The Ake Book and Arts Festival officially kicked off on Thursday the 24th with mostly workshops and community outreach events. Friday is when all the goodies lined up on the program begins.

There are going to be tons of literary celebrities on all kinds of amazing panels. But one event you should not miss is the screening of Bolaji Kekere-Ekun’s Call Me By My Name. Why? Because it is a mammy water story, and mammy water stories are the best—mythology meets suspense meets thriller.

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Call Me By My Name tells the story of a man who is haunted by something he cannot quite name until he meets a woman who seems to share a mysterious connection with him.The film draws a lot from the mammy water mythology and was inspired, in part, by Helen Oyeyemi’s The Opposite House. It features great performances by rising stars Nengi Adoki, Demi Banwo and Segilola Ogidan and an award winning crew. 

There will be two screenings of the film. The first one is on Friday the 26th at 1:30 and on Sunday the 28th at 5pm. Side note: Bolaji Kekere-Ekun, the brilliant director of the film, also has a panel along side the lovely Sade Adeniran and Gordon Napier on Saturday the 27th at 3:30pm.

Film Details

Title Call Me By My Name (20 minutes)

Director Bolaji Kekere-Ekun

Starring Nengi Adoki, Demi Banwo, Segilola Ogidan

Producer Edith Nwekenta

Cinematography Adekunle ‘Nodash” Adejuyigbe

Music Composer Ré Olunuga