A lonely tech entrepreneur forms an unlikely friendship with a delivery robot that keeps coming back.

That is the premise of KITA, the filmmaking debut of GRAMMY-nominated artist Jidenna. Set in a near-future city, the film follows an elderly, disabled Nigerian tech entrepreneur who has withdrawn from the world around him, until an unexpected connection begins to pull him back in.

KITA is the fifth film from Beyond the Loop Season 2, an anthology of original stories and worlds from filmmakers exploring what is possible with new creative tools. For his directorial debut, KITA, Jidenna wrote the story and scored the film, bringing the project to life through a distinctive stop-motion style that makes it instantly eye-catching.

At its centre is the relationship between the entrepreneur and a delivery robot that repeatedly finds its way back to him. What begins as an unlikely encounter gradually becomes a story about ageing, loneliness, dignity and community, while exploring the ways technology can both isolate us and bring us closer together.

While KITA is Jidenna’s debut as a filmmaker, the multifaceted artist and creative has been working in films. Starring in To End All Spells and even noting this on his Instagram where he described himself as going from ‘From Classic Man to Filmmaker’ and saying: ‘‘My journey into filmmaking started with imagining things I’d never seen before: my father as a young man, my parents in love. A couple years later, my first short film KITA was screened at Tribeca.’’

The short film premiered on September 17 and is now out to watch on YouTube.