All Roads Lead to Lagos: The Festac '77 Story

Historic FESTAC '77 city scene in Lagos

“For the first time since the Slave Trade, for the first time in 500 years,
the black family was together again, was whole again, was one again.”

—Ebony magazine, May 1977
Festival dancers raising their arms
Decorated festival boat on the water
Festival participants on horseback
Nigeria's delegation entering the stadium
Festival dancers in traditional dress

The
Story

Fifty years after FESTAC ’77 transformed Lagos into the epicenter of Pan-African creativity against all odds, our documentary retraces how one festival became a timeless testament to culture’s power.

With never-before-seen footage, interviews with key pioneers and contemporary docents, discover how FESTAC united, inspired, and reimagined a new Black world.

The
Crew

Olayinka Eno Babalola
Olayinka Eno BabalolaDirector

Olayinka Eno Babalola is a filmmaker and visual artist exploring the world around her through the moving image. Armed with a formal education in Visual Arts and an informal education in cinema from being a romance movie buff she approaches storytelling with a love for emotion and human connection, crafting films meant to resonate and move you. While her films explore a wide range of themes, from experimental to documentary, they remain tied together by her love for the people in them. As producer of projects like “Surf Ghana (as told by Sandy Alibo)”, and “A Study on Love” selected for Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Olayinka brings a sensitive, cinematic eye to the stories she tells.

Her most recent documentary, A King Displaced, highlighting the ongoing displacement of the indigenous Egun community in Lagos, Nigeria has garnered official selections at notable film festivals for multiple festivals such as Quibdo Africa Film Festival amongst others globally and attracted significant media attention from outlets such as Arise News, The Guardian and The Vanguard.

Beyond filmmaking, Olayinka teaches a film class within her local church to youth from under-resourced communities aiming to empower the next generation of story-tellers.

Morenike Adeagbo

Morenike Adeagbo

Executive Producer

Chisom Ilogu

Chisom Ilogu

Executive Producer

Oyindamola Johnson

Oyindamola Johnson

Associate Producer/Legal Counsel

Ifeoluwa Olutayo

Ifeoluwa Olutayo

Archival Producer

Chioma Onyenwe

Chioma Onyenwe

Line Producer

Achille Tenkiang

Achille Tenkiang

Associate Producer

Stay in
the Loop

We’re telling this story in a way that’s never been done
before and we’d love for you to be among the first to get
updates and insider info on the project!

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