Tiwa Savage turns actress, directs new movie 'Water and Garri'

Nigerian music star Tiwa Savage has taken a new leap as a lead actress and co-director of a new movie.

The 43-year-old artiste on Wednesday announced that she would make her debut for her first-ever movie titled ‘Water and Garri’.

Sharing a post on Instagram of a picture of her on set and with directors, she wrote, “This is about to be an ICONIC moment. My first calling and co-directing debut with the GOAT @meji Alabi.”

According to Screen Daily, the movie Water and Garri stems from Tiwa’s 2021 EP of the same title.

In the movie, while in the city of Cape Coast in Ghana, Tiwa plays the role of a fashion designer with a budding career in the U.S. who returns to her home in Africa to confront the guilt she left behind.

She is joined by Mike Afolarin, Andrew Bunting and Jemima Osunde.

African production company Unbound Studios and its subsidiary JM Films are said to have wrapped principal photography on their first feature, Water and Garri.

Meji Alabi directed the film written by Comfort Emmanuel, with Tiwa co-directing.

Jimi Adesanya produced the movie from Unbound Studios. Unbound Studios and its Subsidiary JM Films are African Production companies.

Alabi and Adesanya also serve as executive producers, along with Vannessa Amadi-Ogbonna.

Tiwa also wrote and performed the film’s original soundtrack and is an executive producer through her Everything Savage company.

The international film news site claimed that the Lagos-born singer had rounded off shooting in Ghana.

Commenting on the completion of the project, Tiwa said, “This project was a complete labour of love that has been a dream of mine for several years.”

“Performing as Aisha allowed me to be vulnerable and pushed me to express myself in a way never done before. It was an honour to share my debut as an actress with Meji whilst filming on the African continent with a cast and crew that I greatly respect. I’m excited for the world to see this film.”

Alabi explaining how it was to work with the international afrobeats star, said it was an incredible experience.

He said, “We’ve worked together on multiple music projects over the years, and this film was a perfect progression of our creative growth and shared vision of exploring beyond boundaries.

“It’s such an exciting story, and Tiwa nailed her debut as a lead actress amongst an incredible supporting cast. Looking forward to sharing this film with the world.”

Adesanya said the goal is to produce film and TV projects that will level the playing field to collaborate and build high-quality content with both indigenous and significant players in succession.

“The Nollywood industry is fascinating right now with a continuous burst of talent and more distribution access, so we look forward to playing our part of moving the needle even further.”

A scheduled date for the movie’s release has not been made public.