Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen


Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen is a Nigerian film director and film producer. Popularly known as De' Guvnor of Nollywood. He is an Edo-born filmmaker who has produced over five hundred films and counting. He is well known for his 2014 epic historical film, ''Invasion 1897.''

Education/Career

He studied at the University of Port Harcourt. Imasuen has worked in the film industry since 1995, mainly as a film director and producer. He currently lives in Lagos.
His films feature unexplored aspects of the African experience including tribalism, witchcraft, crime, poverty, religion, and folk beliefs.
Imasuen has filmed an epic movie titled Nogbaisi Ovonramwen in 2013. The film was about Oba Ovonramwen, the last independent Oba of Benin. In 2025, he celebrated his thirty years in the industry. He launched his memoir A Trip in Motion, on November 27, 2025 at Alliance Française/Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, with dignitaries in attendance.

''Nollywood Babylon''

In 2008, a Canadian documentary, Nollywood Babylon, co-directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal, and produced by AM Pictures and the National Film Board of Canada in association with the Documentary Channel, followed Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen while he was shooting his 157th film Bent Arrows.
The documentary played in the Official Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Bent Arrows was released into the Nigerian home market in 2010.

Selected filmography

The Soul That Sinneth The Last Burial Issakaba Private Sin Enslaved Moment of Truth Games Men Play Yahoo Millionaire Sister's Love Entanglement Reloaded Home in Exile Bent Arrows A Private Storm Adesuwa Invasion 1897 ABCs of Death 2 "ATM " Love Upon the Hills Rant Queens