Why is Africa called backward? Leila Djansi quizzes

Filmmaker Leila Djansi says she is developing a cinematic universe rooted in African mythology, with a particular focus on the Nigerian concept of the ogbanje.

“I am exploring African mythology as a cinematic universe, focusing on the Nigerian concept of the ogbanje, only to learn that a similar idea appears in European folklore through the changeling myth,” she said. “But they always push the ‘Africa is backward’ narrative.”

Djansi explained that in European folklore, especially in Celtic traditions, there are stories of fairies stealing a human child and replacing it with one of their own.

“The substitute child often appears sickly, strange, or unusually intelligent,” she noted.

She drew parallels with Igbo interpretations of the ogbanje, a spirit child believed to be responsible for repeated child deaths within a family.

“The ogbanje framework was used in Igbo culture to interpret the recurring death of children, which we now understand in some cases as sickle cell disease,” she said.

“Similarly, in Celtic regions, the changeling myth was sometimes invoked to explain children who appeared developmentally different.”

Djansi also pointed to subtle echoes of the substitution theme in modern films.

“You see traces of it in stories like Changeling with Angelina Jolie and Snow White and the Huntsman, where the idea of replacement or stolen youth appears in different forms,” she said.

She believes there is room for African storytellers to revisit these narratives. “It would be powerful to see African storytellers reimagining these myths in modern contexts,” she stated.