Neon has acquired the starry, Lagos-set film Clarissa, starring Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, India Amarteifio and Toheeb Jimoh.

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) twin filmmakers Arie and Chuko Esiri are the directors.

As Deadline reported, the film is based on Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway, which tells the story of an upper-class woman named Clarissa Dalloway who prepares to host a party in post-World War I England.

What’s the plot of ‘Clarissa’?

Clarissa spends her hours before the party thinking back to her younger years, when she decided to marry her current husband instead of another man who was more exciting. She also reflects on a female friend she felt she couldn’t be with romantically.

Similarly to the book, Okonedo’s character will also prepare for a party, however, her party is set in Lagos, Nigeria. She will, according to Deadline, “unexpectedly encounter once-intimate friends from her youth. As the group reflects on their shared past over the course of a single night, memories of their intricate relationships, passionate love, hidden desires, and lost aspirations give rise to bittersweet reckoning.”

Chuko Esiri serves as screenwriter and produces with his brother Arie. Invention Studios’ Nicholas Weinstock and Per Capita Productions’ Theresa Park also produce. Okonedo also executive produces with Dolly Omodolapo Kola-Balogun, Osahon Okunbo and Jason Reif. Nina Gold and Thomas Bassett co-produce. Afreximbank Creative Africa Nexus and MBO Capital finance.

Toheeb Jimoh

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