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1 month ago | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
A note on timing: This list comes now, four months later than it ideally should, because, caught up in other things, I considered not compiling it. But I did, because it’s a list for the archives, the value of which only increases as the years go by.
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1 month ago | 
opencountrymag.com | Paula Willie-Okafor |Orji Victor Ebubechukwu |Iheoma Uzomba |Otosirieze Obi-Young
There are days when I think that Nollywood film critics are too harsh and more days when I think they are not harsh enough: it reflects an inconsistent industry from which the two biggest streamers, first Prime Video and then Netflix, have pulled out — a business many of whose stakeholders seem to not understand that there is no extent of “branding” or trumpeting of “numbers,” no annual feature in Variety or The Hollywood Reporter stalely announcing “the rise” and “arrival” of “African...
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2 months ago | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
When the cardinals begin voting in Conclave, Edward Berger’s aesthetically seductive depiction of a papal election, the result is astounding — a signal that, among recent ecclesiastical dramas that aspire to let us into the workings of one of the world’s most guarded groups, a list that includes Christoph Schrewe’s historical thriller The Conclave (2006), Nanni Morretti’s reverent Habemus Papam (2011), Paolo Sarrentino’s satirical series The Young Pope (2016), and Fernando Meirelles’s buddy...
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Jan 28, 2025 | 
opencountrymag.com | Orji Victor Ebubechukwu |Otosirieze Obi-Young
When I wrote my first book, Osun’s Daughters, a mentor of mine called attention to how many citations I had in both Spanish and Portuguese: “If I were you, if I had that dominance over different languages, I would put the quotes within and translate them myself rather than counting on whether they were published or not.” - Valdes...
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
opencountrymag.com | Paula Willie-Okafor |Iheoma Uzomba |Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera |Michael Aromolaran |Otosirieze Obi-Young
Our top stories of 2024 are not so much our most-read pieces as they are the pieces that reflect the range of subjects we covered in the year, and that we therefore recommend, in case you missed reading them. They show our deep work in finding untold stories, contextualizing developments in African literature and Nollywood, and highlighting the shapers of culture and industries.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
Mirriam Francesca Nkosi is among the five recipients of the inaugural Open Country Mag Curatorial Fellowship, sponsored by Africa No Filter. Her proposal was Luba, a musical, art, and photography exhibition on indigenous flowers in Malawi. The initiative supported Luba with $1,400 and mentorship by Open Country Mag editor Otosirieze, Lumen Prize winning artist Minne Atairu, and A Nasty Boy founder Innanoshe Akuson. Nkosi is a singer, songwriter, and sonic storyteller from Malawi.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
Name Redacted is among the five recipients of the inaugural Open Country Mag Curatorial Fellowship, sponsored by Africa No Filter. Their proposal was to record Season 2 of One Foot in the Closet, a podcast on LGBTQI+ experiences. The initiative supported One Foot in the Closet with $1,000 and mentorship by Open Country Mag editor Otosirieze, Lumen Prize winning artist Minne Atairu, and A Nasty Boy founder Innanoshe Akuson. Name Redacted is a queer, polygender East African podcaster.
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Aug 21, 2024 | 
opencountrymag.com | Paula Willie-Okafor |Otosirieze Obi-Young
Shafts of the evening sun once beamed into the Sistine Chapel from its twelve arched windows, sliding off stained glass to pour on the high walls and barrel vault ceiling, where, 500 years ago, the famed frescoes were cast. At first, the grand assemblage of Biblical and Messianic prophecy imagery was not meant to be that numerous.
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Aug 19, 2024 | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
A few friends, privy to our cover stars before our announcements, were baffled at first: why is a religious figure on the cover of a literary and film magazine? Open Country Mag had profiled and interviewed industry leaders outside literature and film before, but should our tenth cover not have an artist from either vocation? It’s Cardinal Arinze, I told one. Think about it. And then they got it.
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Aug 2, 2024 | 
opencountrymag.com | Otosirieze Obi-Young
Izuchukwu Onyedibiemma Udokwu is one of the five recipients of the inaugural Open Country Mag Curatorial Fellowship, sponsored by Africa No Filter. His proposal was a 3D fashion and storytelling series called It’s Bloom Time, which would explore individual struggles and identity. The initiative supported It’s Bloom Time with $1,000 and mentorship by Lumen Prize winning artist Minne Atairu, A Nasty Boy founder Innanoshe Akuson, and Open Country Mag editor Otosirieze.
