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Half of a Yellow Sun is a 2013 Nigerian historical drama film. The film was directed by Biyi Bandele and is based onthe best-selling novel of the same name by writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Taking place during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), a conflict caused by religious and political differences between the Igbo ethnic group and Muslim Hausa-Fulanis , the film follows the lives of twin sisters Olanna and Kainene from a wealthy Nigerian family as they navigate love, loss and political turmoil.
The film features Thandiwe Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor and an ensemble cast that includes Onyeka Onwenu, Genevieve Nnaji, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, O.C. Ukeje, Zack Orji, and John Boyega in one of his first film roles. The film, which had a budget of $10 million, the largest for a Nollywood film at that point, was shot across five weeks in Tinapa Studio, Calabar and Creek Town, Nigeria. Bandele listed malaria and typhoid as two of the major challenges of the shoot, with several members of the cast and crew becoming ill, including star Thandiwe Newton. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was nonetheless a box office success, becoming the highest-grossing Nigerian film before it was overtaken by The Wedding Party in 2016.