Nigerian Cinema, Fall 2022

Join us for a three-part film series celebrating Nigerian cinema in honor of the special exhibition of sculptures by Nigerian artist Moshood Olúṣọmọ Bámigbóyè on view this fall in the Yale University Art Gallery. To commemorate Bámigbóyè’s 50-year career, the films focus on themes of migration, identity, and the legacy of historic artworks and tradition in Nigerian society.
Half of a Yellow Sun (2013, 111 min.)
Director: Biyi Bandele, based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Based on the eponymous novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Biyi Bandele’s film negotiates romantic, political, and ethnic fidelities and allegiances. Set in the 1960s against the backdrop of newly independent Nigeria, twin sisters from a wealthy family return to Lagos from their education abroad. While one plans to teach sociology in Nsukka, in the company of a revolutionary professor who she loves, the other takes over family business and falls unexpectedly for an English writer. The lives of these two sisters are intertwined with the Nigerian Civil War, which the film represents through archival footage.