After her first short film, Troublemaker, which pinpointed the traumas linked to the Biafra war in Nigeria, director Olive Nwosu returns with Egúngún ("Masquerade" in Yoruba, 15 minutes.) to question the place of sexual minorities in the public space in her country.



Londoner of Nigerian origin, Salewa returns to her homeland to attend the funeral of her mother. Even though one might think that this film in 4:3 (format which induces a more intimate atmosphere) only tells this decisive moment of her life, this trip will actually take a whole different turn.

At the end of this ceremony where she was physically present but spiritually absent, Salewa, embodied by Sheila Chukwulozie, wearing her bold head and a black suit contrasting with the colored clothes of the other women present, finally takes off her shoes and lights a cigarette, as if to put an end to the masquerade.

Fundamentally uprooted, a stranger in her own country and frightened by the crowd, she finally embarks on a journey towards her own existence, interspersed with memories from her childhood.

Played by Teniola Aledese, whose apparent vitiligo is actually just a make-up realised for the film, Ebun - a second character, a maid for Salewa's family - represents all those people who, in Nigeria, suffer from discrimination and social ostracism.



A parallel editing puts the two women and their two worlds into perspective, in an almost caricatural way but with a remarkable modesty that follows the gazes and bodies. Beyond escape and melancholy, the blue of her clothing ultimately calls for loyalty, serenity.
Like the Egúngún, yoruba masks symbolizing the spirit of a dead person who returns to manifest itself to the living, Salewa is also, in reality, a "returning".

Laura Fortes (Senegal)

Article written as part of the Workshop Dakar Court Critic 2022 / FACC.
Training workshop in film criticism led by Olivier Barlet and Baba Diop, organized on the occasion of the 5th edition of the Dakar Court Festival by the Association Cinemarekk and the African Federation of Film Critics (FACC, Dakar).