Director: Chinwe Nnajiuba
Runtime: 35 mins
Assurance is the debut documentary film, directed by Chinwe Nnajiuba aka Juba, a British-Nigerian DJ living in Berlin and co-founder of Boko! Boko!, a collective that supports the increase of female representation in DJ booths and music event lineups.
Assurance was birthed out of Juba’s desire to bring a new perspective to the music industry gender debate. This curiosity led her to Nigeria, where she connected with three DJs in order to get an insight into their experiences in the context of Lagos. Immersing herself in the worlds of the three Lagosian women, enabled Juba to explore the ramifications of societal expectations and judgements in greater depth. The documentary profiles three DJs from Lagos, Nigeria - Sensei Lo, DJ Yin and DJ Ayizan and explores the issues women DJs face within a patriarchal Nigerian society, female representation outside of the global North-centric narrative, as well as obstacles faced by women in dance music around the world.
Through raw and personal footage, the documentary presents a different set of intersections each DJ faces as they navigate Nigeria's societal expectations and issues of gender inequality within the Lagos music scene. These accounts challenge, widen and enrich the current conversation that Juba has been privy to, one in which African voices have been conspicuously silent, or more accurately- silenced.
Words: Maggie Ibiam