Black Film Space is proud to serve as the fiscal sponsor for the short film Ella & Selene.

Black Film Space's fiscal sponsorship program allows for members to use its 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt status to receive tax-deductible donations on the film's behalf and solicit charitable contributions throughout the production process.

Ella & Selene has been chosen after careful evaluation from our board, and we believe it supports our mission to provide career advancing opportunities for Black filmmakers.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

PROJECT TYPE: Narrative Short
GENRE: Drama
PROJECT STATUS: Production
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Clementina Ojie
PRODUCER: Efosa Ogbomo
PRODUCER: Josh Olaoluwa
PRODUCER: Happiness Emmanuel
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bron Moyi

LOGLINE:

High and hellbent on finding a groom for an 8-month marriage contract, a seemingly reckless woman holds groom auditions in a church until her uptight best friend crashes the party, and dark truths are revealed.

SYNOPSIS:

This dramedy centers on Ella, a cheeky bride-to-be who is auditioning husbands for an 8-month marriage, complete with Craigslist, Insta, and Facebook weirdos and questions about vomit tolerance. But when Selene, her sharp-tongued best friend storms in wearing flip-flops and suspicion, the irreverent comedy begins to crack. What starts as a madcap mission to say “I do” unravels into something far more tender: a reckoning between two friends, one chasing connection at all costs, and the other determined to save her girl from herself.

TEAM

CLEMENTINA OJIE, (Writer/ Director)

Clementina Ojie is an award-winning writer, executive producer, and first-time director born in Nigeria and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Her Nigerian script, “Kingdom 4-1-9” was selected as a second rounder for the 2022 Austin Film Festival. Her 2022 short film “Ijé,” which focused on the police brutality that led to the Lagos End SARS protests of 2020, was an official selection in 10+ film festivals worldwide, including the Baltimore International Black Film Festival. She won a grant from the 2023 New York City Women’s fund for her upcoming Nigerian fiction feature film “Love & Seclusion” and her script for “Jàpà” was also selected as a finalist for the De Groot Foundation’s 2024 LANDO grant.

EFOSA OGBOMO, (Producer)

Efosa Ogbomo is an innovative producer and filmmaker with a passion for pushing creative boundaries in film. An active producer in Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry, Efosa produced the 2023 feature film “Iyi: The Hearse Driver”, a crime thriller that intersects Nigeria’s indigenous funeral rites with our political landscape. Most recently, he served as a producer for the Nigerian short film “T’Égbon, T’Àburo,” which was nominated for the Best Short Film Award at the 2024 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards and Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival, respectively. He also co-produced the forthcoming second season of Amazon Prime’s “Grind”, a Lagos-based series whose first season held the #1 spot on Prime for 5 consecutive weeks in Nigeria.

JOSH OLAOLUWA, ( Producer)

Josh Olaoluwa is a Nigerian producer who is keen on telling authentic African stories. His most recent works have been featured on Netflix, the Smithsonian Institute and Amazon Prime Video. He produced 2 seasons of “Grind” (2022-2024), a series on Amazon Prime that debuted at number 1 on the list of top streamed shows in Nigeria. He produced “Naked Woman”, a short that was officially selected by the Smithsonian Museum of African Arts in D.C to commemorate Nigeria’s 62nd independence. Josh also worked as a producer at Africa’s foremost studio EbonyLife Studios, where he produced Netflix’s 2022 Nigerian romance film “A Sunday Affair.” Josh is a recent alum of Film Independent’s Project Involve, the Torino Film Lab (Italy), and Red Sea Labs (Saudi Arabia). He was also selected as a winner of Venice Film Festival’s Biennale Cinema 2024 grant.

HAPPINESS EMMANUEL, (Producer)

Happiness Emmanuel is a Nigerian-American filmmaker with a deep love for storytelling that bridges cultures and illuminates the human experience. In 2018, she launched a podcast that explored personal stories and cultural narratives, quickly gaining thousands of plays across platforms. In 2019, Happiness apprenticed under director Robert Peters, the founder of Whitestone Pictures, an Atlanta production company whose work includes the highest-grossing film in Nigerian box office history. Eager to deepen her craft, Happiness studied screenwriting at the New York Film Academy (NYFA), trained at the Identity School of Acting, and honed her skills at the Los Angeles Film School. In 2024, Happiness produced the short film, “Deep Dish Dimples” which was sponsored by Film Independent’s Project Involve and premiered at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.

BRON MOYI, (Cinematographer)

Bron Moyi is an award-winning cinematographer and photographer whose body of work includes music videos, commercials, narrative features and documentary shorts. He launched his career in the vibrant New Orleans film community and worked on notable projects including “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (2016), “Girls Trip” (2017), “Queen Sugar” (2017), and more. In 2018, he received the Best Cinematography Award at the 29th Annual New Orleans Film Festival. He also served as the cinematographer for “Silent Beauty”, a documentary that was selected for the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI Pond5 program and the 2020 Independent Filmmaker Project Labs.

Ella & Selene

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Team Members