17 Female Filmmakers in Nigeria Shaping Nollywood Today

Published: September 21, 2026 Last Updated 13 hours ago by Evelyn Adenike

Nollywood has never been short of women with impact. What has changed is how many of those women now have the power to decide how those stories reach the screen.

The modern Nigerian film industry is being shaped by women working across different parts of filmmaking.

Some direct their own films. Others produce projects, build production companies, write screenplays, or create new ways for audiences to find Nigerian stories. Their approaches differ, but the influence of Nigerian female filmmakers is visible across cinemas, streaming platforms, and digital film distribution.

The Box Office has also become an important part of this story. 

Women such as Funke Akindele and Omoni Oboli have built substantial commercial careers as producers and directors, while filmmakers such as Jade Osiberu and Kemi Adetiba have developed distinctive approaches to genre, visual style, and storytelling. 

At the same time, producers including Mo Abudu, Zulumoke Oyibo and Feyifunmi Oginni have helped move Nigerian projects through increasingly ambitious production and distribution structures.

Then there are filmmakers working in spaces that do not always receive the same attention.

Ruth Kadiri has built a significant YouTube film audience. Laju Iren has also developed an independent faith-based film company and distribution model. 

Together, these women show how broad the definition of filmmaking in Nollywood has become.

If you’re curious to know, as we are, here are 18 female filmmakers in Nollywood whose work and careers are contributing to the industry’s changing landscape.

Funke Akindele has built one of the most commercially significant filmmaking careers in contemporary Nollywood.

Her work extends beyond acting into writing, producing, and directing, with films including Omo Ghetto: The Saga, Battle on Buka Street, A Tribe Called Judah, and Everybody Loves Jenifa.

She directed Omo Ghetto: The Saga alongside JJC Skillz and co-directed A Tribe Called Judah with Adeoluwa Owu. The Nollywood star also produced Battle on Buka Street and A Tribe Called Judah.

Akindele’s commercial record has made her particularly significant to the Nigerian cinema conversation.

Everybody Loves Jenifa became the highest-grossing Nigerian film during its record-breaking 2024–25 theatrical run, while A Tribe Called Judah and Battle on Buka Street also recorded major box-office runs. 

The Nollywood female filmmaker’s career demonstrates how an actress can build substantial creative and commercial control behind the camera.

Mo Abudu (Mosunmola Abudu) occupies an unusual position in African filmmaking because her influence extends beyond individual films. 

As founder and CEO of EbonyLife Media, she has built a production and media company that develops African stories for local and international audiences.

EbonyLife’s production slate has included film and television projects developed with international partners.

Her international partnerships have included Netflix, Sony Pictures, BBC Studios and other major entertainment companies.

Netflix announced a multi-title partnership with Abudu and EbonyLife in 2020 covering Nigerian original series and film projects, while Sony Pictures and BBC Studios later entered development arrangements with the company. 

Abudu’s contribution therefore lies as much in building production infrastructure and international pathways for Nigerian stories as in individual screen credits.

Jade Osiberu has become one of the prominent writer-director-producers working in contemporary Nigerian cinema.

She founded Greoh Studios and has written, directed, and produced projects including Isoken, Sugar Rush, Brotherhood and Gangs of Lagos. 

Her work often places contemporary Nigerian settings and social realities at the centre of commercially accessible genre films.

Gangs of Lagos was particularly significant for her career.

Osiberu wrote, directed and produced the 2023 crime film, which became the first Nigerian Amazon Original film to premiere on Prime Video.

Greoh Studios subsequently entered a three-year deal with Amazon to develop and produce scripted series and feature films, giving Osiberu a larger platform for developing Nigerian stories for streaming audiences.

Bolanle Austen-Peters has spent years moving between theatre and film, bringing that experience into a distinctive body of screen work. 

She founded Terra Kulture and BAP Productions and has directed and produced films including The Bling Lagosians, Collision Course, Man of God, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and House of Ga’a. Austen-Peters’ work frequently engages Nigerian history, culture, social class and political life.

The Nollywood filmmaker’s background in theatre remains an important part of her filmmaking identity.

Large-scale production design, period settings and performances have featured prominently across her projects, including the historical drama Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.

Through BAP Productions, Austen-Peters continues to develop work across both film and theatre, making her one of the filmmakers connecting different parts of Nigeria’s performance industry.

Zulumoke Oyibo is a producer, director, and media executive best known as a co-founder of Inkblot Productions. 

Since the company’s founding in 2010, she has produced and executive-produced Nigerian films and television projects, including The Wedding Party, The Set Up, and other Inkblot titles.

Oyibo has also moved behind the camera as a director.

Her feature directorial debut, The Betrayed, was released in 2024 as a psychological thriller. Oyibo’s career therefore reflects an important part of modern Nollywood: a producer who helps build the film business while also developing a creative voice as a director. 

The Nollywood filmmaker also founded Inkblot Women in Film, an initiative focused on mentorship and visibility for women working in the industry.

Kemi Adetiba is one of Nollywood’s most recognisable director-producers, with a visual style that has become closely associated with large-scale contemporary Nigerian cinema. 

She directed The Wedding Party, King of Boys, and King of Boys: The Return of the King, and also wrote and produced King of Boys.

Adetiba’s work has also extended into television.

In 2025, the Nollywood filmmaker created, wrote, produced, and directed the Netflix crime series To Kill a Monkey, taking the same level of creative control she established with the King of Boys franchise into an eight-part series. 

Her career has been built around strong visual identities, genre filmmaking and a willingness to give ambitious Nigerian productions a distinctly cinematic scale.

Biodun Stephen has built a filmmaking career around stories that are often intimate, character-driven, and emotionally accessible.

She works as a writer, director, and producer, with credits including Breaded Life, Sista, and A Simple Lie. 

Stephen has also continued to develop films through her production work rather than limiting herself to one role on a project. 

Her films have found audiences across cinema and streaming platforms. Breaded Life, which she wrote, directed and co-produced, became one of her better-known projects, while Sista continued her interest in relationship and family-centred drama. 

Stephen’s body of work is a reminder that the changing Nigerian film industry is not only being defined by large box-office spectacles. Smaller, character-focused productions also have a place in the country’s expanding film ecosystem.

Blessing Uzzi is a film producer whose recent work has placed her firmly within Nollywood’s expanding commercial production space. 

She produced Call of My Life, a 2026 romantic drama released in Nigerian cinemas and later taken to selected UK cinemas. The film was produced under Bluhouse Studios and directed by Dammy Twitch.

Uzzi’s role on Call of My Life is particularly notable because producing a feature involves much more than attaching a name to a project. The producer works across financing, production coordination, talent, and the practical demands of getting a finished film to audiences. 

With Call of My Life receiving an international theatrical release, Uzzi’s work illustrates the growing opportunities for Nigerian producers to think beyond the domestic market.

Nwamaka Chikezie made her feature directorial debut with To Adaego With Love, a historical romance set in Nigeria in 1975.

The film follows a soldier and a schoolteacher from opposing ethnic groups whose relationship develops against the backdrop of a country still dealing with the consequences of the civil war.

The project required Chikezie to recreate a specific period in Nigerian history while keeping the emotional story accessible to a contemporary audience.

Her work on the film has already earned recognition, including two directing prizes at the 2026 DGN Awards. 

With a feature debut rooted in Nigerian history rather than contemporary urban life, Chikezie represents another direction in which the country’s female filmmakers are expanding the kinds of stories reaching the screen.

Feyifunmi Oginni has become an increasingly visible producer in Nigeria’s commercial film sector.

Her credits include Soólè, Obara’M, Ajosepo, Shina, and The Herd, placing her across both theatrical and streaming projects. 

She was the producer of Ajosepo and Shina, with the latter released exclusively on Netflix.

Oginni’s career also demonstrates how much of Nollywood’s growth happens away from the director’s chair.

Producers determine how projects are assembled, financed, managed, and delivered, and Oginni has worked across films with different genres, production scales, and distribution models. 

Her involvement in both cinema releases and Netflix projects reflects the increasingly varied routes Nigerian films can take to audiences.

Ruth Kadiri has helped establish YouTube as a serious distribution route for Nigerian film audiences.

A screenwriter, producer, and actress, she built the RuthKadiri247 channel into a major digital platform for Nigerian films, creating a direct relationship between her productions and online viewers.

Her importance goes beyond the number of films she releases.

Kadiri has used digital distribution to create opportunities for emerging actors and filmmakers while developing a production model built around frequent releases and direct audience access. 

She has also expanded beyond YouTube, with Alaye marking a move to Prime Video. The Nollywood actress’s career shows how Nollywood’s definition of a successful film business has expanded beyond cinema screens.

Omoni Oboli’s transition from acting into writing, directing, and producing has made her another important example of creative ownership in Nollywood. 

She has directed films including Being Mrs Elliott, Wives on Strike, Okafor’s Law, The First Lady and Moms at War, building a career that spans comedy, family drama and social themes.

Her work has also extended into production and direct-to-audience distribution. Oboli has used her own platforms and production structures to develop and release projects, giving her greater control over the stories she brings to audiences. 

The Nigerian filmmaker’s career reflects a wider shift in Nollywood, where established actors increasingly move behind the camera and become producers and directors in their own right.

Laju Iren, also known as The Lord’s Storyteller, has built a distinct filmmaking space around faith-based and inspirational stories. 

As a writer, producer and filmmaker, she founded Laju Iren Films and developed a catalogue that includes Loving Amanda, Japa Ever After, Last To Marry, and Onobiren: A Woman’s Story.

Her production company describes itself as an independent filmmaking company focused on inspirational stories.

Iren’s approach to distribution is another important part of her career.

The filmmaker pioneered a virtual cinema model in 2022, creating a way for filmmakers to sell films directly to audiences, while her company has continued to distribute projects through cinemas, YouTube, and streaming platforms. 

Onobiren, her first cinema feature, was written by her and executive-produced through Laju Iren Films, with Famous Odion Iraoya directing.

The film was released in Nigerian and Ghanaian cinemas in March 2026 and received nominations at the International Christian Film and Music Festival, including Best Foreign Film, which it won, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Sound Score.

She continues to redefine Nollywood using faith-based movies and cinematic storytelling.

Iyabo Ojo has worked across acting and film production for more than two decades, building Fespris Production as part of her move behind the camera. 

She began producing films in the early 2000s and has developed projects across the Yoruba-language film space and the wider Nigerian industry.

Her production work has continued into more recent projects, including Labake Olododo, which was produced through a collaboration involving Fespris Production, Abazee Productions, Alaba Ultimate and FilmOne. 

Ojo’s career reflects the importance of indigenous-language filmmaking within Nollywood and the way established performers can build production companies that give them greater influence over the projects they create and release.

Wumi Toriola has expanded from acting into film production, building her own production outfit while continuing to appear on screen. 

Her producing credits include several Yoruba-language projects, and she was one of the producers behind Gingerrr, the 2025 action thriller directed by Yemi Morafa.

Gingerrr brought together Toriola, Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori (KieKie), Bisola Aiyeola and Bolaji Ogunmola as producers, giving the project a notable group of women involved in shaping it behind the scenes. 

The film also had a substantial theatrical run before reaching Netflix, where it later topped the Nigerian Top 10 film chart.

Toriola’s move into production adds another dimension to her career beyond performing.

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde’s filmmaking career represents a recent expansion of one of Nollywood’s most established screen careers. 

In 2026, she made her directorial debut with Mother’s Love, a drama inspired by true events and centred on motherhood, privilege, identity and resilience. She also produced the film.

The project gave Jalade-Ekeinde creative control over a story she wanted to tell after decades as an actress. 

Mother’s Love was released in Nigerian cinemas in March 2026, marking a new phase of her career behind the camera.

Her move into directing demonstrates that filmmaking careers in Nollywood can evolve well beyond acting, with established performers taking on greater responsibility for developing and shaping their own projects.

Mildred Okwo is one of the established female film directors and producers in Nigerian cinema. 

Her directing career includes 30 Days, The Meeting, Suru L’Ère, and La Femme Anjola, while she has also worked as a producer and helped establish The Audrey Silva Company.

The Meeting became one of the notable Nigerian box-office releases of 2012 and received several awards and nominations.

Okwo’s filmmaking has also covered very different genres. 

La Femme Anjola, released in 2021, was a psychological film noir set between Lagos and Cape Town, a significant departure from the romantic comedy of The Meeting.

The Nollywood filmmaker’s long career behind the camera makes her an important part of the generation of Nigerian women who helped establish directing and producing as viable long-term creative careers.

The story of women in Nigeria’s Nollywood is no longer limited to the women appearing in front of the camera.

These powerhouses are directing films, financing productions, building studios, writing scripts, producing for cinemas and streaming platforms, and creating new ways to reach audiences.

Some have built their careers over decades, while others are entering filmmaking through digital media, independent production, or a move from acting into directing.

Nollywood is becoming a larger, more varied movie industry, and the women working behind the scenes are helping shape what that future looks like.

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