on making the decision other people expect of you?
I don’t think the film necessarily provides an answer to that question. But I hope it makes people sit with it, particularly when they find themselves judging Ejiro’s decisions.
Streamdorm: Your feature debut is heading to London for Film Africa 2026, taking a story rooted in the cultural realities of Nigeria’s South-South region to an international audience. When you imagine people watching this film far from the world in which it was made, what does that moment mean to you, and what do you hope they recognize in Ejiro’s story?
Chinazaekpere Chukwu: It means a great deal to me, especially because this is my first feature film. I made a story rooted in the cultural realities of the South-South region of Nigeria, and I’m excited about the possibility of people encountering that world through Ejiro.
I think one of the beautiful things about cinema is that it allows us to enter lives that are different from our own and still find something familiar in them. The cultural context of Ejiro’s story may be specific, but I believe the questions she is navigating are not. Questions about womanhood, marriage, motherhood, freedom, and the things we sacrifice to belong to a family are not exclusive to one place or culture.
I hope audiences connect with Ejiro as a person, beyond the circumstances that define her, and leave with a little more curiosity about her life and the lives of women whose stories they may never have encountered otherwise.
Her Daughters’ Mother is directed by Chinazaekpere Chukwu and stars Ejovwoke Obad Olikuntuyi, Osas Okonyon and Philip Asaya. The film is scheduled to screen at Film Africa 2026 in London on October 28.
