Ukairo is a Master’s student at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts under the Film & TV Production Division.
He is an international student from Nigeria, with a passion for kid’s stories, the fantasy genre (think Alice In Wonderland & Jumanji but Nigerian/African), and SciFi stories too (think Tomorrowland) – all with a grounded indie touch.
He writes poetry, and the more he’s leaned into using verse and rhyme as a go-to medium of expression, the more he has let his poetic sensibilities inform his filmmaking a great deal.
He also writes, sings, and produces music.
Ukairo earned his bachelor’s in Radio-TV-Film at The University of Texas at Austin where he was on a full scholarship from The African Leadership Bridge (ALB). Before that, he was a student at The African Leadership Academy, a two-year leadership institution in Johannesburg South Africa whose mission is to develop African leaders for the future. This was where he discovered his passion for film and other forms of storytelling.
Today, Ukairo is actively pursuing a career in different art forms because, honestly, why not, he says? He also acts – he starred in a short film called ‘Lovebites’ which got featured on Insecure creator Issa Rae’s Youtube Channel for Short Films called “Short Film Sundays.”
He describes himself as an all-round creative whose life goal is to get as much creative freedom as possible to just experiment and play with stories. If you are ever in conversation with Ukairo, and you ask him what the future holds for him do not be surprised if, along with his plans to revolutionize Nollywood, you hear something about working in Augmented Reality, curating audience-participatory art experiences or the next steps in his secret not-so-secret mission to make everyone he meets write poetry.
If it’s art, and it’s experiential and from a deeply emotional place, regardless of medium, he may get curious enough to dive in!