NYBALF returns to Harlem, September 18–20. Free Festival Registration is open →
Chuka Esiri
Filmmaker
Ogheneochuko Esiri, also known as Chuko Esiri is a Nigerian filmmaker, director, writer, and producer celebrated for his collaborations with twin brother Arie Esiri on standout projects like Eyimofe (This Is My Desire). Born in 1985, he transitioned from law to cinema, leveraging Nigerian stories and international acclaim.
Chuko Esiri was born in 1985 in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria, and grew up in Lagos. He secured an LLB Honours in Law from Newcastle University in England, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting and Directing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program in 2017.
After law school, Chuko Esiri pursued filmmaking by interning at top agencies like The Gersh Agency and Innovative Artists in New York, where he honed industry skills and enrolled in NYU’s Tisch Graduate Film Program.
Back in Nigeria, he produced Julius Onah’s Big Man via Focus Features’ Africa First Program, then co-directed acclaimed shorts Goose (2017, LA Film Festival premiere) and Besida (2018, Berlinale selection) with twin brother Arie.
Their feature debut Eyimofe (2020) garnered international festival acclaim across over 17 countries, including Berlin nominations, while Esiri also penned At Little Wheelie Three Days Ago (2022). A Purple List Winner and IFP Narrative Lab Fellow based in Lagos, he continues elevating Nigerian cinema globally.
Events featuring
this guest
Sunday Sept. 20 2026 • 4:00 PM | Harlem Stage Gatehouse
Literature into Cinema: Arie and Chuko Esiri on Adapting Mrs Dalloway
Arie Esiri · Chuko Esiri · moderated by Lovia Gyarkye
A 90-minute conversation-led craft talk using Clarissa, Arie and Chuko Esiri’s reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway in contemporary Lagos, as a case study in literary adaptation. The brothers will discuss how interiority becomes image and sound, how character and structure change across forms, what can be carried from a novel into cinema, what must be invented anew, and what happens when a story is translated across time, geography, culture, and medium. The session moves through screenwriting, directing, collaboration, performance, and visual language before opening into an extended audience Q&A.