‘Clarissa’ gets its first official trailer: Neon takes Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’ to contemporary Lagos

Neon has released the first official trailer for the drama Clarissa, the contemporary adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway, moved from 1920s London to present-day Lagos, as MovieWeb reports. The film will have its U.S. premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival and opens in American cinemas on December 11, 2026.

Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo stars as the present-day Clarissa, while India Amarteifio (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) embodies her in her youth. David Oyelowo plays Peter, Clarissa’s lost love, with Toheeb Jimoh as his younger version; Ayo Edebiri appears as the young Sally, while Nikki Amuka-Bird plays her in later life. The cast also includes Jude Akuwudike, Fortune Nwafor, Danny Sapani and Joke Silva.

The film is directed by Nigerian twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri, for whom Clarissa is their second feature; Chuko Esiri wrote the screenplay. It was shot entirely in Nigeria, on 35 mm. The story follows the Lagos high-society woman as she prepares a party, where memories of past choices, lost loves and ambitions confront her with a bitter reckoning.

The film had its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, in the Directors’ Fortnight section — only the second Nigerian film in history to be selected there — and also screened in Toronto and Zurich. According to FirstShowing, the official trailer also highlights the acclaimed cinematography of director of photography Jonathan Bloom. Oyelowo has explained that moving the novel to Nigeria changes the story’s social frame: centering wealthy Nigerians turns the drama of memory, class and privilege into a cinematic experience that was rarely offered to Black actors when he was growing up.