Ifeoma Nkiruka Chukwuogo’s Phoenix Fury is scheduled to open in Nigerian cinemas today, Friday, 30 October, bringing the revenge drama to commercial audiences after its award-winning festival run.
Silverbird Cinemas lists the release for 30 October, while Nile Entertainment is handling distribution. The cinema release follows the film’s recognition at the 2024 Africa International Film Festival, where it won Best Film and earned Chukwuogo the Best Director award.
Written, produced and directed by Chukwuogo, Phoenix Fury centres on two women, Ewura-Ama and Ifeatu, whose lives become connected through loss, injustice and a shared desire for revenge. Its story crosses Nigeria and Ghana and unfolds across three decades.
Ewura-Ama, a grieving widow, inherits a luxury resort in Ghana. Her attempt to live quietly is disrupted by the arrival of Yali, a newly elected Nigerian governor whose presence brings unresolved events from the past into her life.
The film follows the women’s confrontation with the man responsible for their suffering. The programme for Norway’s Films from the South festival describes a narrative arranged in four chapters, with the women’s experiences forming the centre of the story.
The cast includes Uzoamaka Power, Onyinye Odokoro, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Tina Mba, Joseph Momodu and Ama K. Abebrese. The director’s filmography also lists Ghanaian actor Adjetey Anang, reflecting a production whose setting and performers extend across both countries.
The theatrical opening comes nearly two years after the film’s AFRIFF success. Chukwuogo’s official filmography records its Best Film and Best Director awards in 2024, followed by three nominations at the 2025 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.
Phoenix Fury was also included in the 2025 programme of Films from the South in Oslo. That festival listed it as a Nigerian and Ghanaian production, with English dialogue and English subtitles. Its credits identify Gideon Chidi Chukwu and Adeoluwa Owu as cinematographers.
The commercial release is Chukwuogo’s feature directorial debut reaching a wider Nigerian audience after those festival appearances. It adds a women-led revenge drama to this weekend’s cinema programme, with its principal characters’ encounters in Ghana tied to a Nigerian political figure.
Chukwuogo’s earlier work includes Bariga Sugar, on which she served as co-producer, director, co-writer and editor. Her other credits include the short documentary No Victors and the feature Dynamite, for which her filmography lists producing, writing and music composition roles.
She has also directed the six-part Showmax series Diiche and worked on NdaniTV’s Rumour Has It. Her production company, Fizzy K Pictures, develops and produces features, short films and series.
Alongside her screen work, Chukwuogo records music under the name Kirukaah and composes and performs soundtracks for film and television. Her official biography describes releases drawing on soul, jazz and afrofusion, as well as work in advertising and brand communication.
Born in Warri and raised in Port Harcourt, Chukwuogo studied corporate communication at the University of Texas at Austin before completing a master’s degree in film and media production at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, according to her official biography.
Silverbird’s current listing gives Phoenix Fury a running time of two hours and five minutes and lists its language as English.
Image: Phoenix Fury film still, via The Nollywood Reporter. Photographer not stated.
