Hope Is a Word, a feature documentary exploring poetry, environmental injustice and young people’s voices in Nigeria’s oil-polluted Niger Delta, will screen in Lagos on Thursday, October 1, at the Quramo Festival of Words 2026.
The screening begins at 5 pm in the Grand Ballroom of Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island.
Directed by Maria Galliani Dyrvik, the documentary follows Nigerian poet and environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey’s fight against the devastation caused by oil extraction. Through his work and encounters with young people, it asks whether another generation will carry the struggle forward.
“For decades, oil has poisoned the Niger Delta, bringing violence and division,” Bassey says.
Anita Veda of Norway’s Smau Media produced the documentary in collaboration with Ginko Film in Italy and Zuri24 Media in Nigeria. Nigerian filmmaker Femi Odugbemi serves as executive producer.
According to the organisers, Hope Is a Word has screened at Sheffield DocFest, Durban International Film Festival, DOK Leipzig, IDFA and Bergen International Film Festival, where it opened the Checkpoints human rights programme. It received a Special Mention at Durban and won the Audience Award at LandxSea Fest.
Bassey, Odugbemi and the film’s impact producer and cinematographer, Allen Onyige, are expected to attend the Lagos screening and join a conversation with the audience afterwards.
Media representatives, film critics and industry stakeholders are invited to attend.
Image credits: Poster design by Gianluca Cannizzo, sourced from Ginko Film. Film stills sourced from Vestnorsk Filmsenter.
