Omorose Osagie, a Nigerian-Canadian writer and director, often explores isolation, perception, and power dynamics through her work. When a young girl disappears from her apartment complex, Osas, a craftswoman and outsider within her community, is haunted by her grief for someone she only knew from a distance. ‘Lost Wax’ is her latest film – a drama weaving live action and 2D animation which follows the thread between the disappearance of an Edo girl from Benin City and the stolen art of the Benin kingdom. Filmed in Vancouver and Nigeria, the film stars Wumi Tuase, Diana Egwuatu, Eyiyemi Olivia and Pamilerin Ayodeji.

‘Lost Wax’ has played at Reelworld Film Festival, Essence Film Festival, Slamdance, GEMfest and the Saint John’s Women’s Film Festival. It took home the Outstanding Shorts Producer and Cinematographer awards at Reelworld and the jury prize for Best Animation at the Essence Film Festival in 2025. 

In this article, Omorose Osagie speaks to Asis Sethi about influences in her storytelling and the thoughts behind ‘Lost Wax’ and more.

As a Nigerian-Canadian filmmaker, how do both identities influence your storytelling?

The stories and movies we grow up on in our formative years stay with us forever. I bring a lot of them into my artistry today. I grew up watching Nigerian, Canadian, and American movies and TV shows. All of those stories impacted me as an artist, so I pull from them consciously and subconsciously. When I started studying film, my world opened up to include films from all over the world and every era. All of the work I make comes from my context as a first-generation Nigerian-Canadian. 

Lost Wax explores the parallels between the disappearance of an Edo girl in Nigeria and the historical theft of the Benin Bronzes. What compelled you to tell this story?

As an Edo woman who grew up in Canada, I heard about the stereotype that Edo women are ‘promiscuous’. I learned that this stereotype came from the high rate of sex workers in Italy who are from Edo State, and that many of these women are promised opportunities abroad and then trafficked. I also grew up hearing about the Edo artists in Benin City, Nigeria, who have been creating bronze statues using the lost wax technique for centuries. The idea for this film came from exploring the overlap between the artisans who made the pieces stolen from the Oba’s (king’s) palace, which exist outside of their original context in museums around the world, and the stolen girls.

Tell us about your creative choices – you used surrealism, black-and-white cinematography, and animation in the short film.

We shot Lost Wax in black and white because when you remove the stimulus of colour, you’re left with the composition and the frame. We felt like it would emphasize the film’s poetic, whimsical, and suspenseful tone. I wanted each shot to feel like a photograph with limited camera movement because the camera’s stillness helps the audience to sit in the suspenseful moments with the characters. When the film shows the empty spaces of the apartment building that Mercy used to traverse while her mother calls out to look for her, we feel the weight of her disappearance. The whimsical elements of the story come in the 2D animation sequence; it’s a breath for the audience after Mercy’s loss while we explore a surrealist depiction of Osas’s grief. 

You shot the film in Nigeria. What did the pre-production and production process look like for you? What were your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

We shot most of the film in Nigeria except the museum scene, which was shot in Vancouver. We worked with an incredible producer in Nigeria who helped us find crew, and we did most of the pre-production virtually. So casting and locations were done virtually, but we arrived two weeks before the shoot to get adjusted to the time zone difference, do a camera test, meet the actors, and do a pre-visualization of the locations in Nigeria. I’d say our biggest challenge was trying to get the final shot of Mercy’s mother in the film before sunset. We ended up pivoting to get the shot in time, and in that pivot, we found a moment that was more intimate, where the audience could be closer to her character. 

While many people may be aware of stolen artwork, not everyone would think about what cultural theft means for communities. What conversations are you hoping the film would spark?

I’m happy for the audience to discuss any of the layers in the film; whatever they feel and resonate with is always interesting to me. As a writer, I have intentions, but there are blind spots that I have when I create, so I love witnessing my films through the eyes of others. With the film’s ending, I wanted to explore what to do in times where we’re grieving as a community, even if we’re grieving a stranger within our community. My intention is to say that in our moments of communal grief, we can pass on small comforts to each other. This quote from Dausha Lameris’s poem, “Small Kindnesses”, was my guiding light when writing it. She says, ‘We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together.’ At the end of the film, our lead character, Osas, passes along a small comfort to Mercy’s mom.

You’ve used silence in your sound design. Which moments in the story did you feel silence would be most important and why?

We used the silence so that the audience can sit in the emptiness caused by Mercy’s loss. While the film shows the empty spaces in her apartment complex, the audience hears her mom’s cries followed by silence. The silence allows the audience to comprehend the loss and sit in the void created by Mercy’s disappearance. In contrast, the beginning of the film is filled with the joy of the game the kids were playing. I love playing around with music and sound in my films. I feel like sound is another way of writing the story, first with the script and the visual choices, then the sound and music choices. 

Quick Takes:

– What projects are you currently pitching or developing?
I’m writing a narrative feature film and a short proof of concept as well as another short film. 

– What stage are these projects in (writing, pre-production, post-production)?
I’m in the writing stage for all of my projects.

– What kind of collaborators are you looking for right now? (writers, actors, producers, crew, etc.)

I’d love to meet more producers, cinematographers, editors, and crew. I just moved to Toronto from Vancouver, so I’m open to connecting.

– How can people get in touch if they want to collaborate or learn more?
They can send me a message through my website (https://www.omoroseosagie.com/contact)

– Are you looking for submissions, funding, or other opportunities?
I’m always looking to find funding for my new ideas, but I’m also hoping to work for hire as a director in the commercial space while still making my films. So I’m looking for commercial directing opportunities, and of course, film opportunities. 

– Any upcoming events, screenings, or launches readers should know about?
We just had a screening in Ireland this month at the Galway Film Fleadh, at Fantasia, and we’re playing in Ghana as well at the Accra Indie FilmFest.