'Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)', Co-Directed by Alumnus Arie Esiri '19, Screens As Part of MOMA’s New Directors/New Films Series

Eyimofe (This is My Desire), a feature film co-directed and co-written by alumnus Arie Esiri '19 and edited by alumnus Andrew Stephen Lee '18, will screen virtually from May 7 to 12, 2021 as part of the Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films series. The film, which Esiri co-directed with his brother Chuko, previously premiered at the Berlinale Forum in 2020.

Set in Lagos, Eyimofe follows the stories of Mofe, a factory technician, and Rosa, a hairdresser, on their quest for what they believe will be a better life on foreign shores. The characters’ misfortunes are part of their everyday life and they are sketching out the need to leave Nigeria at the same time. At the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, status, money, gender, skin color and family structures are inextricably connected. The longing for another life is but one thread in this complex mesh, a promise that floats above things at once near and far.

Finding photography in Paris, Esiri honed his craft before returning to England where he worked in the camera departments of a number of projects ranging from Audi to Vivienne Westwood and the BBC. In the work of Vittorio De Sica, Esiri found a form of storytelling that could give voice to the long neglected tales of the average Nigerian. He has a Master's of Fine Arts from Columbia University in New York. While there, he continued to collaborate with his brother Chuko, co-directing their short Goose, which played at the 2017 LA Film Festival and produced Besida, an official selection at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival. He also produced Chika Anadu’s Amma and AFI Fest award winning feature B for Boy. His work as a director has been featured on Vogue and Essence.com. He is an IFP Narrative Lab Fellow who currently divides his time between Lagos and New York. Eyimofe is his first feature film.

Watch the trailer for Eyimofe below: