When world renowned African film maker Sembene Ousmane, told a group of American scholars who asked him about Nollywood that 'Nigerians had found a way to reach the African audience and that is great accomplishment', it was considered a ground shaking, epoch making compliment. Considering that African Film makers had hitherto dismissed Nollywood as a Mickey Mouse industry, Sembene's statement that Nollywood had found the way for the liberation of our people's cultural, material, economic and creative sensibilities through storytelling was a victory for Nollywood. Africa through Nollywood has finally found a way of telling our own stories our own way. This is the Nollywood we celebrate today. Nollywood's arrival in 1992 with Kenneth Nnebue's Living in Bondage signified a change on the Nigerian filmmaking scene. With video technology, Nollywood brought African filmmaking from the sidelines of global filmmaking into the centre.
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Finally, an audience that had long yearned for a movie culture they could call their own, found a place they could call home. Withno formal structure, no government aid, no backing from financial institutions, no grants from donor agencies, and solely dependent on informal marketers who were largely importers of electronic appliances, what is today a global phenomenon took off. In merely 20 years, Nollywood has done more for this country than any other art form; it has placed our dear nation on a pedestal that has spiked interest the world over. No other African country can boast of any indigenous artistic expression that equals Nollywood. Its stars are the cynosure of all eyes at international events; they are worthy brand ambassadors for some of the biggest brands in the world; Nollywood has provided employment for and radically changed the lives of thousands of Nigerians; it is the subject of seminars, conferences, workshops and many other creative and intellectual engagements. The Federal government's NEEDS document recognised Nollywood as far back as 2005. The recent SURE-P document did the same. As I'm sure we all know, Mr. President instituted a $ 200m fund for the entertainment industry on the strength and popularity of Nollywood. Many scholars and researchers have made a name simply by researching and writing about Nollywood.
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Documentaries have been made by many filmmakers from across the globe, all in an attempt to understand the peculiarities on what has become the most industrious indigenous filmmaking tradition out of Africa and the black Diaspora. UNESCO even named Nollywood as the 2nd largest Film industry after Hollywood and before Bollywood Great as all of this sounds however, it saddens me to admit that for a while now, we have spent too much time celebrating this phenomenon and lost focus on what it truly important; putting down a Superstructure for the realisation of the potentials of Nollywood as a socio-economic giant especially in our quest for the transformation of our father land.
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Because of its informal beginnings a lot has been left unattended on the growth path of Nollywood. We somehow assumed that things will take care of themselves as we went along. In places where we have made attempts, we have failed to follow through the processes that have led to true development in other places. After two decades of existence, we have a poorer distribution network than when we started. Where once our guilds and associations were worthy representations of our collective desires for a common front to tackle our issues, they are today a shadow of what they used to be. As nature never allows for a vacuum, piracy is at 82% because distribution is grossly inadequate. Where once our films sold copies in thousands of thousands over long periods, we can barely hold on to a two-week shelf life today and sales are dismal. Now more than anytime, we need a superstructure to cash in on the potentials of Nollywood.
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Let us for a minute take a look at two different scenarios that clearly emphasis the need to build super structures now. If you visited the cinemas in Nigeria (an around the world) some 30 years ago,
you will have no choice but to see a Chinese film, often with implausible storylines, funny sounds where you saw the punch land before you heard the sound. Due to government policies and interference, the Chinese movie industry stagnated at a point. In the time in-between, the Chinese saw how America used Hollywood to propagate its ideologies across the world, taking local American brands to international heights, turning their actors and studios into international money making ventures. Chinese filmmaking regressed badly. Now, the Chinese have learnt their lesson. In the recent past, they have built over 13, 000 cinema multiplexes in china, they drop 3 cinema screens a day through two companies created and funded by government, the 2nd largest cinema distribution chain in America now belongs to the Chinese. They have also started making inroads into Africa and I can bet you Nollywood is their main target... perhaps we all should start learning Chinese! China's aim is to outdo Americans in cultural, economic and ideological domination of the world using film.
Well written i must say. Nollywood has brought so many people to this country. Though they have their own shortcomings too but they're still on top of their game.