Moses Babatope led Nile Entertainment in acquiring the African distribution rights to ‘Son of the Soil’, the upcoming action drama led by British-Nigerian actor and producer Raz Adoti.
The film, developed by British genre label Action Xtreme and shot entirely in Nigeria, tells the story of a British-Nigerian orphan and ex-soldier who returns to his ancestral homeland to bury his dead sister, only to become entangled in a dangerous web of political corruption and personal reckoning. The role marks a return to leading-man territory for Adoti, whose credits include ‘Black Hawk Down’ and ‘Amistad’, and for whom this story represents something deeply personal: a reckoning with identity, legacy, and belonging.
Directed by Chee Keong Cheung (‘Redcon-1’) and produced by Cheung, Adoti, Andreas Roald, Ioanna Karavela , and Nigerian media executive Wingonia Ikpi, ‘Son of the Soil’ blends the kinetic language of action cinema with layered themes of postcolonial trauma and cultural reclamation, using the frame of a returning son to ask bigger questions about what it means to come home and what’s left when you do.
The cast is an ensemble of cross-industry and cross-generational talent. Alongside Adoti are some of Nollywood’s most recognisable names: Patience Ozokwor, Ireti Doyle and Toyin Oshinaike as well as rising stars like Damilola Ogunsi, Sharon Rotimi, Taye Arimoro, Sunshine Rosman, Philip Asaya, and Emeka Golden Their presence grounds the film in its Nigerian roots while reinforcing its transcontinental tone. The production was supported by Nigeria’s National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), whose involvement signals an unusual but welcome embrace of high-concept genre cinema as part of Nigeria’s global cultural export.
Nile Entertainment’s acquisition of African rights is the latest strategic move by the pan-African distributor, which was launched by former FilmOne executive Moses Babatope under the Nile Media Entertainment Group. Babatope, who helped shape the commercial cinema boom in Nigeria over the past decade, is now looking beyond the local multiplex, toward a more unified African film economy. With ‘Son of the Soil’, he sees an opportunity to push action-driven storytelling rooted in African identity to a broader audience across the continent.
“This film is exactly the kind of ambitious, high-production-value story that African audiences want and deserve,” Babatope told Variety. “It reflects our mission at Nile Entertainment to deliver cinema that is proudly African but globally accessible.”
For Adoti and his fellow producers, that access is key. Though ‘Son of the Soil’ was made with an international audience in mind, the story’s emotional centre lies squarely in Nigeria. That the character returns home to find not peace but confrontation—cultural, political, and spiritual—mirrors many diasporic journeys today. The film doesn’t shy away from interrogating the contradictions of that return: the allure of home versus the cost of it, the pride of one’s heritage against the rot that power can bring.
But it’s not just message-driven. Son of the Soil is very much an action movie, made in the tradition of muscular, character-led thrillers with tightly choreographed set pieces and stylised fight scenes.
This acquisition comes as Nile Media Entertainment Group is ramping up efforts to build a vertically integrated media company across Africa. The group has over 30 titles in development, including ‘The Uprising: Wives on Strike 3’, ‘The Artifact’ and an expanded theatrical slate.
In this context, ‘Son of the Soil’ is not just another film; it is a proof of concept. It shows what can happen when diaspora talent, African resources, and global film are brought together with purpose. It’s a model that might pave the way for future collaborations between Nollywood and genre producers abroad and one that points to an evolving definition of what African cinema can be.
With Nile Entertainment behind its release strategy, ‘Son of the Soil’ is expected to debut in cinemas across West, East, and Southern Africa later this year, with plans for a digital rollout to follow. Whether the film’s message will resonate as deeply as its punches land remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: this is not just another Nollywood film, and its arrival could very well shift expectations about what the continent’s industry is capable of, at home and abroad.
