This short film tastefully shines light on Postpartum Identity.
Part of its recurring theme is the emotional fracture and the invisible labour of motherhood that helped the movie take top honours at one of the United Kingdom’s leading independent cinema platforms.
Milk and Mirrors won the Best Short Film at the London Indie Film Festival (LIFF), drawing attention to a deeply intimate story that resonates far beyond its modest runtime.
Directed by UK-based Nigerian filmmaker Ekelemchukwu Nnaji, popularly known as Martinz Nnaji Jr., the film reflects his signature visual discipline and commitment to exploring raw internal emotional conflict. Nnaji’s storytelling approach favours stillness over spectacle, allowing space and performance to speak where dialogue often falls short.
“This recognition means a great deal to me,” Nnaji said following the win. “The film was created with intentionality, while allowing performance, and image to carry the story.
To see it resonate at LIFF reinforces my belief in short films as powerful, complete works, and in the universality of deeply human stories.”
Written and produced by Kemi Kentebe, the film centres on Maya, a young mother navigating the fragile months after childbirth. As she confronts postpartum turmoil, a fractured sense of self and an unexpected professional setback, Maya is forced into a deeply personal reckoning one that challenges her understanding of identity, ambition and motherhood.
Rather than dramatise her anguish through overt conflict, the film builds its emotional weight through restraint. Lingering glances, quiet rooms and unspoken tension form the backbone of a narrative that captures the silent struggles many women endure but rarely articulate.
