Project Detail

Baby

Name: Baby
Director: Simisolaoluwa Akande
Genre: Black, Drama, Human Rights, Woman Director
Released: 2025
Duration: 18 min 21 sec

Two young women look at one another with concern

Synopsis

Baby dons a fluorescent pink wig and an unflinching smile on her socials, selling an airbrushed life in Europe to entice young Nigerian girls. Behind the filtered posts lies a more harrowing truth: Baby is trapped in a network of sex trafficking, surviving by enforcing the very system that once consumed her. Past rituals inflicted on the girls not only keep their bodies imprisoned, but also their minds, believing their silence and subservience dilutes their cursed lives. But, when someone from Baby's past becomes the newest recruit, Baby's carefully constructed world crumbles. Baby is confronted with guilt, complicity, and the crushing weight of unfulfilled dreams.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025

Details

Year: 2025
Type of project: Shorts
Running time: 18 min 21 sec
Format: Digital
Director: Simisolaoluwa Akande
Producer: Maxine Gordon
Executive Producer: Natasha Wilson, Jamie Campbell
Editor: Clare Maleeny
Screenwriter: Mojola Akinyemi
Director of Photography: Scarlett Gardner
Production Designer: Fiorella Pomarino Dextre
Sound: Liam Bratchford
Composer: Tope Olufemi
Principal cast: Mamley Djangmah, Jadesola Odunjo
Other Lead Creative(s): Kemi Adekoya, Nasa Ohalete, Mevis Birungi, Modupe Adeyeye

Genre

Black Drama Human Rights Woman Director

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Supported by BFI NETWORK

Marauder Pictures

71-75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9JQ

Visit Website

Page updates

This page was last updated on 19th January 2026. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

Following five queer Nigerians living in the UK as they document their lives through audio diaries. From childhood to the present, participants share stories that explore how universal ideas of family, love, and finding oneself are obfuscated within the intersection of Blackness, African-ness, and Queerness. Official Selection Encounters International Film Festival 2023 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2023 - Winner Short Film Competition

Experimental LGBTQIA+ Black

The protagonist, Mary, covering her ears and screaming into the curtains

This Case

Director: Kemi-Bo Miller Jacobs

Year: 2026

Mary, a young mixed-race librarian, becomes convinced that a neighbour’s St George’s Cross is connected to her growing anxiety and disrupted sleep. As her unease intensifies, she struggles to distinguish reality from perception and must find the courage to speak up before she begins to unravel.

Drama Woman Director

Children walking through rubble of city.

Gaza Year Zero

Director: Mohammed Sawwaf, Michael Winterbottom

Year: 2027

GAZA YEAR ZERO tells the story of 13 year old Aboud and his family as they struggle to survive in Gaza during the war.

Drama