Delta on screen: Asaba's film city and Warri's new festival

Nollywood is often thought of as a Lagos story, but a lot of it is made in Delta. In 2023 UNESCO named Asaba a Creative City of Film, and in December 2025 Warri held its first international film festival. Both are growing.

Asaba, City of Film

Asaba joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Film in 2023, one of 55 cities added that year. On UNESCO's network page, the city describes itself as a centre of Nollywood, producing around 1,000 to 1,500 films a year, and home to Nigeria's first film village, which hosts film conferences and artist residencies.

By the city's own estimate, around 100,000 film professionals and actors work in its creative sector. As part of joining the network, Asaba committed to training local talent and giving young filmmakers places to show their work.

Warri gets a festival

The first Warri International Film Festival ran from 8 to 12 December 2025. Its founder, the filmmaker Alex Eyengho, set out to bring film-making back to Warri and, in time, to build a film village there too.

Twenty-three feature and short films competed in 11 categories. The festival opened with Bamidele Adelusi's SUKY, directed by Ola Cardoso, and closed with Break of Dawn, which went on to win seven awards, including best feature film and best director for Umanu Elijah. A Cameroonian film, Dead Man's Wish, took best screenplay, and Love from Bayelsa won best short film.

The jury president, Amayo Uzo Philips, told the festival that "cinema is not just entertainment; it is memory, activism, courage, and healing." Intercontinental Distillers was the main sponsor, and the festival honoured Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and veteran filmmakers alongside its competition winners.

The second edition

WARRIFF returns from 8 to 12 December 2026. Its call for entries is open to filmmakers from anywhere, across feature, short, documentary, student and experimental films, and skits, and the organisers promise panels, masterclasses and awards alongside the screenings. Venues haven't been announced yet.

Why it matters

Asaba's UNESCO profile credits the film industry with creating jobs and attracting international investment, and treats culture as a route to growing the city sustainably. That is the bet: that stories told on screen can build an economy off it.

Film brings work: crews, actors, caterers, hotels, transport. With a UNESCO title in Asaba and a festival in Warri, Delta has two anchors for an industry that already employs thousands. The creator economy is one of the sectors on our investment desk, for anyone who wants to build studios, training or services around it.

Read next

• WARRIFF 2026: dates and details
• The first WARRIFF, December 2025
• The creator economy in Delta
• The story of Asaba