Nigeria and UK / 2014 / 111mins / Historical Drama / English

Upon returning to a privileged life in newly independent 1960s Nigeria after their education in England, Olanna and Kainene, twins from a wealthy Nigerian family make very different choices. Olanna is living with her lover, Odenigbo in the dusty university town of Nsukka; Kainene turns out to be a successful businesswoman and falls in love with Richard, an English writer. Preoccupied by their romantic entanglements, and a betrayal between the sisters, they become caught up in the events of the Nigerian civil war, in which the lgbo people fought an impassioned struggle to establish Biafra as an independent republic, ending in chilling violence, which shocked the entire world. Based on the novel, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Biyi Bandele

Biyi Bandele was a Nigerian novelist, playwright and film director born in 1967 to Yoruba parents in Kafanchan, northern Nigeria. He studied Drama at the University of Ile-Ife, where his play Rain won him a scholarship that brought him to the UK. Bandele was one of the most versatile and prolific of the UK-based Nigerian writers, having turned his hand to theatre, journalism, television, film, and radio, as well as the fiction with which he made his name. Acclaimed as both a prolific playwright and a versatile novelist, his 1997 adaptation of fellow Nigerian Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart for the British stage confirmed his place as an important voice on the post-colonial stage. His directorial debut film Half of a Yellow Sun which screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, received a "rapturous reception" and received a wide range of critical attention. His 2015 film, entitled Fifty, was included in the 2015 London Film Festival. He also directed the third season of the popular MTV drama series, Shuga. Biyi passed away in August 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria. Learn More