‘ÀJOSE: The Stories That Bind Us’ uses film, cultural dialogue to examine silence around women’s reproductive health

Filmmakers, healthcare professionals, and cultural practitioners will converge at Alliance française on 19 January for ÀJOSE: The Stories That Bind Us, a one-day film screening and conversation exploring the narratives that connect us.

ÀJOSE is a cultural gathering that uses film, visual storytelling, and moderated dialogue to explore how silence, stigma, and inherited beliefs continue to shape women’s reproductive health experiences in Nigeria.

Rather than positioning itself as a campaign or advocacy forum, it approaches the subject through narrative, exploring how everyday decisions around care, consent, pregnancy, and reproductive rights are often influenced by fear, misinformation, and social expectation.

At the centre of the programme is the premiere screening of Silence Is Loud, a short film directed by Abba Makama. Known for his use of satire and surrealism, Makama takes a markedly restrained approach in Silence Is Loud, focusing on performance, emotional realism, and the weight of what remains unsaid.

The film examines how unspoken truths surrounding women’s bodies and healthcare choices reverberate through families and intimate relationships, revealing the quiet consequences of cultural silence. It marks the director’s first time working from a script he did not write, developed in close collaboration with the writer to ensure a shared vision.

Alongside this central work, the programme will unveil two other new productions, screened in the presence of their respective teams:

Care or Control?, a new documentary by Chika Okoli, which questions the fine line between care and coercion in women’s health journeys. Majek and the Ghost, a new animated series produced by Magic Carpet studio, uses animation to address complex themes with a unique visual approach.

Each screening will be followed by discussions led by experts, offering the audience a rare opportunity to engage directly with filmmakers, healthcare professionals and cultural commentators.

Beyond film, ÀJOSE will host an outdoor visual installation titled “Truths and Myths”, an immersive walk-through experience that places widely held cultural beliefs about women’s reproductive health alongside medically grounded facts. The installation invites audiences to confront the distance between what is commonly believed and what is medically accurate.

ÀJOSE, derived from a Yoruba word meaning to come together, was conceived as a space for collective reflection rather than confrontation.

“Many of the ideas shaping women’s health decisions today were inherited without examination,” the organisers note. “ÀJOSE is about creating room to listen carefully, ask better questions, and acknowledge realities that are often discussed only in whispers.”

ÀJOSE: The Stories That Bind Us is open to invited guests and members of the public by registration.