Nollywood gets a new family drama this July with The Lost Days, premiering exclusively on Prime Video on July 11, 2025. The film marks the ninth release under the First Features Project, continuing the initiative’s mission to support debut directors telling authentic Nigerian stories.
Wingonia Ikpi makes her directorial debut with an introspective family drama that confronts abandonment, resentment, and the fragile pursuit of redemption. The cast brings together established Nollywood talent and fresh faces, including Ifeoma Fafunwa, Bimbo Manuel, Baaj Adebule, Cynthia Clarke, and Durotimi Okutagidi.
At the center of the story is Chisom, played by theatre director Ifeoma Fafunwa in her screen acting debut. A wealthy woman in remission from lymphoma cancer, Chisom returns to Abeokuta to make peace with the family she abandoned years earlier.
What begins as a journey of healing takes a darker turn when she disappears without a trace, leaving her loved ones to confront old wounds that never properly healed.The film poses challenging questions about whether forgiveness is always possible and whether some family fractures run too deep to be mended. Bimbo Manuel delivers a nuanced performance as Baba Kola, Chisom’s former lover, caught between lingering feelings and present reality.
Baaj Adebule appears as Moses, while Durotimi Okutagidi plays Kola and Cynthia Clarke portrays Nkem, Chisom’s daughter, who must navigate her complicated relationship with her mother’s return.
The Lost Days is written by Abdul TJ and Paul S. Rowlston, leans into the emotional messiness of family and all the stuff we pretend isn’t there. The film’s weight comes from its honest portrayal of intergenerational trauma, unresolved grief, and the quiet violence that exists in many Nigerian homes where difficult conversations get buried under tradition and silence.
Steve Gukas, Dotun Olakunri, Chioma Ezeani, and Bola Atta produced the project under the First Features banner, a collaboration between Native Filmworks and Michelangelo Productions that empowers new voices in African cinema. Wingonia Ikpi brings her background in talent management to the director’s chair, crafting a story that explores how love, regret, and redemption intersect in deeply human ways.
The Lost Days premieres July 11, 2025, on Prime Video.
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