Kaelo Iyizoba Selected for Inaugural 2025 Sundance Cultural Impact Residency

Nigerian-American filmmaker, writer, and producer Kaelo Iyizoba has been selected as a fellow for the inaugural 2025 Sundance Cultural Impact Residency. He is the only Nigerian among eight fellows chosen for the six-month program, which runs through August 2025.

Iyizoba, known for his 2023 short film “Boy Meets Girl,” inspired by the Chibok girls’ abduction will participate in the residency with Caron Creighton, Jennifer Huang, Alejandra López, Caitlin McCarthy, A.D. Smith, Kristal Sotomayor, and Wendi Tang.

Launched in honor of social justice advocate Michael Latt, the residency aims to support early-career filmmakers focused on creative, social, and cultural impact. The program provides mentorship from Sundance advisors, fostering collaboration across writing-directing, nonfiction, and episodic storytelling.

The Sundance Institute has previously supported acclaimed films such as “CODA, Love & Basketball, Hereditary, Sorry to Bother You,” and “Call Me By Your Name.”

Iyizoba’s selected project, “Birthright”, is a historical documentary set in 19th-century Nigeria. It follows a man saved by ancient gods as a child, who later profits from the transatlantic slave trade. As British colonial forces and Christianity threaten to erase the deities who once protected him, he must decide whether to fight for them or perish alongside them.