Trino Motion Pictures Marks 10 Years, Appoints Former Paramount EMEA Executive Richard Aseme To Advisory Board
Light Nwobodo
Trino Motion Pictures, an award-winning Lagos-based production and distribution studio, marks its 10th anniversary this month and announced the appointment of Richard Aseme, former Co-Head of EMEA at Paramount Pictures, to its Advisory Board.
The milestone and appointment together mark a new chapter for Trino as it moves into its second decade with an expanded international growth strategy spanning distribution, co-production, and strategic partnerships across Europe and Africa.
Founded in 2016 by Babatunwa Aderinokun and Uche Okocha, Trino Motion Pictures has grown from a fledgling production outfit into one of Nigeria’s leading film production, international sales, content acquisition, marketing, and distribution companies. Over the past decade, Trino has built a catalogue of 16 titles, including 8 feature films spanning psychological thrillers, comedies, rom-coms, and horror, among them Sylvia, Three Thieves, The Razz Guy, The One for Sarah, KM17, The Weekend, Love Lockdown, and Grandpa Must Obey, alongside a slate of acclaimed short films anchored by the historical drama The Encounter.
The studio’s breakout title, The Weekend, made history in 2024 as the first independently produced Nigerian film selected for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, going on to screen at the BFI London Film Festival, Screamfest, and the NollywoodWeek Film Festival in Paris. The film went on to earn a record 16 nominations and multiple wins at the 2024 Africa Movie Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Nigerian Film, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography, while The Encounter won an Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award and Sylvia secured further AMVCA nominations.
Trino’s films have reached more than 75 territories worldwide, with English and French language distribution across cinemas, in-flight entertainment, and major global platforms including Netflix, Prime Video, Canal+, Kava, HBO Max, and Circuit TV, alongside continuous broadcast on DSTV. The Weekend’s HBO Max deal brought the film to subscribers across Central and Eastern Europe, while a Canal+ acquisition extended its reach to more than 60 French-speaking territories across Africa, Europe, and French overseas territories.
“Ten years ago, we said we wanted to take African stories to the world,” said the Managing Director of Trino Motion Pictures, Okocha. “This anniversary is a celebration of everyone who believed in and helped shape that vision before the evidence was there: our creative collaborators, our partners, colleagues, friends, family and the audiences. The next decade is about building the partnerships, distribution networks, and industry infrastructure that allow even more African stories to travel globally.”
As Nigeria’s leading production and distribution studio enters its second decade, Trino is making deliberate investments in the infrastructure required to scale its international footprint across distribution, co-production, content acquisition, and strategic partnerships. The company is deepening its presence across European markets while building the financing, distribution, and visibility frameworks that will define its next phase of growth.
Supporting this ambition is the appointment of Aseme to Trino’s Advisory Board. A former Co-Head of EMEA at Paramount Pictures with over two decades of experience in global film distribution, Aseme also brings deep expertise in investment and emerging technology, currently heading global fintech venture investments at DCG. A voting member of BAFTA and a graduate of Oxford University and UCLA Anderson School of Management, his appointment reflects Trino’s intent to build a studio that competes not just within Nollywood, but within the global independent film industry.
“Richard’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Trino,” Okocha added. “He brings a rare combination of studio experience and investment insight, which will be critical as we expand into new markets and explore new growth models.”
Aseme said, “What’s compelling about Trino is not just the slate, but the ambition behind it. There is a clear opportunity for production companies emerging from Africa to operate globally, not as regional players, but as part of the international ecosystem. Trino is already moving in that direction, and I’m excited to support that next phase.”
Trino Motion Pictures is an award-winning African film production, international sales, content acquisition, marketing, and distribution company based in Lagos, Nigeria. Since 2016, the company has been committed to exporting authentic African stories that entertain, inspire, and connect audiences across the globe. Its films are distributed in English and French across domestic and international cinemas, in-flight entertainment, and major streaming platforms including Netflix, Prime Video, Canal+, Kava, HBO Max, and Circuit TV.