When a wealthy couple’s son dies suddenly at a high-profile Lagos party, it’s not just the fall that’s suspicious. The film ‘The Party’ opens with a tragedy that feels straightforward until it isn’t. What follows is a high-gloss spiral into grief, deceit, and secrets long buried under privilege and power. Directed by Yemi Morafa, written by Stephen Okonkwo, and produced by Judith Audu, Shileola Ibironke, and Ope Ajayi, ‘The Party’ is both an elegant murder mystery and a tightly wound domestic drama that dares to ask how far people will go to protect their own.
Starring Kunle Remi, Shaffy Bello, Kehinde Bankole, Segun Arinze, Femi Branch, Eva Ibiam, Bimbo Manuel, Kelechi Udegbe, and Ayoola Ayolola, the film is bursting with performances that balance Nollywood’s star power with emotional grit. Every frame looks expensive, but underneath the gloss is the ache of a family unravelling, led not just by loss but by suspicion.
Eva Ibiam, who plays the detective determined to crack the case, said the role hit her on multiple levels. “Reading the script, I realised that the detective was very, very important—there was no chance for me to slack,” she says. “It meant so much. From the perspective of the film, from the perspective of my life.” For Ibiam, who had to prove herself on a set filled with industry veterans, the role was a turning point. “My director hadn’t worked with me before, so I don’t know if he trusted me at first. But I think as we progressed through shooting, he saw me do work.”
The script itself was born out of collaboration. While the story idea came from producer Ope Ajayi, it was Stephen Okonkwo who sculpted it into the tense, layered screenplay we see today. “I connected first with the family aspect of it, the struggle between our main protagonist and his family,” he says. “I love family dynamics; I love to tell those kinds of stories. The crime aspect is something I’m comfortable with, but it’s the emotion, the grief, the betrayal that’s the heart of the story.” For Okonkwo, the murder is just the entry point. What matters more is how a mother mourns, how a marriage cracks, and how guilt moves like perfume through a crowded room.
Ajayi, who previously spent a decade at Genesis, came into this with a desire to do things differently. “We tried to make it deeply local but maintain all the elements of proper storytelling,” he explains. “If a mother loses a child in Africa, that plays out differently. There are things that happen here—rituals, suspicions, silences— that are very specific to our context.” For him, ‘The Party’ is about more than solving a mystery. It’s about telling a story that feels Nigerian, without compromising craft.
Getting that story seen, however, was a different battle. As Judith Audu puts it, “As a filmmaker, one of the things you want is to make a film and let people see it—not to make a film and then put it on your shelves.” In a market saturated with projects still searching for homes, getting The Party picked up by Netflix wasn’t just a win for the team—it was a win for the entire industry. “It means a lot, and I hope it does really well. Because when it does well, it opens doors for others.”
Audu also credits the film’s polish to the people behind the camera. “You can get all the A-list actors in the world, but if the crew cuts corners, it won’t come together,” she says. From director of cinematography Jonathan Kovel to art director Lekan Swanky and assistant director May Baker, the crew brought both technical precision and a refusal to compromise.
“I hope people enjoy everything,” Okonkwo says. “Because that was how it was designed.” ‘The Party’ is now streaming on Netflix.
