There was no way I was going back to school to study anything for another three or four years. I was done with that. So I tried working on other people's projects, but didn't find any where I felt I could learn what I needed to learn.

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.

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.

It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'.

I definitely don't intend to only make films about Nigerians or Africans. I want to make films about people, any people.

Three directors whose work directly influences mine are Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and Susanne Bier (her Danish films). You'll notice that they all don't make feel good movies, same as me, and their films are always visually simple but beautiful (and I hope mine are!).

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