Nigerian filmmaker Damilola Orimogunje is set to premiere his second feature film, Dear Ajayi, at the 2026 Venice Film Festival next week.
The film will screen as part of the Giornate degli Autori, the festival’s parallel section dedicated to independent and auteur-driven cinema. Dear Ajayi marks the first Nigerian film to compete in the section.
Set in 1990s Southwestern Nigeria, the film follows sisters Ade and Titi Ajayi, whose contrasting personalities and choices bring long-standing family tensions to the surface.
Ade, a devout Christian and the family’s sole breadwinner, struggles to understand her younger sister Titi, an aspiring singer whose independent spirit challenges traditional expectations. Their already complicated relationship becomes more strained when their ailing mother moves in with them, forcing the sisters to confront unresolved grief, faith, ambition and the fragile ties that bind them.
Through intimate domestic settings, music and visual art, Dear Ajayi explores family, sacrifice, identity and the search for freedom and purpose. The sisters’ individual choices gradually affect not only their own futures but also those of the people around them.
Orimogunje directed the film from his own screenplay. He previously made his feature debut with For Maria Ebun Pataki (2020), which premiered at Film Africa London and won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.
As a producer, Orimogunje has also worked on All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White (2023), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Teddy Award for Best Feature.
Dear Ajayi is produced by 2O9INE Films, with Mayana Films, Depth and Optics Productions, and Zynox Productions serving as co-producers. Luminalia is handling worldwide sales for the film.
The film’s Venice premiere further places Orimogunje and a new generation of Nigerian filmmakers on the international festival circuit.
