By Sydnee Walcott
In an industry where there are not too many people of colour, one empowered woman is taking the correct steps toward standing out. Chibie Louis-Okoye is a thought-provoking Nigerian Canadian film producer who has received many accolades throughout her career.
Born and raised in Nigeria, Louis-Okoye’s upbringing had its good and bad moments, but she was happy for the most part and provided with everything she needed. Her parents encouraged her and her siblings to go to school and take on a professional path that would lead to a career with a stable income and go on to have a family.
“My parents worked very hard to take us to the best schools they could take us to,” said Louis-Okoye, whose parents wanted both her and her siblings to become something great in the future. Louis-Okoye studied at the University of Windsor as an international student, where she received a Degree in Communication. Afterward, she went to Queen’s University, where she studied innovation and entrepreneurship.
Her inspiration to be a film producer came from wanting to take back the power to create worlds and stories that can influence pop culture and people’s perspectives on how they see things on subjects they don’t know. With a gap in the content of African stories, Louis-Okoye realized the industry needs producers and storytellers to help close the gap. “Producing is all about honing the business side of the creative,” said Louis-Okoye, whose goal is to centre the African diaspora on the world stage through her company COLO Studios.
What Louis-Okoye enjoys the most about producing is the transformation of raw ideas into materialized content. Yes of course there are other elements of her work that she enjoys (hiring a team, and raising funds), but her heart remains with the creative process. She describes it as making a dream come true. “I believe a film is a tool for activism,” said Louis-Okoye. Activism, politics, spirituality, the monarchy, and the impact of colonialism are some of the thought-provoking content people can find in films and television series produced by Louis-Okoye.
Her latest film, KOFA, is inspired by how the world has moved on after kidnappings in Nigeria and surrounding areas. The film also focuses on how it remains precarious in Nigeria. KOFA (Louis-Okoye’s favourite project to date) is a psychological thriller that deals with people being locked in a room and waking up nude with no memories.
From the beginning, the plot beckons the watcher to question every character, understand motive, and question what will happen next. With elements of betrayal and finger pointing the film keeps viewers intrigued as they watch the group try to figure out how they ended up where they were. Throughout their drama, a male character continuously enters the room and takes them out one by one. Scared for their lives, the group tries to piece together their memories.
Louis-Okoye loves those topics, because she feels the viewers can put themselves in the character’s shoes and feel their emotions and what’s at stake for them. She describes this as a human condition, because sometimes people may feel trapped. It may not feel like a physical trap in a room, but it can be a physical trap in a career they don’t love and are only doing for economic purposes. “People can feel trapped mentally as well.” Louis-Okoye shared.
KOFA won the Best Feature Film at the African International Film Festival, and received two African Magic Viewer Choice Awards nominations. The film’s trailer also received an award for the best trailer in the African region at the 2023 World Trailer Awards in Portugal.
Louis-Okoye’s current project is a television series called The Third Coming, and she’s having the time of her life on the project. The series centres around what can happen if colonialism and imperialism were to come back to Africa in the present and how that would look.
Louis-Okoye would like to see her career take her back to Africa, where she can continue to tell stories relatable to Africans and have the world look at things through that lens. She also wants to collaborate with others to help tell those stories and provide a technical process for creating a film and television series. She also wants to collaborate with the greats in Hollywood and take some of their lessons and experiences. Her dream is to have COLO Studios maintain its vision of centring the African experiences on the world stage.
As Africans living in the diaspora, we have a strong, and notable impact on this planet, and creatives like Louis-Okoye are the ones who will stamp our impact in the minds of people for generations to come.
