For co-producer and co-writer Folashayo Oke Sobo, East West Love is rooted in a personal connection to East Africa and a long-held interest in telling stories that move beyond national borders.
Directed by Seko Shamte and co-produced by Sobo and Dolapo “LowlaDee” Adeleke under Suss Productions, the film follows a getaway between Lagos and Mombasa, Kenya, that unexpectedly becomes a journey of love, secrets, and second chances.
Co-written by Sobo and Sonia Nwosu, East West Love arrives in cinemas worldwide on October 9, following a festival run that included opening Nollywood Week in Paris.
Speaking exclusively to The Nollywood Reporter, Sobo discusses the film’s inspiration, its Nigeria-Kenya collaboration, and what its wider theatrical rollout means for the team.
The story began with Sobo’s partner, Abiola Sobo, who first pitched the concept. “Abiola pitched the concept, and I was hooked immediately, even just by the title,” she said.
Her connection to East Africa made the idea particularly personal. “I got married in Zanzibar; Nairobi is one of my favorite cities, and my co-producer, Dolapo ‘LowlaDee’ Adeleke, opened my eyes to the country in a completely new way,” she said.
Adeleke’s perspective also influenced how Kenya was approached in the film. Rather than treating the country simply as a backdrop, Sobo said Adeleke helped her see it “as a vibrant world rich with its own stories, people, and possibilities.”
That approach was part of a broader creative ambition shared by the producers. “We had been talking constantly about our dream of making pan-African films/stories that move across borders and bring different parts of the continent into the same cinematic universe,” Sobo said.
For her, East West Love uses romance to explore the similarities between people across different African countries. “I believe cinema is a bridge across the continent,” she said, describing her interest in showcasing Africa’s culture, beauty, and modern urban experiences while challenging how the continent is represented globally.
Rather than placing the differences between Nigeria and Kenya at the center, Sobo focused on their shared experiences. “Underneath the surface, we are having the exact same human experiences, just in different accents,” she said.
She credited Shamte’s regional sensitivity and cinematographer KC Obiajulu’s visual approach with helping the film give both settings their own identity. “Authenticity wasn’t about exaggerating contrast; it was about making both places feel specific, alive, and deeply connected.”
The film also considers identity beyond nationality and geography. “Who are we when we strip away where we come from?” Sobo asked, explaining that the story challenges conventional ideas of home.
“Sometimes home is a geographic location, but often, home is a person,” she said.
With the film now moving from its festival run into a commercial release across West, East, South, and Francophone Africa, as well as the US, UK and Canada, Sobo sees the rollout as an opportunity to test the idea of a genuinely pan-African audience.
“There is no greater validation for an African filmmaker than having your work embraced across the continent and beyond,” she said.
She also hopes the release encourages producers to approach Africa as a connected creative and commercial market rather than a collection of separate territories.
“At SUSS Productions, we want fellow producers to see the power of viewing our continent not as isolated territories, but as a unified creative ecosystem and marketplace,” she said.
“East West Love is proof that Africa can be both the stage and the primary market for our cinema and that these stories will naturally travel to the rest of the world from there.”
“This is East meeting West,” she concluded, “but more importantly, it’s the start of African stories meeting each other.”
