Makemation enters Nollywood with ambition, not just in scope but in meaning. Framed as Africa’s first AI-themed feature film, it could have easily settled for the novelty of that claim. But instead, it chooses to centre something much deeper: a 17-year-old girl, poverty-stricken and overlooked, refusing to be silenced by her circumstances. In a story shaped by gender discrimination, digital inequality, and quiet resilience, the film is not simply shouting about technology. It is asking what kind of future becomes possible when young girls, and not only them, are given the tools to imagine one.

Story and Substance: When Intention Meets Impact

At the core of Makemation is Zara Sodangi, a Hausa teenager who dreams earnestly, constantly, and against all odds. What starts as a coming-of-age drama in a rural Lagos community transforms into a social commentary on innovation, inequality, and identity. Zara is poor. Her father, Jato, believes her place is in the kitchen. Her community wants her in the market, not at a tech competition. But with the support of her mother, her friend Yara, and a few allies, she gains entry into the Makemation school/competition. This moment is where her personal journey becomes symbolic of something bigger: the right to imagine.

Rather than glorifying technology, the film roots it in tangible struggle. Zara’s project, inspired by her father’s misdiagnosis, highlights how limited access to proper healthcare can have devastating effects. Her transition from a girls-in-tech empowerment idea to a software-based diagnostic tool could have been clearer, but the switch still reflects her responsiveness to real-life challenges. Every subplot, from the neighbourhood street boy to the bickering market women, contributes to building the social backdrop Zara is pushing against. These women, mocking her family for not prioritising market work, are not just gossipers. They represent generational expectations and cultural barriers.

Plot Structure and Development

The structure moves confidently through Zara’s evolution: from intern to competitor, from silenced to seen. The six-month span of the Makemation competition is filled with tests, setbacks, and subtle wins. One of the more striking moments comes when Zara’s father destroys her laptop, a device she barely managed to obtain through crowdfunding. The borrowed replacement, tied to a thug-led loan scheme, adds stakes that are not fully explored. The tension of what could happen if the money is not repaid is raised but never fully capitalised on.

The story feels intentional, the tone is consistent, the emotional beats are steady, and the final stretch delivers impact without melodrama. One flaw is the moment the one-legged tech institute staff member is made to explain her disability. Up until that point, the film had done well to normalise her presence without centering her difference. That sudden need to explain takes away from what was otherwise an empowering silence.

Performances and Character Realism

The acting across the board is grounded and effective. Zara, brought to life by Tomi Ojo with stunning realism, is never made to appear too perfect or too pitiful. She reacts like a 17-year-old would: with moments of fear, courage, and unsteady hope. Her chemistry with her mother, her scenes with her father, and her dynamic with the tech mentors all feel organic. Her brother Yara, though given less screen time, represents another path: football, freedom, and low expectations.

Daran, the young “amebo” brother, provides levity and slight annoyance without being a distraction. Nasboi’s cameo, complete with his song Small Money, is a brilliant addition that never feels forced. The use of music generally is thoughtful. When the Mama song plays during a moment of maternal defence, it lands. Not because it is dramatic, but because it fits.

The cast is deep and filled with notable names who never overshadow the central story. The casting itself deserves praise. The accents are accurate. The representation is layered. Even the presence of a one-legged woman at the tech institute is initially treated as background (a refreshing refusal to exoticise disability) until the script stumbles by forcing her to explain herself later in the film. That moment aside, Makemation’s cast (featuring names like Shaffy Bello, Richard Mofe-Damijo, , and rising stars like Idara Peniel-Ekaidem) shows up and delivers with purpose.

Shaffy Bello, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Ali Nuhu bring weight without ego. Idara Peniel-Ekaidem’s debut performance reflects a generation of youth using technology to challenge norms. Michael Dappa, Adeoluwa Akintoba, Toyin Afolayan, and others round out a cast that clearly understands the story they are telling.

Technical Choices and Direction

Director Michael “AMA Psalmist” Akinrogunde keeps his vision close to the ground. Lagos is not stylised or futuristic. It is presented with honesty. Even the AI elements are not exaggerated. Instead, they are introduced through dialogue, good CGI, competition visuals, and use-case ideas that feel plausible. The sound editing, while occasionally patchy, does not derail the viewing experience. The editing keeps a respectful pace and the story never rushes emotional moments. It is a film that lets breath happen.

Makemation avoids Nollywood’s common pitfall of romanticising poverty or turning trauma into spectacle. It speaks of struggle, but it also shows joy. The jokes work. The chemistry works. The messages are passed with fluidity. And most importantly, the film allows hope to feel earned.

Final Thoughts: A Film That Believes in Belief

Makemation is about a wider shift in how Nollywood imagines technology, innovation, and youth. In a previous article, I asked what Nollywood might eventually say about tech and artificial intelligence. And with this film, we might finally have an answer. Makemation doesn’t present AI as something distant, foreign, or abstract. Instead, it anchors the concept in the everyday lives of Nigerians, reminding us that ideas, not just access to tools, are what drive the future. The story doesn’t show technology as magic; it shows it as problem-solving, often born out of necessity. It imagines AI not as a futuristic gimmick but as a survival tool. That message, especially in a genre often fuelled by fantasy or excess, is quietly radical.

It’s a film that believes in young people. It believes that a girl from a small home, with no laptop, with a sick father, with a thousand things stacked against her, can dream of changing the world and mean it. It believes that technology is not about the tools, but the people who use them. It believes in Gen Z without being preachy, and it believes in future-building without losing touch with the present.

Makemation is a film about technology, but it is really a film about voice. About giving it, earning it, and using it. It stands apart in how it portrays empowerment, not as a slogan, but as small, daily acts of resistance. It makes clear that the biggest barriers to innovation are not tools or access, but belief. Makemation feels necessary. It speaks to girls across the continent who are still told that their dreams are too big, or that they can’t even achieve it. It echoes the real-world efforts of young Africans leveraging technology to solve real problems in healthcare, education, and community building. In a media space crowded with shallow representations of wealth and success, this film focuses on dignity.

More than anything, Makemation reflects what Nollywood can do when it stops trying to impress and starts trying to tell the truth. In a time when stories about wealth, parties, and chaos dominate cinema screens, this film focuses on dignity, imagination, and real solutions. It does not shy away from culture. It challenges it. It does not turn girls into symbols. It lets them be.

Verdict

Makemation does what most aspirational films struggle to do. It earns your emotion without forcing it. It brings real issues to the screen with clarity and grace. Though not perfect in every beat, it holds its message tightly and offers something rare: grounded hope.

Rating: 4/5