There are a lot of filmmakers I love whose work doesn't inspire mine at all. For example: Quentin Tarantino. From his films you can see that he has a wicked sense of humour, and I love that!

Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry. However none of the 'New wave' of directors in Nigeria would know what was possible without the Nollywood model, so I'm grateful to them for showing us that our stories are of interest to people other than Nigerians. I would describe myself as a filmmaker, period.

I prefer to discover new talent by holding open auditions.

I have loved filmed from when I was a child, but I never considered it as a future career.

While I was doing the residency in Paris, I found out that I was chosen as one of the five winners of the Focus Features Africa First Program. All this happened less than a year after I made my first two short films.

While my work is usually about the Igbo woman experience, there are many aspects of my female characters that women everywhere can and do relate to.

I entered the film industry sprinting, but not for long.