We talked to Olive Nwosu about her directorial debut Lady [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Olive Nwosu
scheda film], the story of a female cab driver, set in Nigeria. The film was presented in Berlinale’s Panorama section, after its world premiere at Sundance in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, where it won the Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble.

Cineuropa: You describe Lady as a return to the city that raised you. What did you rediscover about Lagos in the process of making this film - something you had forgotten or simply came to see in a different way?
Olive Nwosu: I found two things. The first question, when I went back to Lagos, was really about wanting to understand its underbelly, because I grew up in a middle-class gated community and my parents were very fearful. As an adult, I wanted to explore and investigate those streets, to understand who was there and why we were afraid. What I found was something beautiful, because I just found people. A big part of the origin of Lady comes from discovering women like Lady herself, who seem so outwardly aggressive and tough, and from trying to find out what lies beneath that surface and what drives the choices she makes. The same questions apply to the sex workers. There’s a discovery of the sense of freedom that exists when you’ve broken all the rules. It’s a precarious life, the system has forgotten you, but you form your own place and sense of community, and there’s something beautiful in that. There’s also the discovery of the agency many of the young women I met have, a complexity that I found brilliant. The second part was about how Lagos is changing; it's like any modern city and it's changing very rapidly. When we were doing a scout for locations and found a beach that we thought was perfect. One week later, I brought my cinematographer there; and the ocean was gone. They were filling the coastline to build big skyscrapers, which shows how quickly the city is changing. It’s gentrifying and communities are being moved; the film shows that aspect of society too.

You reframe the classical Hero’s Journey into a “Heroine’s Journey”. Could you elaborate on this? What were your inspirations for this?
I was looking at films that were about different kinds of cities and youthful energy, and they were almost all from a male perspective: Taxi Driver, La Haine, Do the Right Thing and others. Taxi Driver was the biggest reference for me, with Travis Bickle saving the sex worker in that final scene. I love Scorsese, but he has this very manly approach, he goes in and shoots them down. In film school you’re taught the Hero’s Journey as the prototype; leaving home, fighting the enemy, coming back - with someone always winning. I wanted to tell a story with that same youthful energy, but about women and a city. I felt that, rather than being linear, it’s cyclical. Lady’s choice to give the money away, to stay and find a community, reflects that. Her journey is about connection and what happens when you let down your guard and care. Regarding feminine inspirations, I watched Beanpole [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] a lot while working on this film. Céline Sciamma is also a big reference in that sense - I really love what she's able to do with her female characters.

You spent months speaking with sex workers in Lagos. What did those conversations teach you that research alone never could?
The fact that they’re so funny and that there’s a real sense of camaraderie among them. These are women who have done everything together, know each other intimately, get dressed together, drink together, meet men together, sometimes have sexual intercourse together. Once you have that, there’s no filter at all. I think there's something we can learn from those spaces about care, sisterhood and lack of judgment. But also the precarity of their stories; they are women faced with impossible decisions, making what feels like the right choice at a very young age, without role models to guide them. There's a lot of deep pain too, alongside the strength that it takes to do that work. There’s a story I don’t often tell: a woman once told me how many men she has to be with each night to pay her rent, and it was an astonishing number. I found speaking with them deeply moving, while also being in awe of their strength.”

Is there anything new you’re working on?
I'm working on an adaptation with House Production - which I'm really loving - but I can't really say very much about it. I am also working on a dark comedy with BBC Film. It is about a Nigerian politician who invites a British political strategist back to Nigeria to help him win an election. It will look at masculinity through Nigerian lenses, as well as ambition, and male connection. Finally, I'm working on a romance set between the UK and Nigeria called The Return.