Lady (VIFF 2026): Lagos, Fuel, and a Cab Between Two Worlds

Courtesy Hanway Films

Lady is a Lagos cab driver barely making ends meet. When her childhood friend Pinky returns, she reluctantly takes a side gig driving Pinky and other sex workers around the city, and old wounds start to surface.

Olive Nwosu's neo-noir is visceral. You can feel the Lagos heat as the film moves between shanty towns, mansions, and sweaty nightclubs. A radio voice, DJ Revolution (Seun Kuti), calls on Nigerians to rise up as the government cuts fuel subsidies, which hits Lady directly since she needs fuel to work. Caught between revolution and survival, she's the witness at the center of a post-colonial struggle where people with self-determination end up victimizing each other.

It gets dark, but it's a rare look at a part of the world we seldom see on screen.