By Ayo Onikoyi
Award-winning filmmaker and AMVCA winner, Ekene Som Mekwunye, is entering into new artistic territory along with his newest movie Ewo, in partnership with Saidi Balogun and Fulfilment Fuchi Nwaturuoch. The movie, a culturally wealthy Yoruba-language epic is. set to debut in cinemas throughout Nigeria on July 18, 2025.
In a daring transfer that bridges ethnic and linguistic divides, Mekwunye, an Igbo filmmaker, takes the directorial reins of a deeply Yoruba story—a feat he describes as each “pure” and deeply private.
On the coronary heart of Ewo is a compelling story of loss, taboo, and cultural reckoning. The movie tells the story of a kingdom thrown into chaos after its king dies and the queen absconds along with his corpse. The dominion should get better the physique earlier than sundown to carry out sacred rites and crown a successor—or face a dreaded ancestral curse.
Mekwunye reveals that the story was impressed by real-life occasions surrounding the dying of Oba Lipede, the Alake of Egbaland, in 2005. “It was mentioned that his youngest spouse fled along with his corpse,” he remembers. “I got here throughout this account about ten years in the past and it merely wouldn’t go away my head. By 2018, I began engaged on the remedy and wrote the screenplay afterwards.”
The movie’s title, Ewo, that means “taboo” in Yoruba, encapsulates the cultural and religious weight of the story. In response to Mekwunye, the queen’s alleged actions violated Yoruba royal customs, which maintain {that a} king’s physique, upon dying, turns into the collective heritage of the ancestors and the folks—not private property. The incident sparked deep religious fears, difficult the legitimacy of succession and symbolizing a broader cultural battle between custom and fashionable spiritual practices.
“This conflict between Christianity and conventional beliefs,” Mekwunye says, “raised questions concerning the erosion of cultural values in a modernizing society.”
A Solid Steeped in Language and Heritage
To convey the movie’s imaginative and prescient to life, Mekwunye assembled a star-studded forged of a few of Nollywood’s most interesting, together with Bimbo Ademoye, Ademola Adedoyin, Moyo Lawal, Taiwo ‘Ogogo’ Hassan, Saidi Balogun, Jaiye Kuti, Tina Mba, Akin Lewis, Yinka Quadri, Dele Odule, Kunle Coker, and Osareme Inegbenebor.
The casting was intentional. “I wanted actors who not solely spoke Yoruba fluently however might embody its emotional depth, cadence, and cultural resonance,” he explains. “These had been characters who wanted to really feel actual, timeless, and spiritually grounded.”
The movie was co-produced by Saidi Balogun and Fulfilment Fuchi Nwaturuocha, with cinematography by Richmond Amechi. Mekwunye himself wrote and directed the mission.
An Igbo Man’s Love Letter to Yoruba Tradition
Directing a Yoruba movie as an Igbo man could appear uncommon to some, however for Mekwunye, the expertise was instinctive. “Movie speaks in feelings, not simply language,” he says. “This story wanted to be instructed in Yoruba as a result of it breathes in that language—it lives in its proverbs, rhythm, and ancestral weight.”
Mekwunye’s connection to Yoruba tradition is way from superficial. “My mom has lived in Lagos most of her life and speaks Yoruba fluently. I additionally converse it, and I’ve lived in Lagos all my life. I’m married to a Yoruba lady—we’ve been collectively for practically 14 years. So this didn’t really feel international. It felt like coming residence.”
He believes deeply within the significance of preserving language in storytelling: “Ẹ̀dá tí a kò bá sọ ní ede rẹ̀, ẹnìkan ò ní mọ̀ pé ó wà,” he says—a Yoruba proverb that means “A creation not instructed in its personal language could by no means be actually recognized to exist.”
Bold Manufacturing with a Objective
With a funds of over ₦200 million, Ewo was no small endeavor. Pre-production spanned 5 months and concerned detailed casting, location scouting in Abeokuta, and genuine cultural analysis. Principal images was accomplished over two intense weeks in October 2024, adopted by six months of post-production.
Mekwunye describes the manufacturing course of as rigorous but fulfilling, aimed toward creating not only a film, however a cultural artifact.
Because the July launch date approaches, Ewo guarantees to ship greater than leisure—it provides a profound journey into Yoruba heritage via the lens of a filmmaker who, whereas not born of the tradition, has embraced and honored it with respect and cinematic mastery.
With Ewo, Ekene Som Mekwunye doesn’t simply cross cultural boundaries—he dissolves them, reminding us that storytelling, at its greatest, is a bridge that connects us all.
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