Nigerians Referencing My Roles In Classic Nollywood Movies Is Humbling – Ini Edo

Nollywood actress, Ini Edo, has come out to say that she feels humbled to still be relevant after 20 years. She recently revealed that she is always surprised when Nigerians reference the classic movies she featured in.

According to her, Nigerians remember classic Nigerian movies not because the current Nollywood projects are not good enough, but because they find it hard to let go of the cherished memories the older generation of actors provided.

Ini added that as someone who has acted in more than 300 Nollywood movies, it is a thing of joy to find out that the characters she played are still very much embedded in the minds of the fans.

Her words, “It is very humbling and equally very troubling that many people are still referencing old Nollywood movies that I acted in. I have done over 300 films, yet everybody seems to just be stuck on a movie from like 20 years ago. Those stories are still very much embedded in people’s minds way beyond what we’re doing today. That’s not to say that what we are doing today isn’t good enough.

It’s just to say that for some reason, real movie lovers are unable to let go of the memories of those days. My challenge now is how to create things that can last for another 20 years in the minds of people.

I think that in everything we do, we have to apply some level of discipline. When one chooses this life, one should know that one can’t eat one’s cake and have it. You can’t be successful in the public eye and still control how people react when they see you. Some fans never imagined they would meet one in real life.

So, when they do, sometimes the reactions are sweet, other times, not so pleasant. There are places you go and people act like they don’t even see you. So, when you come across people bold enough to appreciate you, I believe one should be receptive to that appreciation.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.