Twelve years ago, James Omokwe walked into Nigerian cinemas with ‘Awakening’, a supernatural thriller born of youthful ambition. With a modest budget and little publicity, it flopped, leaving him in debt and out of options. “I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of distribution,” he now admits. But the lesson about how unforgiving the cinema is stuck.
Now, Omokwe is back with ‘Osamede’, an epic tale rooted in the 1897 invasion of the Benin Empire, threaded with myth and fantasy. From its first teaser, the film announced itself as a cultural event; it is a glimpse into Benin’s past and Omokwe’s redemption story.
“I’m no longer scared of the numbers,” he tells Nollywire. “I know Osamede will make its money back. That’s the confidence I didn’t have with my first film.”
James Omokwe’s Long Road to Redemption
After ‘Awakening’, Omokwe shifted his focus to television, directing series like Africa Magic’s ‘Ajoche’ and ‘Diiche’ on Showmax. TV became both a workshop and a safety net, giving him space to refine his style. Still, the call of cinema never faded.
That call grew louder through Lilian Olubi, the executive producer who first staged ‘Osamede’ at Muson Centre and later pushed to bring it to film. As Nollywire reported, she rallied resources, shielded the production through near-disasters, including a near-kidnapping during location scouting, and held firm that the story had to be told at cinematic scale.
Omokwe insists he didn’t want to be boxed in as “the epic guy”. Yet epic stories sought him. With ‘Osamede’, he leaned into it fully. “I am a griot,” he says, framing himself as a custodian of African myth. “These stories are mine to tell.”
That ownership shaped everything, from casting actors to letting performances breathe instead of leaning on overacting and giving the film the cinematic gloss that matched his global vision.
The project also broadened who gets centre stage, with Ivie Okujaye leading the film and the Benin Empire as its backdrop.
The production itself was its own crucible. The actors were immersed in the world with little room for error, learning Bini dialects on the fly, performing gruelling battle sequences, and inhabiting roles with an intensity that blurred into lived experience.
For William Benson, who plays Iyase, the journey carried personal stakes. In an earlier interview, he spoke about years of feeling invisible in Nollywood. The film has quickly become another professional breakthrough.
Omokwe’s own commitment bordered on obsession. He says he has watched the final cut of ‘Osamede’ more than 35 times, an exercise he says was more about feeling than about fixing mistakes. “If a moment doesn’t move me, I know it won’t move the audience,” he explains.
Already, ‘Osamede’ is reaching beyond Nigeria. After its showcase at Cannes, the film has been selected for the Silicon Valley African Film Festival, part of its journey through the international circuit. As Nollywire noted in its first look, what began as a stage play rooted in Edo history has become a work of global mythmaking.
What makes ‘Osamede’ remarkable is not only its scale but also the personal arc it carries for its director. This is the film that allows James Omokwe to step out from the shadow of his first failure and claim a space on the world stage.
“The first time, I was just trying to prove I could make a film,” he reflects. “This time, I know who I am, I know the story I want to tell, and I know the world is ready for it.”
James Omokwe is making an audacious statement in his return to the big screen as ‘Osamede’ begins showing in cinemas on October 17, 2025.
You can get early tickets for ‘Osamede’ here.
