Nigeria / 2010 / 97mins / Drama / English and Yoruba

Single parent, Maami (Funke Akindele), and her young son are desperately poor. Gifted with a living heart, enterprising spirit and brave soul, she is the center of her son’s world, until he longs for the father he has never known – a man with a terrible secret. Set over a two-day period, leading to the 2010 World Cup, Maami is an inspiring story of a poor, conscientious single parent’s struggles to raise her only child, Kashimawo who eventually, rises to international stardom in an English football club, Arsenal, and becomes a national hero. Adapted by Tunde Babalola, from Femi Osofisan’s novel of the same name, this film about love, perseverance and fate unfolds through Kashimawo’s reminiscences of his hardscrabble childhood in the southern Nigerian town, Abeokuta.

Tunde Kelani

Tunde Kelani, born in February 1948, popularly known as TK, is a Nigerian filmmaker, storyteller, director, photographer, cinematographer and producer. He was introduced to Yoruba literature from an early stage in his life and was also greatly influenced by theatre as the Yorubas had a very strong traveling theatre tradition. He holds a diploma in the Art and Technique of Filmmaking from the London International Film School. In the 1970s, Kelani worked as a BBC TV and Reuters correspondent, and in Nigerian TV. After working many years in the Nigerian film industry as a cinematographer, he founded Mainframe Film & Television Productions, a company formed to document Nigeria’s rich culture. Some of his most successful films are literary adaptations and they include: Koseegbe, Oleku, Thunderbolt (Magun), The White Handkerchief, The Narrow Path, Maami and more recently Dazzling Mirage. He maintains this model for films. Learn More