Phyllis (2011)
Phyllis is a moving and atmospheric portrait of a ‘psychic’ vampire, a woman obsessed with synthetic Nollywood dramas, that lives alone in Lagos, Nigeria. The central idea of this short experimental film is the practise and significance of wig-wearing in Nollywood film; a practise the director has invested with deeper psychological as well as science-fiction layers. Underpinning this central idea however is a critique of the unforgiving treatment of single women in Nollywood and Nigeria. The film is an example of what the director, Zina Saro-Wiwa, has termed “alt-Nollywood”, a genre that plays with and reworks certain narrative, stylistic and visual conventions of Nollywood. Phyllis explores the gothic possibilities of the Nollywood aesthetic creating a new kind of low-budget atmospheric film that is very much of Nollywood and yet subverts the genre. Using Nollywood to subvert Nollywood.
Director: Zina Saro-Wiwa
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Olushola Adeyinka as Phyllis |
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Gboyega Babajide as Man on Staircase |
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Opeyemi Fajemirokun as Victim |
| Directing | Zina Saro-Wiwa | Director |
| Editing | Ben Grinberg | Editor |
| Production | Zina Saro-Wiwa | Producer |
| Production | Opeyemi Fajemirokun | Associate Producer |
| Production | Sese Somolu | Producer |
| Writing | Zina Saro-Wiwa | Writer |
| Camera | Zina Saro-Wiwa | Director of Photography |
