ODILE- drama

Odile wants to give her mixed-race son, Jean-Philippe a good life when she and her newlywed white husband, Mathieu move from Paris to London. Her husband, who because of the language barriers, gets a kitchen porter job in a restaurant, has a hard time adjusting to their new immigrant life. From a loving caring husband, he quickly became a drunk and violent wife beater. Odile, who managed to get a chambermaid job, sticks with him and even covers up for him for the sake of their child but when he turns abusive to Jean-Philippe, she plans to get away and finds refuge in a women’s shelter. She hides from her husband moving from one hostel to another until one day… 

…her husband is found dead in a homeless shed! 

 Odile now a widow has no reason to hide. When she receives an offer to move out of her hostel and settle down in a permanent social council housing, she can’t thank her lucky stars. The new neighbourhood, however, turns out to be one of the worst crime-ridden housing estates in London and now she’s stuck. She is given no choice but to accept her lot, she’s stuck in this new misery. Fearing for her son’s life after he comes home one day, bleeding from a stab, she decides to ask to be moved elsewhere but is laughed off by her local council officer. Her only option is to move to a private rental, but she knows private renting would cost her a fortune, but she’s driven to raise the money one way or another. She exhausts all her options from fundraising outside the train station, to applying for a trust fund at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, to speaking to her boss for a loan, asking her pastor for help, and even approaching a sleazy businessman to vouch for her at the bank after being turned down without a guarantor, until finally she meets Maria a high-end Brazilian escort.  

What will a desperate mother do to save her child’s life? ...

From a feature-length format to a six-part series plan, and then back to a feature-length format, ODILE has been a long-time coming project. Over the years, I have faced countless moments where I almost walked away from it all, but something within me always kept pushing forward. The urgency of telling this story has never wavered, and it’s a story that, I believe, demands to be told.

The inspiration behind ODILE dates back more than fifteen years to an event that left a lasting impact on me. In 2006, as the CEO of  Stand Up For Africa, a charity based in Battersea, South London, I was asked to provide support for a family caught in the middle of a tragedy that mirrored the very issues ODILE explores today: poverty, social housing crises, and the relentless rise of knife crime. As these issues continue to escalate, ODILE stands as a voice for those families who are too often ignored or forgotten—families struggling against a backdrop of systemic inequalities and violence.

In April 2022, with donations from family and friends, we completed the pilot for ODILE. In 2023, five A-list international stars—David Harewood OBE, Mica Paris MBE, Nollywood royalty Shaffy Bello, Ivorian top actress Kadhy Touré, and South African heartthrob Hlomla Dandala—came on board, lending their talents and belief to the project. Despite the challenges—including multiple attempts to secure the necessary financing for the full feature-length film—we are more determined than ever to bring this project to life in 2025.

ODILE isn’t just a film; it’s a call to action—a way to ignite conversations, foster understanding, and ultimately inspire change in communities affected by these issues. But we cannot do it alone. We need your help. Please click HERE to donate to the crowdfunding campaign we just launched. Your donation, no matter the size, will directly fund the production of the ODILE feature-length film.

Whether you're a passionate supporter of social justice films, an advocate for underrepresented voices, or simply someone who believes in the power of storytelling to change the world, your support is what will make this vision a reality.

Finally, if you’re in the industry and know someone with connections to executives at major film platforms like Netflix, we’d love to hear from you. With your support, we can ensure ODILE reaches a wider audience, sharing its important message beyond borders.

Thank you!

Elsie Nemlin