Filmmaker Jade Osiberu has publicly appreciated actress Joke Silva for helping her secure funding for her first feature film, Isoken.
Osiberu, via her Instagram on Monday, made this known while looking back on the women who have supported her career. She posted after speaking at an International Women’s Day event about how women have helped her find opportunities.
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She wrote, “I was speaking at an International Women’s Day event and was reflecting on how women have been pivotal at every stage of my career, advocating, championing, opening doors, sacrificing…
“Today I celebrate my first real cooperate boss, Mrs Lola Odedina, who when I came up with the idea for @ndanitv booked a meeting with the MD of GTBank and asked me to pitch it to him myself. As an ET at the time, it was such a confidence boost that she had that kind of faith in me. And she continued to show that faith and advocate for me throughout my career at the bank.
“@jokesilvafans was the only female on @bionigeria Nollyfund panel when I was pitching for a loan to make my first film, Isoken. When a number of the men on the panel dismissed my plans as idealistic, Aunty J spoke up for me and ensured I was shortlisted to get the funding. I ended up being one of only a handful of filmmakers who paid back that loan.
“I never tire of saying how my mum put up her house as collateral at the bank for me to take the loan for Isoken. I know how hard she worked to buy that house and what losing it would have meant so the fact that she would risk that for my dreams
“The last few years of my career have been some of the most transformational with Prime acquiring Gangs of Lagos and signing a 3year deal with me and @greohstudios . @w.a.n.g.i_ was at the center of making that happen, advocating and championing in rooms where it mattered.
“Perhaps my most consistent collaborator. Even @chef_fregz knows we’re sharing here. There’s no time I’ve picked up the phone to say @lalaakindoju I have this idea that she hasn’t said “how we Dey run am”. That she never has to pause to think about it, to check her calendar, to ask if it’s even achievable… that faith is like fuel to a creator and it spurs me to fly.
“Today and always I celebrate all the women who have showed up for me in big and little ways. May we have the good fortune of knowing these types of women and may we be them.”
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Osiberu began her career in banking, then moved into media, working with Ndani TV. She eventually shifted to filmmaking, directing and producing films such as Isoken, Sugar Rush, Brotherhood, and Gangs of Lagos.
In 2023, her film Gangs of Lagos became the first Nigerian original released on Prime Video. It was produced by her company, Greoh Studios, as part of a three-year deal with the streaming platform to create original films and series.
Isoken, released in 2017, marked her feature film debut and helped establish her as one of the prominent female filmmakers in Nollywood.