Host of #WithChude, Chude Jideonwo, yesterday announced his first film ‘Awaiting Trial’ to acclaim across social media.

‘Awaiting Trial’ is a documentary film that explores both the #EndSARS protests and the ‘deeper illness’ they point to – the phenomenon in Nigeria’s communal justice system called ‘awaiting trial’ where people are arrested and detained indefinitely without charge.

Jideonwo made this announcement in an Instagram post.. Full text below:

“About 14 years ago, Toyin Oyemade invited myself and others to an outreach at Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos, Nigeria.

At the prison, I heard the most heart-rending story from the inmate I was assigned to help.

He had been in prison for more than a decade. He was arrested before phones came to Nigeria, and had been awaiting trial ever since – his family back in the north not knowing if he is dead or if he is alive.

I knew, somewhere in my heart, that if I ever followed the calling to make films, and no one had yet told this story, this was the first film I was going to make.

Here we are in 2022, and I am deeply thankful to my partners, team and the courageous cast for the privilege of making that dream a reality.

After two years of heart-felt work, we present ‘Awaiting Trial’ – the first film from our studio, Chude Jideonwo Presents. 

Over the next 24 months, you will be seeing a slate of factual and unscripted content from our studio – docuseries, docudramas, biopics, reality soaps, stand-up, and true crime – that tell the stories of our common humanity in a way that connects deeply with audiences in and from Africa.

There are so many unexplored stories every day in the news headlines that tell us something meaningful about who we are and how we got here. But as we struggle to survive, we don’t go beyond the headlines, and we don’t find deeper truths.

We will tell those stories.

Like this one – about Chijioke, and Okuchukwu, and Jimoh, about Yellow, and the depraved criminal justice system that has left them either disappeared or dead.

Coming soon.”

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Link to the post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjmnNT3DutK/?hl=en

Watch the trailer here:  https://youtu.be/3G3DBcg5zNk

More information on the studio ‘Chude Jideonwo Presents’ is on studio.withchude.com

#ChudeExplains has tackled issues from criminal justice reform to Gen Z coming of age. The show launches the #WithChude Global series in 2023.

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