Big Cabal Media is proud to announce the upcoming release of Zikoko Life, a daring new anthology film series premiering in July, on YouTube.
Inspired by Zikoko’s acclaimed editorial franchises — Naira Life, Sex Life, and Love Life — this anthology brings to screen the intimate, emotional, and complex realities of Nigerian women navigating agency in a society that constantly asks them to shrink.
Created by Anita E. Eboigbe for Big Cabal Media and produced by Blessing Uzzi for BluHouse Studios, Zikoko Life is a visual universe built on the lived experiences Zikoko has long chronicled. “We wanted to expand Zikoko’s emotional universe and give these real-life truths the space they deserve that is cinematic, beautiful, and disruptive,” says Eboigbe.
The series includes three standalone films:
1. What’s Left of Us: When a married woman, Mariam, decides to stop having children, her entire world begins to unravel.
Starring: Caleb Richards (The Rishantes, Beyond the Veil), Tolu Asanu (Mr & Mrs Okoli) Directed by: Victor Daniel & Olamide Adio
Referencing Marriage Story and Revolutionary Road as inspirations, the directors portray the slow dissolution of a marriage but through the lens of Nigerian domestic politics. “We wanted to show how economic disparity often becomes a tool of control in marriages,” said Victor Daniel. “It’s also about body autonomy. What happens when a woman says no, even in marriage?”
2. My Body: A newlywed couple must unlearn everything they’ve been taught about sex, desire, and faith when they struggle to consummate their marriage.
Starring: Andrew Yaw Bunting (Princess on a Hill, Water & Garri), Uzoamaka Power (Mami Wata, MTV Shuga)
Directed by: Uzoamaka Power
I wanted to tell a story where a woman is seen, and understood, said Power. Too often we hear things like ‘she can just lie there and let him take it’ when people discuss sex in marriage. It’s exhausting. My Body imagines a way forward.
3. Something Sweet: A stable woman in her 40s falls for a younger man and opens the door for noise in her otherwise quiet life.
At its core, this film is about reminding women, especially older women, that love doesn’t end at a certain age, said Ofoma. You can still feel butterflies in your 40s. You can be desired, and you can choose.
I see these films as emotional time capsules that portray African women in ways that feel real and rotted. We have worked hard to make them our stories, not imported or idealised, Uzzi, the producer, said. These aren’t just films. They’re emotional time capsules,
Zikoko Life premieres in July on Zikoko’s YouTube channel.
