Scheduled for September 24 to 28, 2025. It will compete in the Feature-Fiction category, with Ghana hosting its first African screening
Nnamdi Kanaga’s “Water Girl” Selected for Black Star IFF 2025”
Nigerian filmmaker and actor Nnamdi Kanaga’s Water Girl has been selected to screen at the 2025 Black Star International Film Festival in Ghana, scheduled for September 24 to 28, 2025.
The film will compete in the “Feature-Fiction” category, with Ghana marking the first African country to host its screening.
According to the festival’s announcement, the Igbo mythology film will screen alongside titles from Nigeria, Ghana, the United Kingdom, the United States, Jamaica, and Mozambique. These include Son of the Soil by Chee Keong Cheung (Nigeria), Kasi by Eugene Appiah (Ghana), and A Life by Kingsley N Osei (USA).
Water Girl has already been showcased at several festivals, including the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, Flathead Lake International Cinemafest, Urban Film Festival Miami, and the Caribbean International Film Festival.
It is also scheduled for screenings in September 2025 at the Africa International Film Festival in Saskatchewan, where it earned nominations for Best Feature, Best Director in a Feature Film, and Best Sound, as well as the Afrika Film Festival Köln in Germany, the African Diaspora Cinema Festival in Florence, Italy, and the British Urban Film Festival in October 2025.
Water Girl, Kanaga’s second feature film, tells the story of a mother who, after multiple miscarriages, discovers that her child is a spirit child known in Igbo culture as an “Obanje.” The cast includes Stella Damasus, Florence Onuma, Moriyah Faith Jackson, Kenneth Okolie, and Oliver Haeden.
The 2025 edition of the Black Star International Film Festival marks its 10th anniversary. Heralded under the theme “The Relevance of Film in Society,” the festival will highlight the full value chain of filmmaking, from directors and producers to costume designers, makeup artists, and legal professionals. It will feature premieres, masterclasses, and a 19-member international jury chaired by Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, with representatives from Africa, Europe, and North America.