Omotola debuts as director with ‘Mother’s Love’ at Toronto film festival

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival, which held its inaugural edition from October 18 to 24, 1976, then known as the Toronto Festival of Festivals.

Not surprisingly, events surrounding TIFF@50 or TIFF50 had an extra buzz. Nollywood made a strong showing and appeared to be taking TIFF more seriously.

I will discuss some of those Nollywood events, hopefully at a later time. Auspiciously, it was on this 50th anniversary of TIFF that award-winning Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade Ekeinde chose to make her directorial debut with Mother’s Love, a 1-hour 42-minute feature film. My first reaction was one of eager anticipation.

Not only because of Omotola’s achievements as an actress, but mainly because she was taking the film to TIFF, and that signified that she meant serious business to me. Well, I was able to catch Mother’s Love, at its only screening on Saturday, September 6, 2025, at the TIFF Lightbox (TLB) 5, from 6 pm.

Mother’s Love tells the story of how a mother, Labake (Omotola Jalade Ekeinde), uses her wisdom and vision to rescue her family from the jaws of a potential imminent disintegration. And it’s all down to love, her love for the two most important people in her life, her daughter Adebisi (Noray Nehita), and her husband Rotimi (Ifeanyi Kalu).

As the story goes, Adebisi, the only child of Labake and Rotimi who lives an ultra-sheltered life, leaves home for her NYSC (National Youth Service Corps), the compulsory national service that new university graduates not older than 30 years old must undertake. And almost for the first time in her life, there’s a limit to how much control Adebisi’s parents can exert. Soon enough, boy meets girl, or in this case, girl bumps into boy, Obaro (Olumide Oworu).

Although the earth doesn’t exactly move, their bond continues to grow, which is not different from how many NYSC friendships and relationships begin.

The real kicker is that Obaro’s economic and class status couldn’t be more different from Adebisi’s if they were from different planets. While one (Adebisi) lives in a protected environment, much like an egg life in comfort, as an only child and the apple of her parents’ eyes, the other (Obaro) lives a precarious life with his petty trader sister, Ese (Lilian Afegbai), where survival is not guaranteed.

Even by regular standards of living, Obaro’s life in the Makoko-Lagos slum is a piercing eyesore. But Adebisi clearly doesn’t mind, but how would her parents react, and who is to say Obaro is not a gold-digging S.O.B. out to take advantage of a naive daddy’s girl? You’ll get your answers when Mother’s Love comes out next year in cinemas. So, you’ll have to be on the lookout.

Suffice it to say that Mother’s Love will be worth your time. Not because I don’t have questions or one or two or three things to quibble about. In fact, when the film began, I was having a hard time turning my critic’s mind off: From the subtitles’ font to the location of the NYSC camp. Even the way Adebisi bumped into Obaro was that really organic?

When I was travelling to Imo State for my NYSC a lifetime ago, my first friend was a guy in the same taxi that took us from Auchi to Irete. He looked the part of a corper, complete with a camera hanging on his neck.

We didn’t speak (of course) until we got to Irete and discovered the Orientation Camp had been moved to FUTO, Owerri. As it was now obvious we were in the same boat, well…introductions, his name was Fidelis. Can you tell I’m nostalgic about my NYSC experience…But I digress.

My biggest (eventual) takeaway from watching Mother’s Love is that Omotola is actually forcing our gaze on Makoko and other Makokos that exist around us. In fact, it’s possible my earlier discomfort arose from seeing such squalor up front.

In the course of the film, I’d wondered if that environment was real. How can it be real? I felt some guilt even though I have no direct involvement. When you understand that Makoko is on the same glamorous Lagos Island, home to Detty December and all manner of decadent lifestyles, you’d wonder or feel guilty or ashamed like me.

And it looks like I’m finally discovering my film philosophy. As I wrote last November about the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, I like filmmaking that marries issues with activism, wraps them in creativity for better messaging and not by spewing highfalutin ‘mandates’ political speak…

It would be remiss of me not to mention my biggest pet peeve: The music and sounds need to be seriously looked at. The music for some scenes is mismatched. While visuals show one thing, the music and sound appear to be a DJ selection from a playlist. Film music and sound can help tell half of the story, or enhance the intended story, when done right.

Omotola deserves some kudos as a director, specifically for getting the actors to be believable. Noray Nehita, even though not well known as an actress, gives a great performance as Adebisi. And she can pass off as Omotola’s daughter. Mother’s Love. This is the most natural I’ve seen Olumide Oworu in a while. I guess I have his coloured hair in Far from Home, the 2022 Netflix drama series, stuck in my brain.

Mother’s Love

Director: Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde

Starring: Lilian Afegbai, Olumide Oworu, Ifeanyi Kalu, Noray Nehita, Nosa Rex