Curriculum vitae

Dr. Samantha I. Iwowo, Ph.D., FHEA

British-Nigerian filmmaker, scholar, screenwriter, and educator. Principal Academic in Directing for Film & TV at Bournemouth University, working across postcolonial cinema, transnational media scholarship, creative practice, and screen pedagogy.

Location: United Kingdom

Email: hello@samanthaiwowo.com

Website: samanthaiwowo.com

Roles: Filmmaker / Scholar / Screenwriter / Educator

Profile

Dr. Samantha-Israel Iwowo [B.A. (Hons)., MSc., Ph.D., FHEA.], Principal Academic at Bournemouth University, based in the United Kingdom.
British-Nigerian filmmaker, scholar, screenwriter, and educator working across postcolonial cinema, transnational media scholarship, creative practice research, and directing pedagogy.
Specialisation includes content creation, story creation and development, character layering, genre specialisation, scriptwriting, film directing, and film-production consultancy.
Writing quote: "Characters don't talk about theme, they wallow in it" (S. Duncan, 2006).

Awards and distinctions

Winner, Best Screenplay, NAFCA Awards 2015 for Oloibiri.
Winning production team, Best Film, San Diego Black Film Festival 2016 for Oloibiri.
Winner, Award of Merit, Best Shorts Competition, Los Angeles 2015 for One of Several.
Nominated, AMAA 2016, Best Documentary for R.U.N.S.
Nominated, AMVCA 2017, Best Screenplay for Oloibiri.
Paper presentation at the University of Oxford and RAD Conference, 2017.
Visit lecture, London South Bank University, 2016.
Visit lecture, University College London, 2017.

Academic appointments and leadership

Co-Chair, Department of Media Production DEI Committee, Bournemouth University, January 2024-Present.
Principal Academic in Directing for Film & TV, Bournemouth University, September 2022-Present.
Programme Leader, Masters in Directing for Film & TV, Bournemouth University, August 2019-September 2024.
Senior Lecturer in Directing for Film & TV, Bournemouth University, September 2020-September 2022.
Lecturer, Directing Drama for Film & TV, Bournemouth University, October 2018-September 2020.
External Examiner, University of York, 2020.

Education

Ph.D. in Film, Television & Cinema, University of Bristol, 2013-2018. Grade: Minor Corrections.
PG Certificate Education Practice, Bournemouth University, October 2019-September 2020. Grade: Distinction.
Diploma in Film Directing, London Academy of Media, Film & TV, 2010.
M.Sc. in Corporate Communications and PR with emphasis on Brand Strategy, University of West London, 2009-2010.
B.A. in English Literature (British and Commonwealth), University of Benin, 1998-2003.

Industry and teaching experience

Filmmaker: Screenwriter / Director, Samantha Iwowo, April 2010-Present. Screenwriting for film and TV; content creation for drama-series television; screenplay, directing, and production consultancy; story-development and character-construction consultancy.
Associate Lecturer, Film Production, Southampton Solent University, September 2017-August 2018.
Commissioned Screenwriter and Director, MultiChoice, 2013-October 2015.
Fashion Writer, Vanguard Newspapers, Lagos, Nigeria, January 2007-January 2009.
Intern Writer, Vanguard Allure Weekend Magazine.

Selected filmography and screen projects

AIDA-Study Screenplay for a Social Psychology Research, London School of Economics, 2016. Screenplay.
Babymamas & Guitars, 2016. Co-creator / Story / Screenplay.
After the "I Dos" [An M-Net Festival Film], 2015. Story / Screenplay / Director.
Oloibiri, 2015. Story / Screenplay.
Till you're 16, 2015. Creator / Story / Screenplay.
Price of Spice, 2015. Co-creator / Story / Screenplay.
Wind Chasers [An M-Net Film], 2015. Story / Screenplay.
Go Get Milk, 2015. Director.
R.U.N.S, 2015. Producer / Story / Screenplay.
Time Knocks [An M-Net Film], 2014. Story / Screenplay.
Just a Maid [An M-Net Film], 2014. Story / Screenplay.
Tinsel [M-Net drama series], writer, 2013-2014.
Articulations of Politics in Nigeria, 2022. Director.
Mugabe, 2022. Commissioned biographical screenplay for Theatron Media Inc., Canada.
Paint Brush, forthcoming. Director.
Sparrow's Song, in pre-production. Co-creator / Screenwriter.

Research, publications, and grants

Research and praxis are situated in Postcolonialism with leanings in Transnational Cinema Studies, supporting creative industries, cultural heritage, and challenges to marginalisation.
Doctoral research at the University of Bristol examined colonial mimicry, sly civility, orientalism, and vestiges of the Colonial Film Unit in neo-Nollywood, contributing new findings to Nollywood and African film studies.
Iwowo, S., Van Raalte, C. and Fair, J., 2021. Creativity in the COVID-19 Crisis: Might the Current Student Adoption of Pre-Visualization Re-Center the Cruciality of Constructing the Mise-en-Scène? Journal of Cinema and Media Studies: Teaching Media Dossier.
Iwowo, S., 2020. The Problematic Mise en Scene of Neo-Nollywood. Communication Cultures in Africa, Winchester University Press.
Iwowo, V., Case, P. and Iwowo, S., 2023. "Leadership & Culture", in The SAGE Handbook of Leadership, Second Edition, connecting Leadership Studies with postcolonial African cinema.
Colonial Reels: Histories and Afterlives of Colonial Film Collections (AHRC, awarded 1 April 2024).
Developer of the Ubuntu Collaboration Model for minimalist filmmaking, structured around interconnectedness, shared ownership, reciprocity, and collective survival.
Routledge-commissioned monograph on decolonising film directing in progress.

Research outreach and public engagement

Current research interests include Postcolonialism, Postcolonial cinema, Postcolonial subalternity, Intersectionality, Transnational Cinema, Nollywood, African Cinema, African Studies, Indigenous Knowledge, Decolonisation, and filmmaking fields including screenwriting, directing, and mise en scène.
"An Introduction to Rage", presented during Africa's Lost Classics, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
"R.U.N.S: A Film Screening and Discussion", presented at ArtoP: The Visual Articulations of Politics in Nigeria.
"Nollywood Audiences and Human-Rights Films", presented at The Past and Future of Rights Cinema, Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image.
'Tackling the Othering of Nigerian Socio-Political Cinema', presented at the CCARHT symposium, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, 2019.
Convener, "Towards a Sustainable Framework for Transnational Neo-Nollywood", roundtable at University College London.
Panel member, The Stuart-Hall Project screening and roundtable, Bournemouth University, 2020.

Selected media and broadcast references

'Samantha Iwowo: The Quintessential Filmmaker', ThisDay Newspapers.
'Interview-Samantha Iwowo, Scriptwriter of Oloibiri (2016)', Journal of African Cinemas.
'Iwowo: "Oloibiri" Provoked Formal Apology from Gowon to the People of the Niger-Delta', The Guardian.
BBC Radio Solent interview on Hattie McDaniel and Oscar history.
Additional public-facing references include Tribune, Independent, Cornell, Academia, Google Books, Party Jollof TV, The Lagos Review, and Bournemouth University profiles.