CLARISSA

Across a single day in Lagos, Nigeria, Clarissa (a radiant Sophie Okonedo) readies her home for a glittering party, even as her past comes rushing back to her in the faces of old loves and friends she thought she'd left behind. Elsewhere in the city, a young soldier named Septimus (Fortune Nwafor) is quietly unraveling, haunted by horrors he can't leave on the battlefield. Their stories ripple outward into another timeline entirely: a spirited, searching young Clarissa (India Amarteifio) falling for her magnetic friend Sally (Ayo Edebiri), and a grown, wistful Peter (David Oyelowo), who has spent decades unable to let her go. Moving fluidly between past and present, between Lagos's elite and its overlooked, Clarissa paints a tender, sweeping portrait of a city and the people shaped by it. Directors and twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri have skillfully reimagined Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs. Dalloway', trading the British upper class for the Lagosian bourgeoise set, resulting in a deeply felt and distinctly Nigerian story. Q&A with directors Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri following the screening.