Oluwadamisola “Delta Writer” Adeyinka, screenwriter of the upcoming short film I Find the Defendant…, has opened up about the creative process behind developing the courtroom drama, which explores the idea of truth as perception.
“It started as a question rather than a plot,” he tells The Nollywood Reporter (TNR), explaining that he wanted to explore what happens when two people tell the truth as they understand it, yet their accounts remain fundamentally incompatible.
From there, Adeyinka built the world of I Find the Defendant… around a courtroom structure, allowing the audience to experience the story much like a judge would: through fragments of evidence and testimony rather than an all-knowing narrator.
“In fragments, through evidence and testimony, never from an all-knowing narrator. In fact, the judge and the audience are the ones on trial,” he explains.
One of his biggest challenges was finding the right balance between the gravity of an assault allegation and the lead character’s defence without allowing the story to become an argument for either side.
“I didn’t want to write propaganda for either side. I wanted to write to people,” he says.
The idea of truth as perception is central to Adeyinka’s approach. He draws from personal experiences of watching people walk away from the same event with genuinely different memories of what happened.
For him, that does not necessarily mean one person is lying. Pain, fear, and self-protection can shape how people remember an experience and ultimately tell their side of the story.
“That’s what pushed me to write the courtroom as a place where the audience has to be the judge, weighing accounts, noticing inconsistencies, resisting the urge to pick a side too early,” he says.
Those personal and observational experiences, Adeyinka explains, helped ground the screenplay and allowed him to create what he considers “the most honest version of the story” he could tell.
Ultimately, the writer, who also appears in the film, hopes audiences notice the restraint in the storytelling. Rather than presenting a definitive villain or victim, I Find the Defendant… leaves room for ambiguity.
“The message I hope no one misses is that certainty is often more comfortable than truth, and that a rush to judgment, online or in a courtroom, can flatten a situation that deserves far more care.”
For Adeyinka, the writing is successful if audiences leave with questions and arguments of their own rather than a predetermined verdict.
I Find the Defendant… is a 35-minute short film marking The Trybe’s debut. Directed by Michael Ajayi, the film follows AdeJazz, a celebrated jazz artiste whose life unravels after his girlfriend, Cynthia, accuses him of sexual assault.
Set entirely in a Lagos courtroom, the story presents conflicting accounts from both sides, drawing on the Rashomon effect to examine how different perspectives can shape the perception of truth.
Adeyinka also connects the film to Nigeria’s increasingly prominent conversations around consent, celebrity power, and the role of social media in shaping public opinion before cases reach the courtroom.
“I wanted the film to sit inside that discomfort rather than resolve it neatly,” he concludes.
I Find the Defendant… has been selected for the Abuja Photography & Short Film Exhibition and the Twincity International Film Festival, marking the beginning of its festival run.
The Lagos screening is scheduled for August 27 at CcHub, Yaba.
