C. J. Obasi

Born in the small town of Owerri, Obasi grew up watching Hammer horror films, reading Stephen King novels and watching his adapted ffilms. From the young age of 3, he would watch classic films and his favorite superheroes and villains; recreating them in hand-drawn comic books.[3]

After attending the Government Secondary School, Owerri, C.J studied Computer Science at the University of Nigeria. In 2012, he set up Fiery Film Company, with his wife, the TV and film producer, Oge Obasi and the late screenwriter Benjamin Stockton.[4]

C.J.’s directorial debut came in 2014 with Ojuju; a zombie thriller film. The movie was screened in various festivals around the world, including the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Shockproof Film Festival in Prague, New Voices in Black Film Festival in New York, Nollywood Week Festival in Paris, Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Africa International Film Festival where it won the award of the Best Nigerian Film and others; garnering universal acclaim from the likes of internationally renowned critics such as Todd Brown of Twitch Film (now Screen Anarchy), Tambay A. Obenson of Shadow & Act, and Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter.[5] Remarkably, Ojuju is a zero budget movie.

His second film, O-Town, was released in 2015 to much critical acclaims. A crime thriller, O-Town, also written by C.J., tells the tale of a small town mired in crime. O-Town was inspired by Owerri, the place where C.J. was born.

In 2018, C.J. directed the film adaptation of Nnedi Okoroafor’s afrofuturistic short story Hello, Moto. The short film, Hello, Rain, stars Keira Hewatch as Rain, a scientist and witch.[6] In February 2017, Fiery Film Production optioned the short story and began production.[7]

It had its world premiere at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, on 6 May, 2018.[8]

Future project

In 2016, C.J. announced an upcoming movie titled Mami Wata; based on the popular African folklore on water spirit.[9] The director started a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise the sum of $120,000, in anticipation of a likely fall 2018 principal photography start date. The budget will cover production and post production costs. Mami Wata will be shot in black and white.[10]