Cairo, Egypt — 19 February 2026
CANEX Creations Inc. (CCInc), the intellectual property investment subsidiary backed by Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), today announced its investment in the feature film Clarissa, a Nigerian-produced drama directed by twin filmmakers Arie and Chuko Esiri. The film has been acquired for worldwide distribution by NEON, which will oversee theatrical release in the United States and international markets, with NEON International handling foreign sales.
A contemporary reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s novel relocated to Lagos, Clarissa was shot on 35mm in Lagos and Delta State. The film follows society woman Clarissa as she prepares to host a party at her home, only to encounter once-intimate friends from her youth. Over the course of a single night, memories of intricate relationships, passionate love, hidden desires, and lost aspirations give rise to a bittersweet reckoning.
Clarissa features an acclaimed ensemble cast including Sophie Okonedo (Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee), David Oyelowo (Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee), Emmy Award winner Ayo Edebiri, alongside India Amarteifio (Bridgerton), Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Knock at the Cabin), and a broader cast of distinguished performers. The film is written, directed, and produced by Arie and Chuko Esiri, whose debut feature Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) premiered at the Berlinale, won multiple African Movie Academy Awards, and was subsequently released by Janus Films before being selected for the Criterion Collection, a rare distinction that signals enduring artistic significance.
The Esiri brothers produce Clarissa alongside Theresa Park (Per Capita Productions) and Nicholas Weinstock (Invention Studios), with co-producers Nina Gold and Thomas Bassett. Executive producers include Sophie Okonedo, Dolly Omodolapo Kola-Balogun, Osahon Okunbo, and Jason Reif.
Commenting on the investment, Osahon Akpata, Chief Executive Officer of CANEX Creations Inc., said:
“Clarissa exemplifies the type of globally resonant, IP-driven storytelling that CANEX Creations Inc (CCInc) was established to support. The film combines literary heritage, world-class filmmaking, and African production capacity, while remaining firmly rooted on the continent. Its acquisition by NEON validates both the creative ambition of the filmmakers and the viability of Africa-backed financing structures for internationally scalable film content.”
Reflecting on the film’s creative vision, Chuko Esiri, writer, director and producer, said, “From the beginning, it was important to us that Clarissa be both rooted and resourced on the continent where it is set. Having African institutions back a film of this scale reflects a growing confidence that our stories can be produced from within. Clarissa is a story centered on time and memory, and in bringing it to life, we chose to shoot on 35mm in the hope it will first feel, then stand next to the great films of modern cinema”.
Production financing for filming in Nigeria was provided entirely by Africa-based institutions, led by CCInc. alongside MBO Capital, underscoring the growing capacity of African capital to support globally competitive film projects.
The acquisition was negotiated by NEON’s Kate Gondwe, with UTA Independent Film Group representing the filmmakers.
Clarissa marks CCInc’s continued commitment to investing in high-quality Global Africa intellectual property with clear pathways to international markets, in line with its mandate to catalyze export-ready creative assets across film, television, music, fashion, and other IP-intensive sectors.
ENDS
ABOUT CANEX CREATIONS INC.
CANEX Creations Inc. (CCInc) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the equity investment arm of Afreximbank. Established to commercialize Africa’s intellectual property assets, CCInc invests in, and supports, creators and innovators across film, television, music, fashion, sports, technology and life sciences, enabling them to access global markets and unlock value from their ideas.
About FEDA
The Fund for Export Development in Africa (“FEDA”) is the impact investment subsidiary of Afreximbank (www.afreximbank.com), set up to provide equity, quasi-equity, and debt capital to finance the multi-billion-dollar funding gap (particularly in equity) needed to transform the Trade sector in Africa. FEDA pursues a multi-sector investment strategy along the intra-African trade, value-added export development, and manufacturing value chain which includes financial services, technology, consumer and retail goods, manufacturing, transport & logistics, agribusiness, as well as ancillary trade enabling infrastructure such as industrial parks.
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank has set up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2024, Afreximbank’s total assets and contingencies stood at over US$40.1 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$7.2 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa2), China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) (AAA), and Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its equity impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com
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About NEON
In only nine years, NEON has garnered 57 Academy Award® nominations (18 this year), 11 total wins (5 last year), including two Best Picture wins, and this year earned a historic 21 Golden Globe nominations, the most of any motion picture studio this year. The company continues to push boundaries and take creative risks on bold cinema such as Sean Baker’s Anora, which recently took home five Academy Awards® including Best Picture, and was released in theaters to the highest per-screen average of 2024; as well as Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which made history winning four Academy Awards®, becoming the first non-English-language film to claim Best Picture, and grossed over $54M at the domestic box office.
NEON has built an impressive streak winning the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with six consecutive wins, includingthis most recent year’s winner It Was Just an Accident from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, as well as Anora, Parasite, Anatomy of a Fall, Titane, and Triangle of Sadness. In 2024, NEON was named The Hollywood Reporter’s Independent Studio of the Year and received the Clio Award for Studio of the Year.
As a burgeoning leader in the production space, NEON’s recent and upcoming in-house productions include: David Robert Mitchell’s They Follow starring Maika Monroe; the highly anticipated Boots Riley feature I Love Boosters starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, Demi Moore, and Eiza González; The Wrong Girls starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat; Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer; and Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool. NEON’s international sales outfit handles the company’s in-house titles as well as third party projects.
NEON has amassed a library of over 120 films, with a noteworthy selection of Academy Award® nominated films including: Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig; Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days; Robot Dreams from Pablo Bergfeer; documentaries All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Fire of Love, Moonage Daydream, and Flee, which made history becoming the first film to score an impressive trifecta of Oscar® nominations; Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in The World; and Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya.
ABOUT MBO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LTD.
MBO Capital Management Limited (“MBO Capital”) is a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed Nigerian investment and financial advisory firm committed to advancing economic development across Sub-Saharan Africa. Since its incorporation in 2012, MBO Capital has deployed capital and expertise to enable businesses expand their operations and the markets they serve. In the film, television and digital content space, as at December 2025, MBO Capital has funded 37 titles, 29 of which have been released in local and international cinemas and on streaming platforms, showcasing African stories globally.
About Per Capita Productions
Per Capita Productions is a production company championing unusual stories by fearless auteurs. Its films include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, starring Timothée Chalamet, which debuted at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and won the Silver Lion, and Kogonada’s After Yang, starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Justin Min, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and received the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. For television, Park served as executive producer on the critically acclaimed anthology series Roar and the animated children’s series The Sisters Grimm for Apple TV+, as well as the lauded limited series Expats for Amazon. Currently in development is an untitled feature film with Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki based on an episode of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog and a TV series with director Sian Heder based on Mary Beth Keane’s NYT bestselling novel Ask Again, Yes. Park is also a producer on films in development based on Nicholas Sparks’s #1 New York Times bestselling novels, including The Wish at Universal Studios and Counting Miracles at Amazon Studios, as well as the upcoming Warner Bros. supernatural romantic thriller co-created by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan, Remain.
About Invention Studios
Invention Studios is an independent production company devoted to bold and original storytelling and to supporting extraordinary creators across the world. Invention is currently developing projects with Apple, FX, Mattel Studios, Fifth Season, Fremantle, Gaumont in Italy, BriskPace in Germany, Mediawan in France, FilmOne in Nigeria, Glassriver in Iceland and more. Invention is also the home of Craft Services: a first-of-its-kind support network and project incubator serving more than 1,000 emerging movie and TV writers across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, Africa and beyond.