Breaking UP

Unable to ignore the haunting presence of Father Time and unwilling to surrender to the pressures to bear a child, Anna decides to end her nine-year relationship with Chris. Influenced by a self-help guru’s philosophy of “magical breakups,” the two embark on a series of separation dates across New York City. Hoping to transform heartbreak into healing, they soon discover that the closer they move toward goodbye, the more their buried wounds surface— and the harder it becomes to let go. As Anna and Chris revisit the spaces that once defined their love—cafés, their shared home, and city streets pulsing with memory—Anna must confront Chris’s lingering hope for reconciliation, her religious Mother’s traditional expectations, and the suffocating weight of cultural and societal pressures. Haunted by hallucinatory visions of Father Time, she faces her deepest truth: freedom comes with loss, and self-determination exacts a price. Set against the vibrant yet isolating backdrop of New York City, Breaking UP is an intimate, poetic exploration of womanhood, autonomy, and the cost of choosing oneself. At its core, the film asks: How does one break free from generations of belief that define what it means to be a “good woman”? 

Written and Directed by Anne-Marie Agbodji. Anne-Marie is a Togolese-American-French actor, writer, and director whose work centers complex, emotionally rich stories led by women. As founder of Dancing Dervish Inc., and a Sundance Collab alum, she is committed to creating visually striking, socially resonant films that elevate underrepresented voices.

Breaking UP is in development with (k)nightingale studios with production slated for late summer 2026.