Why African Stories Are Losing Their Magic and What Must Change Now!

Nigerian filmmaker and creative director, Andy Amadi Okoroafor, has said that African stories often lack authenticity because Africans haven’t taken charge of designing their own future.

Speaking at the iREP International Documentary Film Festival, Okoroafor highlighted several reasons for this struggle—including Africa’s reliance on foreign film funding, the influence of American cinematic aesthetics, especially in Nollywood, and the limited time and research put into crafting meaningful films.

He stressed that designing the future—whether in film, art, or national identity—is how cultures create and preserve their unique value.

Referencing the film Relentless and the work of legendary filmmaker Tunde Kelani, Okoroafor explained what it means to design a cinematic future. “Kelani showed me you can make Yoruba films that aren’t just Yoruba films—they’re Kelani films,” he said.

“Designing is like painting,” he added. “If you have a design, you can master it. That’s what’s missing in African cinema—we haven’t decided what Nigerian film aesthetics should be.”

Okoroafor warned that chasing foreign funding limits creative freedom. Instead, he encouraged Africans to fund and support their own work—like China, which boosted its global influence by investing in its own art.

He also spoke against the emotional manipulation often found in American films. Drawing inspiration from French and Japanese cinema, Okoroafor said, “I don’t try to make viewers cry. I present people as they are, and let the viewer find the emotion and humanity themselves.”

Okoroafor recently completed a documentary on Nigeria’s renowned architect Demas Nwoko, co-produced with Ese Brume,