Germany / 2021 / 112mins / Documentary / Danish, English and Yoruba

A filmmaker completes his debut film: a reflection on his parents' assumed monogamous long-distance marriage, as well as his own Nigerian background and identity. He thereafter accidentally discovers his father's secret: a second family throughout the last 30 years, a life secret that escaped the initial film. This revelation sends the filmmaker on a new quest, now focusing on his retired Danish mother and his newly acquainted younger Nigerian half-brother. When a Farm Goes Aflame is set in the aftermath of a lifetime of secrecy and denial. It attempts to bring together the stories and beliefs of each protagonist as they come to terms with their common past and shape their future. Moving fluidly between Denmark, Nigeria, Canada, and the USA, the film gently unfolds as a poetic and psychologically complex exploration of the meeting between western and African concepts of love, relationships, and family.

Jide Akinleminu

Jide Akinleminu grew up in the town of Ikorodu, Nigeria as the son of a Nigerian farmer and a Danish librarian. His family relocated in 1991 to Denmark. He attended the acclaimed Fatamorgana Danish School of Art Photography, completed several documentary projects and exhibitions. His films have been screened at major film festivals such as Locarno, Oberhausen, Berlinale, Hofer Filmtage, FID Marseilles and his short film Kokon was awarded with the German Shortfilm Prize in 2009. Portrait of a Lone Farmer, which premiered at CPH:DOX in 2013, was his first feature length film as a director and won the Cipputi Award at the Torino Film Festival in 2013, and in 2014 the African Movie Academy Award in Nigeria and also won “Best Documentary” in the Duisburger Filmwoche, Germany. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents 2015 and 2018. Learn More