Filmmaker Chris Ihidero has revealed his eight-year odyssey bringing “Aloma” to completion, including platform rejection demanding he convert the story into a telenovela and his decision to invest substantial post-production resources in South Africa to achieve international quality.
At NECLive 2025, the Pinpoint Media founder disclosed that the original story came to him in 2016, with actual writing beginning during COVID-19 lockdown after completing outlining and treatment. “For many years I was frustrated about the film I wanted to make and the opportunities coming my way to make it,” he stated.
Ihidero pitched the project to an unnamed streaming platform that requested telenovela conversion, claiming “that’s what Nigerians want.” The rejection reinforced his determination to maintain creative vision while building necessary business infrastructure to attract investment.
His eventual partnership with MBO Capital involved rigorous legal processes and accepting part-debt, part-equity financing. “I was comfortable with owning a small part of it, if it gets done, and that’s what had to happen,” he explained. The structure left him with minority ownership but ensured production completion to his quality standards.
The production completed 118 script pages across 25 shooting days in June-July—an intensive schedule requiring uncompromising quality standards. “My actors will say I’m very easy to work with, but I’m also very hard to work with if you’re not bringing what I want. If you bring it once, I don’t need 20 takes. But if you don’t, we’re not leaving until we get it,” Ihidero stated.
Three months after wrapping, the editor delivered the first cut. “After 16 minutes—we had done 10 scenes—I knew I had a film. I wish I were a crying man because it would have been a very good time to cry,” he recalled.
Ihidero rejected offers to increase funding, choosing instead to allocate significant resources to South African post-production. “We want to deliver at certain quality and satisfy our creativity and give the film the best chance regarding international marketing. We want to put it on the table anywhere and say, this is a film made through collaboration,” he explained.
The filmmaker hopes “Aloma” serves as proof that when funding meets creativity in comfortable environments with proper burden-sharing, exceptional results follow. He praised his cast and crew’s commitment, particularly musician Ayo Maff’s unexpected professionalism and reliability despite initial concerns about working with artists.
