Introduction
Films have a certain kind of magic to them, especially when seen in the company of other film lovers. You go in, the story hooks you, and after the credits roll, nobody leaves. Suddenly, everyone is deep in conversation about the ending, the plot, everything. It's late, the drinks and snacks are gone, and you're already thinking about the next one.
That's what Lagos's film club scene has built. No grand plan, just people who loved films and wanted somewhere to watch them properly and talk about them honestly. Over the last decade, those people found each other, and the spaces they created; in warehouses, courtyards, and rooftops across the city, have become some of the most exciting rooms in Lagos.
Here are 7 of Lagos' most interesting film clubs.
The Treehouse Lagos
Located in the top flat of a seven-story building in Ikoyi, Lagos, The Treehouse supports creative experimentation, artistic research, and the asking of radical and open questions. It was founded by artist Wura-Natasha Ogunji and is a space where artists can express themselves and learn to evolve beyond one medium.
Film and moving images are central to the Treehouse's programmes. They’ve hosted experimental film screenings, workshops, and residencies that treat cinema not as entertainment but as a kind of inquiry, happening right here in Ikoyi. The Treehouse has also collaborated with the Arthouse Foundation and Institute of Contemporary Arts on experimental film and live art events.
The Film Rats Club
Founded in 2017 by actor and director Martin Nwachukwu, The Film Rats Club is a community of around 150 filmmakers and film lovers who, in good faith, spread the gospel of good cinema and celebrate the filmmakers who make it.
Film Rats Club documents, educates, and champions the voices of African indie filmmakers through community, culture, and creative expression, creating space for filmmakers to grow, collaborate, and be seen on their own terms. They also run screenings, workshops, panel discussions, filmmaker interviews, film criticism, reviews, and spotlights on emerging work.
Their flagship event is The Annual Film Mischief (TAFM), a festival dedicated entirely to low-budget independent films. The festival has expanded its scope to films from across Africa, not just Nigeria. For young Nigerian filmmakers who feel squeezed out by Nollywood's mainstream machinery, Film Rats is proof that another kind of cinema community is possible.
Home Movie Film Club
Home Movie Film Club is one of the most unexpected and genuinely exciting collisions of subcultures happening in Lagos right now. Co-hosted by Wafflesncream and Suudu Lagos, the monthly screening series brings together film enthusiasts, skaters, creatives, and curious strangers in a way that feels completely natural. The focus is on BIPOC directors, indie films, and skate culture.
The club is curated by Rachel Ojuromi, and screenings are followed by Q&A sessions with directors and filmmakers, making it a genuine opportunity for film enthusiasts to connect and engage in real conversation about what they've just watched.
Past editions have screened work as varied as CJ Obasi's Mamiwata and short films by emerging Nigerian directors, alongside films like Borders by Apolline Traoré and Irun Didi by Olawunmi Hassan and Adaobi Samson.
Family Film Club
Don't let the name fool you. Family Film Club is less about children's movies and more about the feeling of gathering with people who feel like family to watch something that means something. One of the newer additions to Lagos's film club scene, Family Film Club is a casual, community-driven group built around the simple but powerful idea that watching films together should feel warm, accessible, and social, and not intimidating or exclusive.
Their signature event, Family Film Therapy, is the heart of what they do, a themed screening experience that treats cinema as a space for reflection and conversation. In a city where film clubs can sometimes feel like they're for a certain kind of person, Family Film Club is working to make sure everyone feels welcome.
Family Film Club is the brainchild of Family Inc Studio, a Lagos-based creative production company co-founded by Ademola Falomo. They've directed standout music videos like Rema’s "Dumebi," and Tems’ "Damages," and worked on branded campaigns for Spotify, short films, video production and cultural projects and fashion pieces such as Braye’s "Bring You Home.”
The Screen In Transit
The Screen In Transit is a Lagos-based nomadic microcinema collective rethinking how we experience film. Instead of traditional screenings, they curate intimate, thoughtfully themed sessions that bring people together to watch, reflect, and actually talk. Their programming focuses on African and Global South cinema, with stories that explore home, identity, gender, and the environment.
The Screen In Transit was founded by Raphel Famotibe, who also moderates WAFFLENSCREAM and Lagos Home Movie Film Club. The collective moves across spaces and cities, collaborating with cultural institutions and creative communities along the way.
They've also collaborated on international series like A Taste of Home: African Cinema in London, screening films such as This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection and Nigerian shorts. Their screenings are less about sitting quietly in a dark room and more about building connection using cinema as a starting point for conversation, curiosity, and shared understanding.
Candid Movie Club
Candid Movie Club has a simple promise; show up, watch something good, and leave having met someone new. It was built around immersive short-film screenings and social hangouts, and has carved out a loyal following in Lagos by making the whole experience feel less like a film event and more like a night out with people who happen to love cinema.
There are post-screening discussions, yes, but also games, food, and Jameson cocktails, which tells you everything you need to know about what kind of crowd they're building.
Their events are typically held at venues around Lekki like Jameson Yard and Wumego Crescent, and they welcome solo attendees just as well as big groups. Candid Movie Club is less interested in being the most prestigious room in Lagos and more interested in being the most fun, and in a city this busy and loud, that is its own kind of achievement.
Angels and Muse
Founded by artist Victor Ehikhamenor in 2018, Angels and Muse was inspired by a social entrepreneurship space he encountered in Washington DC. He brought that energy home to Lagos and built something distinctly Nigerian with it.
As an alternative art and culture space, Angels and Muse was created to nurture, empower, and express the creative talents of Africans while connecting them to global opportunities. The space's multidisciplinary room serves multiple purposes; workshops, training, book readings, experimental and conceptual art exhibitions and screenings.
They also host monthly events that include book readings, artist talks and conversations, music sessions, and other events that give room for conversation around multidisciplinary art across visual art, literature, and culture. The space has also co-organised events in collaboration with institutions like MoMA and the Goethe Institut.
Conclusion
These clubs and spaces exist because there’s a hunger in Lagos for films that are stranger, slower, more honest, or simply more interested in the full complexity of life than the mainstream allows. They’re also building something beyond programming: a film culture. A community of people who believe cinema is worth taking seriously, worth arguing about, and worth gathering for.
Member discussion