Cinema of Nigeria

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African cinema

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The Cinema of Nigeria is colloquially known as Nollywood, the name given to the Nigerian video movie industry. The term is of uncertain origin, but was derived from Hollywood in the same manner as Bollywood (see also: Tollywood and Kollywood). Nollywood has no studios in the Hollywood sense. Many of the big producers have offices in Surulere, Lagos. Idumota market on Lagos Island, and Onitsha in Anambra State are the primary distritution centers. The video movies are shot in locations all over Nigeria with distinct regional characteristics between northern movies primarily in the Hausa Language), the Yoruba-language movies produced in the west,the Igbo Movies shot in the East and the popular English-language productions shot in the southeast.

The efforts of early Nigerian filmmakers in the 1960s, like Ola Balogun and Hubert Ogunde, were frustrated by the high cost of film production. Nollywood, however, is a video movie industry—Nigerians call them home videos. All Nollywood movies are produced using digital video technology, although older movies were produced with traditional video, such as Betacam SP. Television broadcasting in Nigeria began in the 1960s and received much government support in its early years. By the mid-1980s every state had its own broadcasting station. Law limited foreign television content so producers in Lagos began televising local popular theater productions. Many of these were circulated on video as well, and a small scale informal video movie trade developed.

There is some debate concerning what caused this small local market in videos to explode into a booming industry that has pushed foreign media off the shelves in much of Africa and is now marketed all over the world. Use of English rather than local languages served to expand the market. Aggressive marketing using posters, trailers, and television advertising also played a role in Nollywood's success. Many point to the 1992 release of Living in Bondage, a film about a businessman whose dealings with a money cult result in the death of his wife, as the industry's first blockbuster. Since then, thousands of movies have been released. One of the first Nigerian movie to reach international fame was the 2003 release Osuofia In London, starring Nkem Owoh, the famous Nigerian comedic actor. Modern Nigerian cinema’s most prolific auteur is Chico Ejiro, who directed over 80 films in a 5-year period and brags that he can complete production on a movie in as little as three days. Ejiro’s brother Zeb is the best-known director of these videos outside of the country.

Many Nollywood movies have themes that deal with the moral dilemmas facing modern Africans. Some movies promote the Christian or Islamic faiths, and some movies are overtly evangelical. Some movies, hovever, address questions of religious diversity, such as the popular film Not Without My Daughter, about a Muslim man and a Christian woman who want to marry but go through many obstacles.

Many foreign and local critics have criticized Nollywood for trite plots, poor dialogue, terrible sound, and poor production values. Some worry that the prevalence of witchcraft and violence in the movies may encourage the worst stereotypes about Africans. Yet in just 13 years, Nollywood has grown from nothing into a US$250 million-a-year industry that employs thousands of people. The Nollywood phenomenon was made possible by two main ingredients: Nigerian entrepreneurship and digital technology.

These local movies have achieved the difficult feat of outselling Hollywood films in Nigeria and many other African countries. Currently, some 300 producers churn out movies at an astonishing rate—somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 a year. Nigerian directors adopt new technologies as soon as they become affordable. Bulky videotape cameras gave way to their digital descendents, which are now being replaced by HD cameras. Editing, music, and other post-production work is done with common computer-based systems. The films go straight to DVD and VCD disks. Thirty new titles are delivered to Nigerian shops and market stalls every week, where an average film sells 50,000 copies. A hit may sell several hundred thousand. Discs sell for two dollars each, making them affordable for most Nigerians and providing astounding returns for the producers.

Not much else about Nollywood would make Hollywood envious. Shooting is inevitably delayed by obstacles unimaginable in California. Lagos, home to 15 million people (expected to be 24 million by 2010), is a nightmare of snarled traffic, pollution, decaying infrastructure, and frequent power outages. As portrayed in the documentary film, This Is Nollywood, by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo, Nollywood filmmakers are conscious of the responsibility they have toward their society. Acclaimed director Bond Emeruwa says they feel an obligation to “put a message in there.” Many of Nollywood films deal with AIDS, corruption, women’s rights, and other topics of concern to ordinary Africans. Nollywood Directors know they have struck a lucrative and long-neglected market—movies that offer audiences characters they can identify with in stories that relate to their everyday lives.

Nigerian video movies are available in even the most remote areas of the continent. The last few years have seen the growing popularity of Nollywood films among African diaspora in both Europe and North America.