Top media company, Big Cabal Media has announced the launch of its debut anthology film series set to premiere on Zikoko’s YouTube channel on July 12, 2025. The series, which is inspired by Zikoko’s acclaimed editorial franchises — Naira Life, Sex Life, and Love Life — will explore the intimate, emotional, and complex realities of Nigerian women navigating agency in a society that constantly asks them to shrink. The series will include three short films: What’s Left of Us, My Body, and Something Sweet.

Created by Anita E. Eboigbe for Big Cabal Media and produced by Blessing Uzzi for BluHouse Studios, Zikoko Life is a visual universe built on the lived experiences Zikoko has long chronicled. “We wanted to expand Zikoko’s emotional universe and give these real-life truths the space they deserve that is cinematic, beautiful, and disruptive,” says Eboigbe.

“I see these films as emotional time capsules that portray African women in ways that feel real and rotted. We have worked hard to make them our stories, not imported or idealised,” Uzzi, the producer, said. “These aren’t just films. They’re emotional time capsules.”

Directed by Victor Daniel & Olamide Adio, What’s Left Us will explore how a married woman’s life unravels when she decides to stop having children. The film’s cast are Caleb Richards (The Rishantes, Beyond the Veil) and Tolu Asanu (Mr & Mrs Okoli).

Referencing Marriage Story and Revolutionary Road as inspirations, the directors of What’s Left of Us portray the slow dissolution of a marriage but through the lens of Nigerian domestic politics. “We wanted to show how economic disparity often becomes a tool of control in marriages,” said Daniel. “It’s also about body autonomy. What happens when a woman says no, even in marriage?”

In My Body, viewers will experience the story of a newlywed couple who must unlearn everything they’ve been taught about sex, desire, and faith when they struggle to consummate their marriage. The film was directed by Uzoamaka Power and it stars Andrew Yaw Bunting (Princess on a Hill, Water & Garri) and Uzoamaka Power (Mami Wata, MTV Shuga).

“I wanted to tell a story where a woman is seen, and understood,” said Power. “Too often we hear things like ‘she can just lie there and let him take it’ when people discuss sex in marriage. It’s exhausting. My Body imagines a way forward.”

In the last film, Something Sweet, a woman in her 40s falls for a younger man, disrupting her otherwise quiet life. The film which is directed by Dika Ofoma, known for directing exceptional films like A Quiet Monday, A Japa Tale, and God’s Wife. Something Sweet features Michelle Dede (Desperate Housewives Africa), Ogranya (Freedom Way), Oladozie Chiedoziem, and Kanyinsola Erogbogbo.

While speaking about the film, Ofoma said, “At its core, this film is about reminding women, especially older women, that love doesn’t end at a certain age. You can still feel butterflies in your 40s. You can be desired, and you can choose.”

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