Showmax Spotlights Tope Oshin: The woman reinventing Nollywood

Tope Oshin is renowned for her intentionality in using her position to influence women’s lives and raise awareness against discrimination. A Nollywood actress, director, producer, casting director, and consultant, Tope Oshin is the founder and CEO of Sunbow Productions, a full-service motion picture production company.

She started out as an actress and starred in several movies for over a decade but moved behind the camera as a director. She has directed many films, TV dramas, and soap operas, including, Up North, Hush, Hotel Majestic, Tinsel, and MTV Shuga.

Tope creates films that honour women’s achievements and spotlights their career challenges. She is reinventing Nollywood stories from stereotypically portraying women through themes of witchcraft and marital submission. Tope directed and produced the film: Amaka’s Kin – The Women of Nollywood in 2016. The movie was a memorial to prominent filmmaker Amaka Igwe, who died in 2014. The documentary also addresses the Nigerian female directors’ challenges in a male-dominated industry like Nollywood. 

In 2017, she presented the BBC Nigeria documentary – Shooting It Like A Woman. The film influenced TV shows and literary works with similar themes, including Niran Adedokun’s book, Ladies Calling the Shots. 

Tope also engaged in advocacy for equal rights, spotlighting the bias against homosexuals in Nigeria. She co-wrote, directed, and produced We Don’t Live Here Anymore. Many cinemas did not accept the movie for release, and it only had a limited online release. However, FilmOne Distribution later showed the film in cinemas in 2018. It was also screened at Africa In Motion Film Festival in Glasgow. 

Tope Oshin is focused on the continuous reinvention of the Nigerian film industry. She is celebrated locally and internationally. In 2015, Pulse magazine listed her as one of the “9 Nigerian female movie directors you should know” in Nollywood. In the same year, she became a juror for the International Emmy Award.

In Women’s Month in 2018, Tope was celebrated by OkayAfrica as one of the Okay100 Women. Showmax further acknowledged her extraordinary influence, spotlighting her in the 2022 International Women’s Day celebration. She’s been doing exceptional work for years, and there’s every indication that she will continue to do more, and we are rooting for her!