Once Again: The Start of it All (2026): Cast, Story and Release

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Set in 2509, Once Again: The Start of it All follows Dr. Obi Iheuche, a devoted father and gifted scientist who develops a time-altering device to save his terminally ill daughter. His secret project soon attracts scrutiny from the institution that employs him, placing love, memory, and consequence in tension.

Once Again: The Start of it All is a 2026 Canadian short film set in the distant future. Its central figure, Dr. Obi Iheuche, is both a brilliant scientist and a father confronting his daughter’s terminal illness.

As Obi works in secret on technology that could alter time, his personal mission comes into conflict with the institution where he works. The film frames that struggle through an Afro-futurist premise focused on fatherhood, memory, and the price of love within rigid systems.

Once Again: The Start of it All movie details

Story without spoilers

The story takes place in the year 2509, when Dr. Obi Iheuche is racing to find a way to save his terminally ill daughter. His answer is a device capable of changing time itself, but developing it secretly creates new risks.

Obi’s work does not remain unnoticed. The institution employing him becomes aware of his activities, placing his attempt to protect his daughter under increasing pressure. The supplied synopsis presents the film as a compact science-fiction drama about personal devotion confronting institutional control, without revealing how the conflict is resolved.

What to expect

With a runtime of 15 minutes, Once Again: The Start of it All is a tightly focused science-fiction short rather than an extended world-building epic. Its future setting and time-altering technology provide the speculative framework, while the emotional center rests on a father’s effort to help his seriously ill child.

The film is identified as an Afro-futurist meditation on fatherhood, memory, and the cost of love under unforgiving systems. Viewers can therefore expect its high-concept premise to be connected to questions of personal sacrifice and institutional pressure, while the brief format keeps the story concentrated.

Cast and creative team

James Ayelo Yacim plays Dr. Obi, the scientist at the center of the story. The cast also includes Reine Faiad as Pamela, Shannon Moores as David Gogh, Nonceba Khumalo as Veronica, Michael Nolan as Dr. Maurice, and Almond Akingbola as Joy.

Brian Amadi is credited as both director and writer.

• Reine Faiad as Pamela
• Shannon Moores as David Gogh
• Nonceba Khumalo as Veronica
• Michael Nolan as Dr. Maurice
• James Ayelo Yacim as Obi
• Almond Akingbola as Joy

Release and production context

Once Again: The Start of it All is listed as a 2026 release from Canada, with a release date of November 8, 2026. It has a reported runtime of 15 minutes and is in English. The available metadata does not list a production company or genre classification beyond the supplied description of the film as Afro-futurist.

Movies Dock view

Once Again: The Start of it All uses a short-form futuristic premise to place a deeply personal objective against the authority of an institution. Its combination of time-altering science, family stakes, and Afro-futurist framing gives the film a clear thematic identity while leaving the outcome of Obi’s struggle for the film itself to reveal.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb