CLARISSA

Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo leads CLARISSA, twin filmmakers Chuko and Arie Esiri’s exquisite reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY, transplanted from 1920s London to contemporary Lagos. As Clarissa prepares to host an elegant gathering at her home, the arrival of once-intimate friends from her youth awakens memories of passionate love, hidden desires, and abandoned dreams. Over the course of a single night, past and present converge as Clarissa confronts the choices that shaped the woman she has become.

Honoring the spirit of Woolf’s landmark novel while transforming it through a distinctly Nigerian perspective, the Esiris weave questions of class, colonialism, identity, and social expectation into an emotionally rich meditation on memory and roads not taken. Younger and older ensembles beautifully embody lives separated by time but bound by longing and regret. Gorgeously photographed on 35mm, CLARISSA is lyrical, sensual, and deeply cathartic, with every frame alive with possibility. World Premiere, Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

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