EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed Nigerian American filmmaker Walé Oyéjidé, on the heels of his first narrative feature, Bravo, Burkina!‘s world premiere in the NEXT section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The film written, directed and exec produced by Oyéjidé tells the story of a Burkinabé boy who flees his village and migrates to Italy. When later disillusioned by heartbreak, and haunted by memories of home, he travels through time in hope of regaining all he has lost. Pic premiered in Park City, UT on January 23 and was nominated for the NEXT Innovator Award.
Oyéjidé previously helmed the documentary short After Migration: Calabria, which is currently available to stream on The Criterion Channel. Next up is the feature Chiaroscuro, which went through last year’s Sundance lab and will be packaged by M88.
Oyéjidé is a Sundance Feature Film Program fellow, as well as a National Geographic explorer, TED fellow, Open Society Foundations fellow, and Google Image Equity fellow. He’s also known for his work as a designer, writer, speaker, photographer, musician and lawyer, having employed his fashion design as a vehicle to celebrate the perspectives of marginalized populations. Oyéjidé’s work in that arena has previously been displayed in both Marvel’s Black Panther and Coming 2 America.
Former WME Partner Phillip Sun and Macro Founder & CEO Charles D. King launched M88 in 2020, with an eye toward supporting the work of the next generation of artists and cultural leaders. Sun leads the firm, representing storytellers, actors, writers and multi-hyphenates, with Partners Oronde Garrett and Gaby Mena.
