Portal:African cinema/Selected film/25

Iwájú (pronounced [ī.wá.d͡ʒú]) is a 2024 animated science fiction miniseries produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Pan-African British-based entertainment company Kugali Media for the streaming service Disney+.

Bisola Aiyeola, voice of Happiness

The title of the series, iwájú, roughly translates to "the future" in the Yoruba language and stars Simisola Gbadamosi, Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch, Siji Soetan, Toyin Oshinaike, and Weruche Opia, Bisola Aiyeola and Sodiq Yusuff.

Weruche Opia, voice of Otin

The story draws inspiration from (and is set in) the city of Lagos, Nigeria, due to its being the country's culture capital, and due to both its mainland and island areas having a unique, distinct feel that Iwaju's creative team felt provided an ideal base for the story. The series includes an original score composed by Ré Olunuga.

Through its two main characters—Tola (voiced by Gbadamosi), a spirited young girl from the affluent island, and her best friend Kole (voiced by Soetan), a gifted techie—Iwájú explores themes of inequality and class divide, which director and Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson described as "the everyday reality of life in Nigeria and other parts of the world". The series also explores how those issues affect everyday society, as well as challenging the status quo. Nelson said the show is about "inspiration, or aspiration and desire, to try and engineer society for living in a more positive way".

Iwájú was written by Olufikayo Adeola and Halima Hudson from a story by Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim, and Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku and directed by Adeola