Showmax is My Home for the Best African Entertainment

I cannot remember the exact moment I heard about Showmax. I know, though, that from 2016 I started seeing ads on TV promising that it had the best entertainment. What did catch my interest was when one of the ads was a teaser of Shattered, a 2011 Kenyan film featuring Nollywood star, Rita Dominic. But I never got around to opening an account then, and it is a failure that I regret till now. Shattered is no longer on Showmax and I'm yet to see it anywhere else.

I grew up surrounded by aunties who were such Nollywood fanatics, and so at a young age I developed an interest in the home videos they watched every night and binged on during the weekends, and soon I grew a preference for them over the cartoons I was expected to watch and like. And that continues till now. My film interest is tailored to what is Nigerian, what is African. I like to watch people whose stories I relate with the most, whose environment and situation are similar to mine.

However, I’m no longer that 6-year-old who was fascinated and satisfied with the theatrics of Patience Ozokwo and would sometimes mimic her in the mirror. I’ve grown. Taste has become more sophisticated. I now worry about things like ill-structured plots, hammy acting, on-the-nose dialogues, moralising didactic stories. They make the film viewing experience unbearable for me. And frankly, at some point, you get bored of the wicked mother-in-law and persecuted daughter-in-law stories, especially if they are told the same way and offer nothing new. This means that I got detached from Nollywood for a while, and began to look elsewhere for films and entertainment that would appeal to me. Little did I know that what I was looking for in Sokoto, was really in my domot.

I downloaded the Showmax app in 2020 just to check it out. It promised me a 2-weeks free subscription, and that was enough time to check it out. But I have been an active subscriber since then. I stumbled upon a wide array of diverse films from African cinema. I’m talking about revered names like Ousmane Sembène, Djibril Diop Mabéty, and even Nigerian filmmakers like Tunde Kelani and Akin Omotoso. It opened me up to films from as far back as the 60s. As a filmmaker in training, the discovery of the films not only meant entertainment galore, but it became an education in African cinema and storytelling. An opportunity to learn from the masters. I had to turn my Instagram page into a form of platform for curating films, sharing stills, and discussing my thoughts on the films. It attracted me to a number of fellow film enthusiasts and young filmmakers and I would get DMs asking, where did you see these films? The answer was simply SHOWMAX.

And Showmax offers a lot more than African films and shows on their platform. You can watch live shows. I'm talking about Big Brother. Sports. News Channels. The blockbuster Hollywood films straight out of the cinemas are on Showmax. And my personal favourite: HBO shows are available on Showmax. Game of Thrones. The Leftovers. Insecure. Succession. The list is endless.

Consider this an act of altruism: Below, I’m recommending some of my favourite films and shows available on Showmax. Most of them are exclusive to the platform. You are welcome.

Favourite African Films on Showmax 

The Ghost and House of Truth

The Ghost and House of Truth is a 2019 film produced by Ego Boyo and directed by Akin Omotoso. The film is about a single mother in search of her missing daughter. It is my favourite Nigerian film. I saw it only once in the cinemas but its message resonated so deeply with me that I had to write an essay about the film. Since its launch on Showmax in 2020, I’ve seen it again more times than I can count. What I find most interesting about the film is its humanising of criminals and offenders. Our protagonist, Bola Ogun, mother to the missing Nike, works as a counselor in reconciliation service. Her work is to help reconcile convicted offenders with victims of their crimes. So we hear from the offender why they had carried out the crime, and from the victim, how the offender has caused them pain. The purpose of the dialogue is to help victims come to terms with the unfortunate event, and for the convicted criminals to understand the impact of their crime. This creates room for forgiveness and healing for both victims and convicted criminals. What was interesting was seeing the mediator, Bola Ogun, become a victim of crime and convicted offender by the end of the film, and in this table turn, we see that we cannot truly understand the pain and circumstances of people and their reaction to those circumstances until we’ve gone through that or a similar situation. This is the film’s message.

Watch The Ghost and House of Truth on Showmax.

This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection

Imagine that you are a woman in your 80s and have lived your whole life at a place, you got married and raised your child there, husband and child die and you bury them there, but towards the end of your own life, as you prepare for your funeral, you are to be evicted from this place you've always known as home to make way for dam construction. This is the story at the centre of Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's award-winning This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection starring the now late South African actress Mary Twala as Mantoa, the 80-year-old widow. The film's accolades include being selected as Lesotho’s entry for the 93rd Oscars and several nominations and wins at the AMAAs in 2020.

Watch This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection on Showmax

Agogo Eewo

Agogo Eewo is the 2002 sequel to the classic 1999 Saworoide, directed by legendary filmmaker Tunde Kelani. This time, the corrupt chiefs of Jogbo try to bypass tradition to further their greedy exploitation of Jogbo’s resources. The film is a striking allegory of Nigeria's political situation, especially in the years immediately after military rule.

Watch Agogo Eewo on Showmax 

Moolaadé

Ousmane Sembene's 2004 Moolaadé set in a rural community in Burkina Faso rallies against female genital mutilation. My favourite thing about the film was that it was the women, headed by the protagonist Coile, that fought against the circumcision of their daughters. The absence of a saviour complex. I liked that. The mothers had borne and experienced the pain of genital mutilation and just did not want that for their daughters and together, they fought the men and won! Such a beautiful and thoughtful film.

Watch Moolaadé on Showmax 

Tell Me Sweet Something

A 2015 romantic comedy by Akin Omotoso. I believe this is enough nudge to watch it. It follows Moratiwa, a bookstore keeper who desires to be a writer. Then she meets the model nat, who wants to prove that he is more than a pretty body. But how well do they align despite differences in career path and dreams? Find out on Showmax.

Favourite African Shows on Showmax 

The Wife

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve surely seen my impassioned tweets about Hlomu and Mqhele, the central characters of The Wife, a Showmax original. There’s no better African show… let me be humble and rephrase: I haven’t seen an African show better than The Wife. It is based on the South African book series Hlomu the Wife by Dudu Basani-Dube and follows Hlomu (Mbalenhle Mavimbela), an ambitious journalist, who falls for the charismatic taxi driver Mqhele (Bonko Khoza) with a very dark secret. Discussing this series would be giving too much away, but I'd say come for the love story of Hlomu and Mqhele and do not be too shaken by the complexities of their characters and relationship.

Watch The Wife on Showmax

Famous

This is a Kenyan show. The first Kenyan show on Showmax. Famous is a musical and revolves around a team of young musicians in Nairobi. There’s Nyota, who is up-and-coming and struggling with the harsh reality of the entertainment world. Nikita is a star whose luck seems to be running out after a series of scandals, partly thanks to her controlling partner Magic, her producer.

Watch Famous on Showmax

Movement Japa

On the night Movement Japa premiered on Africa magic, I tweeted "now that’s how you start a show". The pilot was a thrilling ride. The following episodes have managed to stay exciting and entertaining. New episodes drop every Monday by 9pm on the channel but because I often forget time, I now watch it on Showmax. Movement Japa is about Shina (Gideon Okeke) on that daily Lagos grind to hustle and survive, he’s also on a search for a new dispensation: like all young people frustrated with life in Nigeria, he wants to Japa. No matter our socio-economic situation, it’s a story that all Nigerians can relate to. The series also stars Okawa Shazny and Sambasa Nzeribe with Femi Odugbemi as its executive producer.

Watch Movement Japa on Showmax

Enakhe

I loved Enakhe. The crime drama kept me out of breath through its many twists and turns and deaths, through the 260 episodes. The titular character is played by Ivie Okujaye who has to become what she despises in honour of her family, embracing her father’s ruthlessness. It’s set in Benin instead of Lagos, and one of its many delights is the crisp pidgin dialogue.

Watch Enakhe on Showmax

Riona

Just like Enakhe, Riona has completed its run and all 260 episodes are now available on Showmax. I liked it so much that I had to speak to the producer James Omokwe, about making it. Riona is set in 12th-century Itsekiri land and about a wicked king who’s desperate to rule forever. And while its dominant theme is the battle for the kingship of the land, the show also explored class tensions, cultural traditions, family relations, and romantic dramas.

Watch Riona on Showmax