British Council's Film Lab Africa Previews TABOO in London — SkimNews
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- Film Lab Africa, the British Council's Nigeria-based film and TV accelerator, hosted the TABOO preview screening during the London Film Festival at EbonyLife Place London in collaboration with T A P E Collective.
- TABOO comprises seven 20-minute episodes addressing cultural beliefs, identity, tradition, gender, family and mental health across contemporary African experiences.
- The seven Nigerian producers presented teasers to UK film industry professionals including distributors, sales agents, production companies and talent reps.
- "Hysteria" (Dimeji Ogunranti) tracks a Nigerian woman who seeks a hysterectomy to end hereditary fibroids and miscarriages, only to be haunted by a choir quartet that weaponises the taboo of a woman rejecting motherhood.
- "Where's The Gizzard?" (Aghogho 'Tega' Onobrakpeya) follows an Urhobo wife who allegedly eats the chicken gizzard reserved for the male head of household, forcing her to confront a patriarchal tradition the film frames as "oppression and control."
- "Something in The Blood" (Sally Kenneth Dadzie) centres on a prominent imam whose refusal to seek medical care for his mentally ill son — opting instead for "rigorous deliverance sessions" — leads to the boy's death, after which the father develops the same symptoms.
Why it matters: The preview gives seven Nigerian filmmakers direct, in-person access to UK distributors, sales agents and production companies — a concrete bridge to international acquisition that domestic distribution rarely provides. With three of seven episodes centring women's bodily autonomy (a hysterectomy, a contested gizzard, a sacred masquerade stolen by a grieving sister), the anthology is pitched less for local broadcast than for international buyers seeking African stories about gender, faith and tradition.
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