Her latest project, ‘Secrets of the Multiverse’, is a full-fledged 13-part series. It hopes to build on the reception and success of ‘Lady Buckit’.
“With ‘Lady Buckit’, we built a door into the world of Nigerian animation for a global audience,” she said.
“Now with the ‘Secrets of the Multiverse’, we are inviting them through that door to explore endless corridors of imagination, danger and moral choices. We are challenging the very fabric of what our heroes can be.”
When ‘Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters’ opened in cinemas in December 2020, few believed an animated feature from Nigeria could stand beside global titles.
Amidu proved otherwise, with the film sweeping up awards in Lagos and Los Angeles and securing festival slots in places as far-flung as New Zealand and Brazil.
Where the first film introduced quirky mop-headed characters and a strong-willed heroine, the new project dives into high-stakes science fiction.
Two children stumble into the multiverse and are forced to make choices that will test their courage and morality and their world’s survival.
For Amidu, the series is both a creative gamble and a cultural statement. “We wanted to create something children in Nigeria, and anywhere in the world, could look at and feel proud of,” she told bird. This time, she is working with director Adebisi Adetayo and Hollywood’s Robert Sledge as co-director, with a screenplay by Emmanuella Amidu, her 19-year-old daughter.
The mother-daughter duo is now steering Nigerian animation into uncharted waters with 4K production, an ensemble voice cast that includes Nollywood star Kate Henshaw and a storyline that blends comic adventure with existential stakes.
Amidu's own transition to filmmaking has been far from typical. She trained as a geologist at the University of Benin and worked for more than two decades in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. But she always kept one foot in storytelling.
She eventually wrote stage plays, acted in community theatre and eventually built Hot Ticket Productions, the studio behind ‘Lady Buckit’ and its spinoff.
Her journey from science to storytelling has become part of her legend, highlighting that African women can redefine industries, even ones that barely existed before they arrived.
The success of ‘Lady Buckit’ showed what was possible. The film picked up Best Feature-Length Animation at the Africa Movie Academy Awards and at the Africa International Film Festival in 2021, then went on to win at Korea’s KIAFF the following year.
RAISING THE BAR
Nigerian parents brought their children to cinemas to see a homegrown animation with characters that looked and spoke like them. For many families, it was the first time they experienced a story on the big screen that reflected their own culture.
‘Secrets of the Multiverse’ raises the bar. The story is aimed at pre-teens, an audience caught between the innocence of childhood and the pull of more complex themes.
The visuals are sharper, the stakes bigger, the questions heavier. Can children make moral choices when the fate of their world is at stake? What does it mean to be a hero when compromise may be the only way forward?
The cast also brings local and global resonance. Alongside Kate Henshaw are Korede Lawal, Fiyin Asenuga, Maryam Yarkasai Akorede Bobo and Ella Amidu.
Their voices carry the rhythm of Nigerian speech into a story with global ambition. Robert Sledge’s involvement signals Amidu’s intent to take the work beyond local screens and onto a broader stage.
Amidu’s work now stretches beyond film, having founded the Lady Buckit Foundation, which supports underprivileged children and invests in girl-child development.
She also sits on the board of the Gold Stream Foundation and directs Gold Stream Academy, training young Nigerians in sports, arts and scientific innovation.
Through her Max Allegra Group, she is developing platforms for African entertainment with its own identity, designed to stand tall in global markets.
African animation is still young, with plenty of talent but limited resources and training opportunities. Amidu’s choice to leap into multiverse storytelling is as much about laying groundwork as it is about producing one series. Each project from her studio expands the space for others to follow.
If ‘Secrets of the Multiverse’ gains traction, the momentum is expected to ripple outward to animators across the continent.
The global industry is slowly opening to African visions of science fiction and fantasy. Disney’s ‘Iwaju’, set in a futuristic Lagos, is one example.
Amidu’s series emerges from the same spirit of possibility, though with the authenticity of a story rooted directly in Nigerian imagination.
For young viewers, it places African children at the centre of a story that spans galaxies, giving them heroes who speak their language and wrestle with choices that feel real.
For pre-teens especially, these stories help shape how they see themselves and the futures they believe are open to them.
