Nigerian super-producer Mo Abudu returns to the red carpet at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival this week, where “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,” premiering in the TIFF Centrepiece strand, marks the fifth official selection in Toronto for her EbonyLife Films production banner. Based on Lola Shoneyin’s 2010 debut novel, which was later adapted for the stage, the film is set within a seemingly harmonious polygamous household anchored by Baba Segi, a wealthy patriarch with three wives, seven children and a carefully maintained family order.
That order is overturned with the arrival of his youngest wife, Bolanle, unsettling the fragile balance within the household and setting into a motion of series of revelations that expose long-buried secrets, hidden betrayals and truths capable of destroying the family forever. Directed by Daniel Oriahi — last seen at the Tribeca Film Festival with the 2024 thriller “The Weekend” — the film stars Odunlade Adekola, Iyabo Ojo, Mercy Aigbe, Bimbo Ademoye and Omowunmi Dada, with a supporting cast that includes Nkechi Blessing, Bimbo Manuel, Bisola Aiyeola, Olarotimi Fakunle, Constance Olatunde and Maleek Sanni. It’s produced by EbonyLife Films, the film strand of Abudu’s EbonyLife Group, in partnership with Genesis Media Group, Nile Media Entertainment Group, Silverbird Group and Flytime Entertainment.
Speaking to Variety from Lagos, where the Nigerian mogul was preparing to fly to Paris to speak at the Lumière Summit, Abudu discussed the motivation behind the big-screen adaptation of Shoneyin’s debut novel, describing it as “a study of the consequences of the decisions we take as women.” “[The film] really delves into the lives of the women,” she said. Polygamy is real in this society, and I think the characters are extremely relatable,” she said. He returns to Toronto 10 years after debuting “Taxi Driver: Oko Ashewo,” an action comedy produced by EbonyLife Films.
After premiering in Toronto, where Abudu will also join production and distribution veteran Moses Babatope, of the Nile Media Entertainment Group, for a session on the global success of the Nigerian film industry at the inaugural TIFF market, “Baba Segi’s Wives” will continue on to the BFI London Film Festival, where it plays in the Journey strand. From there, the film will open in cinemas across Nigeria in December, marking the first EbonyLife theatrical release since 2019, with the company spending much of the intervening period producing films and TV series for Netflix, which inked a multi-title deal with Abudu’s outfit in 2020. The company’s most recent production, “Blood Sisters 2,” dropped on the streamer in June and has remained on the top 10 in Nigeria ever since.
With “Baba Segi’s Wives,” however, Abudu said the time was right to return to the big screen.
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