Turning Paris into Lagos
Imagine turning Paris into Lagos for a whole week. That doesn’t sound like a regular occurrence, right? Here’s what happened! From May 7 to 11, 2025, film lovers gathered at Cinéma l’Arlequin for the NollywoodWeek Film Festival. But beyond the red carpets and movie screenings were the conversations: the laughter, the mentorship, and the creative energy that lingered long after the final credits rolled. Nollywood in Paris arrived as a joyful takeover.
Festival Lineup: Features & Shorts
The festival vibe? Diverse and Bold. With 11 feature films and 7 shorts, the lineup offered something for every mood, ranging from bold dramas to light-hearted stories and pieces that questioned society in unexpected ways. Features like After 30, Blackout, The Fire and the Moth, The Weekend, Trade by Bata, For Amina, Out of Darkness, Soft Love, and The Dog had audiences in a buzz. Shorts like 1992 and Cut Me If You Can proved that fresh voices are the ones shaping the future.
Damilola Adegbite still: After 30 — Image Credit: NollywoodWeek.
Industry Voices: Intentionality & Change
Here’s where the heart of it all lies: NollywoodWeek isn’t just about watching films, it’s about connecting filmmakers, audiences, and languages. In an article published by Akoroko Co-founder Nadira Shakur reflected:
“There was this huge disconnect between the cultural appetite of African diasporic audiences in France and what the cinemas were actually offering. We felt like it was really lacking, like we were being ignored, and not subtly.”
It wasn’t just nostalgia or solidarity at play; it was intentionality and deliberate efforts. This year, Co-founder Serge Noukoué, admitted:
“We’re in a period of reevaluation… The industry has changed. Streaming changed it. COVID changed it. The audience has changed. So now the question is, what does NollywoodWeek even mean?”
With its blend of traditional features and innovative storytelling, Nollywood in Paris showed how Nollywood travels and transforms audiences abroad. In an article published in RFI, Noukoué corroborated this:
“…The continent, and Nigeria in particular, is at the cutting edge of these new ways of telling stories.”
In a conversation with a French culture outlet, Artistikrezo, Noukoué highlighted the impact domestic productions are making in the diaspora and how they are changing the narrative. In his words,
“We are at the opposite of the misérabilist narratives still too often associated with this continent. The positive, yet not naïve, approach we have is intentional… we see its impact every edition.”
The Off-Camera Magic
For many, the off-camera moments mattered most. Imagine sitting next to a veteran on the train, trading tips over the best local croissants; that’s the kind of atmosphere this festival creates. It isn’t performance, it’s proximity. That sense of connection stayed well beyond the final screening.
Filmmakers, veterans and audiences connecting off-camera at NollywoodWeek 2025. Photo: Courtesy NollywoodWeek
Independent, Community-Led & Enduring
Over its 12 editions, Nollywood Week has remained independent, not funded by public arts programs, but carried by vision and community. In a post-festival conversation with Akoroko, Noukoué put it simply:
“We’re still here because people don’t have access to these films anywhere else.”
Leaving with Momentum
The best part? You don’t leave NollywoodWeek with just memories. You leave with momentum. Because when stories travel and conversations start, something shifts, for filmmakers, audiences, and culture itself.
That’s how, for one week, Paris became Lagos, and the magic is that everyone who was there will carry a piece of it home.
