Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Monday, January 29, 2024

Video - Nigeria box office revenue soars as popular releases draw crowds to cinemas



Nigeria's cinemas have announced cumulative revenue of 21.5 million dollars over the past three years. Analysts attribute the strong performance to a combination of popular film releases and a surge in ticket sales

CGTN

Related story: Top Foreign Movies That Were Filmed in Nigeria

 

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Top Foreign Movies That Were Filmed in Nigeria

Nollywood may be the heart of the Nigerian film industry, but it's not just local talent that has fallen in love with the vibrant landscapes and rich culture of Nigeria. In recent times, foreign filmmakers have also been drawn to this country to capture its beauty and authenticity on the big screen.

If you're a movie enthusiast and want to explore Nigeria from a different perspective, here's a list of foreign movies that you shouldn’t miss.
 

Foreign Movies Filmed in Nigeria
 

Black Is King

Black Is King was written and directed by Beyoncé. This 2020 American musical movie was filmed in Lagos, Nigeria and five other countries. The film received praise for its cinematography and depicts the story of an African prince.


After his father died, the prince was exiled from his kingdom. Later, as he grows into a man, he receives guidance from an ancestor, played by Beyoncé.
 

Nigerian Prince

NFL fans may be reminded about the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho when reading the title of this movie. While watching Wanogho’s journey from Delta State, Nigeria to Alabama might have been fun, this movie from director Faraday Okoro focuses instead on a Nigerian-American teenager sent to Nigeria by his mother.


While there, he joins his cousin, who is operating an online scamming business, to get enough money to fly back to the United States. This movie was filmed in Nigeria and the US.
The Mark of the Hawk

This 1957 American drama film stars Earl Cameron in the lead role. Partially shot on location in Nigeria, it tells the story of the brother of an indigenous resistance leader who gets caught in a hostile environment when African villagers decide to reclaim their land from British colonists.
The Price

The Price is a 2017 American drama movie focusing on a young Nigerian-American man struggling with prescription drug dependency. While he has high ambitions, he chooses to follow a criminal path, leading him in the wrong direction.


It was filmed in Nigeria and the United States and received positive reviews from critics after its initial release.
 

Mister Johnson

Mister Johnson is said to be the first American movie to be shot on location in Nigeria. Based on the 1939 novel by Irish author Joyce Cary, this movie was released in 1990 and stars Maynard Eziashi as Mr. Johnson.


The film explores the challenges faced by Mr. Johnson due to his African heritage while working for the British.
 

Foreign Movies that Depict Nigeria But Were Filmed Elsewhere
 

Tears of the Sun

Tears of the Sun, released in 2003, stars Bruce Willis as a Navy SEAL officer sent to Nigeria on a rescue mission to retrieve an American doctor. She operates a mission hospital, which is located in the Nigerian jungle.


Contrary to expectations, this movie was not filmed in Nigeria. It was mainly shot in Hawaii, with some parts shot in Los Angeles and Virginia. The movie depicts the horrors of war.
 

Black Panther

Black Panther is an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character. It debuted in 2018, starring Denzel Washington. Filmed in the United States, it is set in the fictitious African area known as Wakanda.


However, while the location isn't real, several inspirations for the movie were taken from Nigeria. In many scenes, specific text appears on the screen, which is inscribed on walls in a throne room. The text’s script is derived from Nsibidi writing which comes from an area in southeast Nigeria.
 

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 superhero film that is part of the X-Men film series. Directed by Gavin Hood, the movie serves as a prequel to the X-Men series and explores the backstory of one of its most iconic characters, Wolverine, also known as Logan, played by Hugh Jackman.


Lagos, Nigeria is depicted in the movie's first scenes when Major William Stryker travels to the area. However, it isn't the actual city. The production primarily utilized Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as a stand-in for Lagos. Additionally, some scenes were shot in New South Wales, Australia.
 

Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War is the third instalment in the Captain America film series and a crucial chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie explores the complex dynamics within the superhero community and the moral dilemmas that arise when the Avengers are divided over the Sokovia Accords, a government initiative designed to regulate and oversee their activities.

In one of the scenes, the action appears to be happening in a market in Lagos, Nigeria. However, keen viewers will recognize that it was shot elsewhere (apparently in downtown Atlanta and Puerto Rico).
Summary

These foreign movies offer a fresh perspective on Nigeria’s diverse culture, history, and landscapes. From intense war dramas to gripping thrillers, poignant historical narratives, and action-packed adventures, each film provides a unique cinematic experience.

Grab some popcorn, immerse yourself in these captivating stories and take a virtual journey through the heart of Africa's most populous nation.

Friday, November 24, 2023

Daughter of Richard Pryor Shooting Nollywood-Hollywood Film In Nigeria

Rain Pryor, the daughter of American comedian and actor, Richard Pryor, has commenced shooting of her Nollywood-Hollywood film project in Nigeria.

The untitled film centers around the Yoruba Ifa Mythology, a subject she has studied over the years, then decided to make a movie about.

As an actress, Rain has featured in several film and TV credits and sitcoms including Head of the Class and Rude Awakening.

The film, which is her debut directorial role, is a cross-cultural affair that unites Nollywood and Hollywood talents, with Nollywood actor, Odunlade Adekola in the lead role as Oba Fagbemi.

“I am a fan of Nollywood. In the last year and a half, Nollywood has flooded the United States through Netflix and other streaming platforms, and I have watched King of Boys, Jagun Jagun among others. I have also watched Adekola’s acting range and what he can do and believe he possesses what is needed for the character of Oba Fagbemi in the film, and that’s why I chose him,” said the 53-year-old actress who was renamed Osunyemi Oriomodun (Osun Priestess).

For Rain, the project is life-changing as it was for her late father who had visited Africa during his lifetime.

“I have a family that is rich in tradition and culture, and when I travelled to Nigeria to learn about the Yoruba culture, predominantly Ifa, I thought how can I collaborate with Nigerians and Black Americans to create something that is a mixture of Hollywood and Nollywood? My father made profound changes in his life when he came to Africa, and felt that he found his soul and himself, and here I am, doing the same thing, finding my place.”

Arguably the first of its kind, in terms of magnitude of the collaboration between the two film industries (Nollywood and Hollywood), Rain is confident it will excite viewers in the United States and Nigeria with its rich and cross-cultural plot.

Working closely with her to achieve this feat are Nigerian filmmaker Bola Attah, and Arts Consultant, Chike Nwoffiah. Both serve as executive directors in the project contributing their expertise to the success of the film.

By Samuel Abulude, Leadership

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Monday, October 23, 2023

Video - Netflix Hit The Black Book examines Justice in Nigeria

A Nigerian action thriller that tells a gripping story of corruption and police brutality in Africa’s most populous country has reached record viewership numbers on Netflix charts globally. It's a reminder of the power and potential of Nigeria's rapidly growing film industry.

“The Black Book” has taken the streaming world by storm, spending three weeks among the platform’s top 10 English-language titles globally, peaking at No. 3 in the second week.

It garnered 5.6 million views just 48 hours after its Sept. 22 release and by its second week was featured among the top 10 titles in 69 countries, according to Netflix.

"Films are made for audiences, and the bigger the audience for a film, the better the chances of your message going out,” producer Editi Effiong told The Associated Press. “The reality for us is that we made a film, made by Nigerians, funded by Nigerian money, go global.”

Nollywood, Nigeria's film industry, has been a global phenomenon since the 1990s when it rose to fame with such films as “Living in Bondage,” a thriller with Kunle Afolayan's Anikulapo released in 2022 and peaking at No. 1 on Netflix's global chart. It is the world's second-largest film industry after India based on number of productions, with an average of 2,000 movies released annually.

Nollywood's latest blockbuster, “The Black Book,” is a $1 million movie financed with the support of a team of experts and founders in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem and is Effiong’s first feature film.

It tells the story of Nigeria’s checkered past, spanning a period of 40 years from when military regimes killed and arrested dissidents at will until the present day, when police brutality and abuse of power remain rampant.

The film opens with the abduction of family members of the head of the Nigerian oil regulatory agency, aided by corrupt police officers working for top politicians.
To cover their tracks, the police kill a young man framed as the suspect in the kidnapping — not knowing he was the only child of a former special operative who abandoned his weapons for the pulpit.

In his prime, the character of ex-officer-turned-pastor Paul Edima — played by Nigerian movie icon Richard Mofe-Damijo — was known as Nigeria’s “most dangerous man” with a past punctuated by assassinations and involvement in several coups across West Africa.

Portrayed as a repentant man who has turned over a new leaf after being inspired by his favorite Bible passage 1 Corinthians 5:17, Edima feels compelled to take revenge for his son’s death after failing to convince authorities his son is innocent.

The issue of delayed justice is not new in Nigeria. Many on Friday remembered the deadly protests of 2020 when young Nigerians demonstrating against police brutality were shot at and killed. Three years later, rights groups say many victims of police abuse still haven't gotten justice.

For Edima, justice for his son comes at a cost. One by one, he hunts down the officers behind his son's death, leading him to the army general behind the plot — coincidentally his former boss.

“It is a fictional narrative, but this is what Nigeria was,” Effiong told the AP.
He believes Nigeria is not doing a good job of teaching its history in the schools and letting young people understand how the country’s past is shaping the present.

“A society must be changed positively by art, and so there was an orientation on our part to, through the film we are going to make, reflect on this issue (of police brutality),” Effiong said.

While a government-commissioned panel of inquiry investigated the protest shootings in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos in 2020, Effiong attended its meetings and provided live updates via his page on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. At the same time, pre-production for the movie already had begun.

“We must tell the truth in spite of the circumstances," he said. "Justice is important for everyone: the people we like and the people we do not like — especially the people we do not like,” he said.

Some have said the movie's plot is like that of the American action thriller John Wick. It is a surprising but flattering comparison that also testifies to the movie’s success, Effiong said.

The movie also has been lauded as signifying the potential of the film industry in Nigeria as well as across Africa. The continent's streaming on-demand video (SVOD) market is expected to boast a robust 18 million subscribers, up from 8 million this year, according to a recent report from market intelligence firm Digital TV Research.

According to a Netflix spokesperson, entertainment with local stories remains the core of the platform’s main objective in sub-Saharan Africa. “Africa has great talent and world-class creatives, and we are committed to investing in African content and telling African stories of every kind,” Netflix said in a statement.

In Nigeria, the movie industry is at “the point right now where the world needs to take notice,” Effiong said.

He said that's because. “The Black Book is a film by Black people, Black actors, Black producers, Black money 100%, and it’s gone ahead to become a global blockbuster.”

AP

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Monday, October 16, 2023

Video - Mami Wata selected as contender for 2024 Oscars

Nigeria has selected Sundance Festival award-winning film, “Mami Wata” as its contender for the 96th Academy Awards’ International Feature Film (IFF) category.

Written and directed by C.J. Obasi, the film is an exploration and creative reimagination of the mythology of a titular mermaid-deity of West African folklore, and one which, among other things, celebrates womanhood.

The Nigerian Official Section Committee (NOSC) for the IFF said it selected the film for its “relevant theme – multiple generations of women at the forefront of society’s well-being, its unique approach to a story of pre and post-colonial African societies, as well as its technical and artistic excellence.”

The NOSC voting members include: Stepanie Linus – award-winning actress and Chairperson of NOSC; Dr. Chidia Maduekwe – M.D Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC); Dr. Victor Okhai – President of Directors’ Guild of Nigeria (DGN); Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde – veteran actress; Mr. Andy Amenechi – former President of DGN; Yibo Koko – theater practitioner; and Izu Ojukwu – writer/director.

Others are Adetokunbo ‘DJ Tee’ Odubawo – Cinematographer; Emem Isong – writer/producer; Dimeji Ajibola – director; Jude Idada – writer/director; Ngozi Okafor – producer/costumier; John Njamah – actor/director; and Meg Otanwa – actress/polyglot.

“I’m excited to announce a milestone in our NOSC journey: our first Pidgin film submission to the Academy, marking our commitment to diversity and global representation. I urge filmmakers not to relent in enhancing their skills, and elevate production to global standards,” Linus stated.

“Mami Wata” advances in the Oscars race having received the highest votes from the 14-man committee. The next stage of the film will be determined by the IFF Executive Committee.

Shot on location in the Republic of Benin, “Mami Wata” tells the story of a beach-side community that must interrogate previously held beliefs when a stranger washes up ashore and further threatens its harmony.

The film, which had its theatrical releases in Nigeria and other countries, won the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2023 for its vivid black-and-white cinematography.

The 96th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 10, 2024. The show will air live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation, Hollywood.

By Chinelo Eze, The Guardian

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Sunday, November 6, 2022

Director Ryan Coogler Premieres Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Nigeria

Some cast and crew members of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, are in Lagos, Nigeria, ahead of the first-ever Marvel Studios’ premiere on 6th November.


The group is visiting Nigeria for the first time to kick off continent-wide celebrations ahead of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s release on 11 November.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a sequel to the 2018 box office hit movie, ‘Black Panther 2, is an American action superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character.

The film is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole and directed by Ryan Coogler. It continues with the story of T’Challa, the king of Wakanda.

The movie stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Dominique Thorne, Isaach de Bankole, Dorothy Steel, and Michaela Coel.

On Sunday morning, some cast and crew members were present at a press conference held at Lagos Continental Hotel, where they fielded questions from the media.

In attendance were filmmakers and cast from the highly anticipated sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, including stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Winston Duke, as well as director Ryan Coogler.
 

Why Nigeria?

At the occasion, the film director, Coogler, recipient of four NAACP Image Awards, four Black Reel Awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, justified why the cast and crew decided to kick off the continent-wide celebrations ahead of the film’s release in Nigeria.

Coogler, an African American, said Lagos has a lot of history and cultural significance for filmmakers. He also informed the ecstatic audience that he recently took a genealogy test that revealed his lineage.

‘‘If you know, like African American history, it’s tough for us to trace our genetic lineage due to some purposeful things that happened to us during the transatlantic slave trade.

So one of the things I spoke with the late Chadwick Boseman about when we first met and were getting ready to put his movie on was that he put me up on something called africanancestry.com, another company I like.

It was specific about finding out where you have a heritage to know. So Chad had done his own, and he explained how it is done. So when I did mine, it came back as having lineage to a part of Cameroon, but mainly Yoruba lineage. It was something that I held on to and always wanted to know, to travel to Nigeria for that reason.”

The 36-year-old filmmaker said different parts of Africa influenced the film; however, the Nigerian culture exudes a specific energy that is hard to ignore.
 

Soundtrack Album

Roc Nation Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Hollywood Records released the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack album on 4 November.

In addition to the already-released Rihanna single “Lift Me”, co-written by Tems, the soundtrack features other Nigerian artists Burna Boy, Tems, Fireboy DML, Ckay, Rema, Tobe Nwigwe and Fat Nwigwe, amongst other African acts. The media asked the team why they featured several Nigerian and African artistes on the soundtrack album.


Responding, Coogler, who produced the album, said his team wanted a representation of various genres and music spaces on the album.

‘‘I mean, music is critical to film as a medium. The film is a combination of a lot of different mediums. For me, Sonic manipulation, I’m trying to get a form of sound design, production design at, like, all of these things, you know, all the artboards representing the music is a massive part of it.

‘‘And the music was a big part of the first field. We were able to line up a great collaboration. And we wanted to do something different on this particular project, where to get, you know, more into the continent. We want a representation from various genres and music spaces,’’ he said.
 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is one of the most highly anticipated films of the year. It is the sequel to Black Panther (2018), starring Chadwick Boseman, who died two years ago of Colon Cancer at 43.

It features Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War queen Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) to forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

The movie introduces Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation; the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theatres on 11th November.

Premium Times, by Jayne Augoye

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Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Nigeria’s box office rakes in N653m revenue for May

The Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) on Tuesday said that it generated N653 million from tickets sold across the country in May.


Mr Patrick Lee, National Chairman of CEAN, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

“We had total sales of N653,229,100.00 for the month of May 2022.
“21 Nollywood films shown in May accounted for 28 per cent of total ticket sales while 14 films, Hollywood films accounted for about 69 per cent, with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” being the major outliner.


“Comparing April with May, ticket sales improved by about 12 per cent, with May being the highest-grossing month in 2022, so far.

Lee noted that the top five highest-grossing films in May are: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”; “King of Thieves”; “Sonic the Hedgehog2”; “The Lost City” and “The Perfect Arrangement”.


He said the films to be released across cinemas in June are: “Ex and Exes”; “Jurassic World: Dominion”; “The Order of Things”; “Flatus”; “Last Seen Alive”; “Light Year”; “Silent Baron”; “Black Phone”; “Elvis” and “Ile Owo”.

“It is exciting to see the mind-blowing box office performance of titles released in
May.


“Like we all anticipated, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” led the park with over N330million to consolidate on the continued monstrous performance of Nollywood’s rave-of-the-moment, “King of Thieves”.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” now holds the record of the strongest weekend opening for a post-pandemic release in Nigerian cinemas.


“While “King of Thieves”, is so far, the highest-grossing Nollywood film since “Omo Ghetto the Saga”,” he said.

Vanguard

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Video - Amazon Prime Video signs deal with Nollywood

Amazon Prime Video is looking to attract new subscribers from Africa through a new deal with Nigerian filmmakers. The movie streaming platform has signed exclusive streaming agreements with two Nigeria production companies, which analysts say could boost Nigeria’s film industry to become the country’s largest export. 

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Friday, July 23, 2021

Eyimofe: Twin Directors’ Stunning Feature Debut Takes Nigerian Cinema To New Heights

Financed entirely in Nigeria and made with a predominantly Nigerian cast and crew, Arie and Chuko Esiri are capturing international attention with their feature in new movie “Eyimofe”.


“Eyimofe” (“This Is My Desire”), the debut feature from co-directors (and twin brothers) Arie and Chuko Esiri, is a heartrending and hopeful portrait of everyday human endurance in Nigeria, West Africa. The film traces the journeys of two distantly connected strangers at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

Shot on richly textured 16mm, the film is a vivid snapshot of life in contemporary, colorful, chaotic Lagos, the largest city in the country, whose social fabric is captured in all its vibrancy and complexity. It’s also a tale that was inspired by the filmmakers’ own journey.

“In a romantic way, we wanted to insert the film in the catalog and annals of the great city films that had been shot on celluloid,” said Chuko in a recent interview with News men. “We’ve seen Rome on film, we’ve seen Paris and London, but everything that we’d seen of Nigeria on film is archival footage, it’s ethnographic footage, it’s documentary. It’s not cinema, and cinema is a completely different beast.”

Documentary filmmakers might beg to differ, but the brothers are steadfast in their thinking. Still, the immortalization of the city on celluloid is a noble feat, especially when shooting in a country without any stable cinema infrastructure, a notoriously unreliable electrical grid and nightmarish traffic.

“Shooting on the streets of Lagos is notoriously difficult, because it’s a dense city and has what are called ‘area boys,’ or street guys,” Chuko said. “The idea of shutting down a street for a film production — I mean, if the president of the country can’t do that when he visits, then we weren’t going to be able to do it for our movie.”

Born 30 minutes apart in Warri, Nigeria, they grew up in Lagos, but at the age of eight, their parents shipped them off to boarding school in England to complete their formal education. At the time, there were no cinemas in Nigeria, so movies weren’t a part of their childhood. “At the time, the country was experiencing successive military regimes, and each regime had bright ideas about what was good for the culture, and these ideas were almost never good,” Chuko said. “So we didn’t grow up going to movies.”

Twenty years later, they both enrolled in film schools: Arie graduated from Columbia University and Chuko from New York University. During their time in New York City, they collaborated on a pair of short films: “Goose,” presented at the LA Film Festival in 2017, and “Besida,” which premiered at the Berlinale in 2018.

They returned to Nigeria as adults and found a Lagos that has somehow felt foreign. “Eyimofe” was born out of that experience — the idea of leaving and returning much later to whatever “home” is.

“It came from my returning to Nigeria for my stint in the National Youth Service,” he said. “From the age of eight to 22, I had only spent time in Nigeria on holiday, so now I was spending substantial time in a place to which I belonged but where I was also something of an alien — until then I hadn’t really faced all that it meant to be in Nigeria. I wanted to return to where it felt more familiar and where I would feel more comfortable in a national film industry. Even though Nigeria has a robust industry, Nollywood is a massive machine but I didn’t want to make the kind of films people make in it.”

While the Esiri brothers spent much of their lives overseas, “Eyimofe” was financed entirely in Nigeria and made with a predominantly Nigerian cast and crew. The film is now drawing a new level of international attention to Nigerian cinema and screening at several festivals, including Berlin and New Directors/New Films. However, as Nigerian movies get more notice outside the country, it’s also raising the issue of exactly what a “Nigerian film” is supposed to be.

Akeju, a US-based director at Aflik TV while making comment on the new movie, added: ” The movie details much of African migrants experiences in the Diaspora. The production is very different and professional. Kudos to the directors and all the team behind it”

The Janus Films will release “Eyimofe” across various theaters on Friday, July 23, 2021 and will be hoping it inspires as much audiences as possible.

The Guardian

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Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Can the Milkmaid win Nigeria’s first Oscar?

When the Nigerian Official Selection Committee sat down to select Nigeria’s nominee for the 2021 Academy Awards last December, the jury voted overwhelmingly for Desmond Ovbiagele’s film The Milkmaid over the sex-trafficking drama Oloture and film festival toast Eyimofe.


Unlike Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart which the Academy disqualified from the international feature film category last year for having English as the main language of the script, The Milkmaid fulfils the requirement for a predominantly non-English dialogue track. It conveys authenticity with Hausa, Fulfulde and Arabic, three languages hermetically spoken throughout the film.

The film follows the story of two sisters, Aisha (Anthonieta Kalunta) and Zainab (Maryam Booth), who get separated when insurgents attack their village. Aisha is determined to rescue Zainab from her captors and traces her whereabouts to an enemy camp, where she is enslaved and treated inhumanely.

A sophomore feature from Ovbiagele after his 2014 crime thriller debut Return to Caesar, The Milkmaid is a compellingly superior entry into Nollywood’s Boko Haram-themed cinema.

The genre is relatively new, inspired by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria, which began its deadly uprising in 2009 and has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. Most of these films are not made to be box office hits as they usually employ largely unknown actors, so they sail under the radar.

But with Joel Kachi Benson’s Daughters of Chibok winning a Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and Netflix picking up Adekunle Adejuyigbe’s The Delivery Boy a year later, the genre is slowly occupying an expanding space in the public imagination and has set off some conversations about violence in society.

Tackling such sensitive issues as religious extremism and violence, The Milkmaid has predictably faced censorship at home. The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), the government agency whose mandate is to regulate the creation, distribution and exhibition of films and video products by rating them, denied the film classification because it felt it portrayed Islam as an enabler of religious extremism.

To obtain a classification for pubic screening in Nigeria, 24-minutes-worth of footage was cut from the director’s original version. “We had to remove everything – costume, dialogue, language that was an authentic depiction of a particular religion, even though there is nothing in the film that states that the religion was directly responsible for violence,” Ovbiagele said in a December 2020 interview.

The Milkmaid’s censorship was to be expected, considering the NFVCB’s history of stifling artistic freedom and paranoia that films can threaten national unity. The film does not suggest Islam inspires extremism and it also does not glorify terrorists and whatever their motivations are. Rather it exhumes the traumatic experiences of women and girls in a world blighted by insurgency. Although the film is yet to do a wide release, the response from the members of the Muslim community who have seen it at private viewings has been positive.

Because of censorship at home, The Milkmaid turned to Cameroon and Zimbabwe for its theatrical release in November, then went on a limited run with its toned-down cut in select Nigerian cinemas in afterwards. Garnering local buzz, the motion picture swept last year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards with eight nominations and four awards, including Best Film.

For the Oscars, Ovbiagele sent the film’s original version, which contains all the elements of a potential winner: a compelling story, captivating actors’ performance and masterful cinematography.

Through Ovbiagele’s deft handling of the camera, audiences can see how beauty tightly intertwines with violence, creating a stunning artistic patchwork. This visual language is defined by the crisp cinematography of Yinka Edwards whose technical detailing does not just dwell on scenery but also within interpersonal spaces.

At the core of that is a feminine reckoning with extremism and its fallouts – the abduction of women and girls, violence and enslavement.

There is something particularly auspicious about The Milkmaid’s Oscar campaign footprint. But will it appeal to the Academy?

Aside from its obvious artistic merit, the Oscar fate of The Milkmaid will be determined by how the Academy voters – representing the American audience – see anti-terrorism messaging almost 20 years after the start of the US “war on terror”.

Like Nollywood, Hollywood too has experienced a boom in the production of films inspired by the themes of extremism and insurgency. A few have even made it to the Oscars and won.

The genre has successfully propelled the US government narrative of its forces fighting foreign terrorism and restoring stability to faraway conflict-torn regions and has done little to illuminate the disastrous consequences of US anti-terror-driven imperialism.

Although it does not tackle the international aspect of the Boko Haram insurgency, The Milkmaid fits well into this mainstream US narrative about terrorism. Its story would feed into the American viewers’ self-righteous disdain for overseas terrorist groups and will probably be well received. Whether this is what the Academy will be looking for in this year’s international film feature category remains to be seen.

By Bernard Dayo

Al Jazeera

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Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Netflix Unveils Nigerian Original Series, Three Films

Netflix on Monday unveiled a new Nigerian original series and three new films from the African country.

"The new series and films, which are at different stages of production while others are ready to premiere, will join the growing slate of Nigerian content on the service and debut to 193 million members in 190 countries around the world," the streaming giant said.

The new original series is an untitled young adult drama series created and produced by Inkblot Productions. It follows the story of Ishaya, "a charismatic teenager and talented artist from a poor family, whose dreams suddenly appear within reach when a prestigious scholarship to the most exclusive school in the country catapults him into the luxurious world of Nigeria's 1% – all while a huge secret threatens his newfound status and, ultimately, his family's safety."

Created by Chinaza Onuzo and Dami Elebe who serve as executive producer and head writer, respectively, the six-episode series will be directed by Onuzo, Tope Oshin and Niyi Akinmolayan. Funke Akindele is confirmed as playing one of the lead characters with more casting details to follow. Zulumoke Oyibo and Damola Ademola will serve as executive producers.

"Netflix is proud to continue to invest in more original content from Nigeria," said Dorothy Ghettuba, the lead for African originals at Netflix. "We’re also thrilled to grow our existing creative partnerships while forming new ones with Chinaza and the amazing Inkblot team who will now join the growing list of Nigerian partners."

Said Onuzo: "We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Netflix team to tell the story of Nigerian youth on a global scale. We cannot wait to share with the world what it feels like to grow up in one of the most dynamic countries on the planet."

Netflix also unveiled deals for three Nigerian films from filmmakers Mo Abudu, Kunle Afolayan and Kemi Adetiba that will premiere on the streaming service. They are Òlòtūré, Citation and King of Boys II.

The first is the story of a young female journalist who goes undercover as a prostitute to expose a human trafficking syndicate. The film is part of Netflix’s partnership with Mo Abudu and her production company Ebonylife. The movie will launch globally on Oct. 2. Directed by Kenneth Gyang, its cast includes Sharon Ooja, Omowunmi Dada, Omoni Oboli, Blossom Chukwujekwu and Wofai Fada.

Citation, from director Kunle Afolayan and produced by Golden Effects Pictures, will hit Netflix globally on Nov. 6. It is the coming-of-age story of Moremi, a bright university student who forms a bond with her charismatic and well-connected professor who ends up sexually harassing her. The film follows Moremi’s quest for justice and stars Jimmy Jean Louis, Gabriel Afolayan, Ini Edo, Joke Silva, Adjetey Anang and newcomer Temi Otedola.

King of Boys II is the sequel to director Kemi Adetiba's 2018 crime thriller, in which a businesswoman and crime boss is drawn into a power struggle that threatens all she holds dear. Set to launch globally in the first half of 2021, the movie begins with Eniola Salami's triumphant return, after a five-year exile, to Lagos City. "Not content with the prospect of a fresh start," she this time aims even higher than before. The movies features returning stars Sola Sobowale, Remilekun "Reminisce" Safaru, Tobechukwu "iLLBliss" Ejiofor, and Toni Tones, as well as new talent in Richard Mofe-Damijo, Nse Ikpe-Etim, and Efa Iwara.

"These Netflix original films demonstrate how we’re building a home for the best-in-class Nigerian content for our members in Nigeria and beyond," said Ben Amadasun, Netflix’s director of licensing and co-productions in Africa. "It’s amazing to see how Nigerian films and series resonate with audiences around the world. By making it easy for people to watch films and shows from other countries, we can help them build empathy and develop a shared understanding of the world."

By Georg Szalai

Hollywood Reporter

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Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The Nigerian filmmakers risking jail with lesbian movie Ife



Two Nigerian filmmakers face the prospect of imprisonment if they ignore the stern warning of the authorities and proceed with the release of a movie about a lesbian relationship.
The dramatic face-off with the regulators - the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) - is worthy of a film itself.

Producer Pamela Adie and director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim are determined that Ife (meaning "love" in the Yoruba language) reaches a Nigerian audience, but the NFVCB says it will not be approved as it violates the country's strict laws on homosexuality.

International premiere


To get around this, the filmmakers are planning a surprise online release to catch the regulators off-guard. The NFVCB, however, is diligently monitoring all digital platforms to prevent the movie from getting out.

According to NFVCB boss Adebayo Thomas, Adie and Ikpe-Etim could be jailed for promoting homosexuality in a country where same-sex relationships are forbidden and can carry a 14-year sentence.

They are organising a private screening in the commercial capital, Lagos, at the end of the month, for which they believe they do not need to get permission.
Ife will also get an international premiere in Canada in October.

Adie said the aim of the film was to show an accurate picture of lesbian and bisexual women in Nigerian movies.

If a lesbian woman does appear in a standard Nollywood movie they are often portrayed as being possessed, influenced by bad friends or forced into homosexuality and always needing "saving", she told the BBC.

"You rarely see stories about LGBT people, especially about queer women that speak to the realities of our lives.

"Ife was made to bridge the gap and to get the conversation going in Nigeria."

Coming out to a Nigerian mother

Ife is a story about two women falling in love as they spend three days together. They "then have their love tested by the realities of being in a same-sex relationship in a country like Nigeria", according to the publicity for the film.

If July's trailer, where sex is hinted at but not actually shown, is anything to go by, then Ife certainly pushes the boundaries of telling the LGBT story by Nigerian movie standards.

In one shot, the two protagonists, Ife and Adaora are in bed talking about love and the challenges faced by LGBT people especially within their families.

Their conversation forms the spine of the teaser for the film.

"I told my mum first, took her about a week to come to terms with it," Ife, played by Uzoamaka Aniunoh, says talking about revealing that she was a lesbian.

"Which is short for a Nigerian mother," interjects Adaora, played by Cindy Amadi.
"Is it too soon to say I might be in love with you?" asks Adaora as they cuddle.
"We are lesbians, this is the perfect time," answers Ife.

'It has to be censored'

Homosexuality is an extremely contentious issue in many parts of Africa and Nigeria is no different.
It is a highly religious and traditional society and its influential Christian and Muslim organisations oppose homosexuality.

As a consequence, Nigeria is one of 30 countries on the continent where it is criminalised.
The legislation outlawing same-sex relationships was passed in 2014 and built on the colonial-era prohibition of sodomy. Police in Nigeria have cracked down on people suspected of homosexuality, forcing most into hiding.

The feeling of being sidelined and the need to challenge beliefs that homosexuality is immoral is what inspired director Ikpe-Etim to take on the project.

"Before now, we have been told one-sided stories. What we are doing with this film is normalising the queer experience, we are normalising the LGBT romance.

"It will begin to erase that shame that LBQ [lesbian, bisexual and queer] women face," she told the BBC.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Africa is becoming increasingly vocal and visible, thanks to the internet providing a space for films, talk shows and websites.

But that has not stopped filmmakers from getting into trouble with authorities.
The head of the NFVCB said there was no space for Ife or other homosexual movies in Nigeria, citing the law.

"There's a standing law that prohibits homosexuality, either in practice or in a movie or even in a theatre or on stage. If it's content from Nigeria, it has to be censored," Mr Thomas told the BBC.
He said that whatever the platform was, "as long as it's Nigerian content and it's telling a Nigerian story, then we have a right to it".

But there is no plan for large-scale screenings of Ife in Nigerian cinemas or selling the DVD, as the producers want to make it available online as pay-on-demand.
But even that will get them into trouble with the regulators.

Increasing acceptance of LGBTQ people

"If it did not pass through NFVCB and it is released, the filmmakers will be prosecuted according to the law," Mr Thomas said.

"As long as it's Nigerian content, we will pull it down because we have collaborations with Google, YouTube and other key players."

But that has not deterred the producers and Adie says her team will continue as planned, as they believe they have done nothing wrong and do not plan to seek permission for an online release.
This is not the first time an LGBTQ-themed movie has fallen foul of regulators on the continent.
Stories of Our Lives, a collection of five short films based on stories of LGBTQ life in Kenya was banned in 2014 for being "contrary to national norms".

This was also the fate of Rafiki, Kenya's first film about a lesbian relationship, which went on to be the East African nation's first film to premiere at the Cannes film festival and also receive an Oscar nomination.

Inxeba/The Wound, a South African film about a relationship between two men in the context of the Xhosa initiation ritual was also banned from mainstream South African cinemas in 2018.
Despite the set-backs, some in the LGBTQ community in Africa say they are gradually gaining confidence and acceptance and link it to the increased visibility in films and literature which are encouraging greater tolerance among younger generations.

A 2019 survey of attitudes in Nigeria showed an increase in acceptance of LGBTQ people - though the balance was still tilted against them.

Some 60% of Nigerians surveyed said they would not accept a family member who was LGBTQ, but this was significantly lower than the 83% who put themselves in that category in 2017.
The need for further change is why people like Ikpe-Etim want to keep telling the stories of the LGBTQ community.

"As a member of an under-represented group, you are constantly at the mercy of people who don't understand what it means to be queer.
"I knew if I wanted the society to view LGBTQ people in a different light, I had to tell the full story," she said.

By Azeezat Olaoluwa

BBC 


Related stories: Producer of Nigeria’s new history-making lesbian film has a cunning plan to beat homophobic censors

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Thursday, December 19, 2019

John Boyega dons traditional Nigeria attire at Rise of Skywalker premiere

John Boyega attended the European premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker wearing traditional Nigerian attire.

On Wednesday evening, the actor, who portrays Stormtrooper-turned-rebel Finn in the intergalactic film series, joined his co-stars in London for the premiere of the saga’s latest instalment.

The 27-year-old, who was born in the capital to British-Nigerian parents, graced the blue carpet wearing a blue Agbada, a wide-sleeved robe traditionally worn by men in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

Boyega completed his look by wearing a Fila, a traditional Yoruba cap frequently paired with an Agbada.

He was joined at the star-studded event by members of his family, who were dressed in matching garments.

Several social media users expressed their admiration for Boyega’s sartorial choice, praising him for paying homage to his African heritage.

“He looks ‘out of this world’,” one person commented.

"For a Nigerian kid raised on Star Wars, this means everything to me. Representation matters. Thank you," someone else wrote.

Boyega shared a post on Instagram about the London premiere, saying he “had an amazing time”.

“Last leg of the tour! Couldn’t be more grateful for such an amazing opportunity,” he wrote in the caption.

The world premiere for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was held in Hollywood, California on Monday evening.

Independent

Related story: British Nigerian John Boyega and Star Wars lead actor talks about growing up in England

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Nollywood movie Lionheart disqualified from Oscars

 The organisers of the Oscars have disqualified Nigeria's first-ever entry for consideration in the International Feature Film category because it has too much dialogue in English, according to reports.

The disqualification of Lionheart - directed by and starring Genevieve Nnaji, one of the biggest stars in the Nigerian film industry widely known as Nollywood - was conveyed in an email to voters for the category, The Wrap reported on Monday.

According to the rules by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "an international film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (defined as over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track."

Lionheart has just under 12 minutes of dialogue that is in the Igbo language, while the rest of the 95-minute feature is in English, according to Hollywood Reporter.

The movie was scheduled to be screened to voters for the category, formerly known as best foreign language film, on Wednesday.
'Proudly Nigerian'

Lionheart, in which Nnaji plays Adaeze, a woman who tries to keep her family's transportation business afloat after her father suffers a heart attack, is currently streaming on Netflix.

Nnaji took to Twitter to express her disapproval of the Academy's decision.

Filmmaker Ava Durnay also criticised the Academy in a Twitter post.

"You disqualified Nigeria's first-ever submission for Best International Feature because its in English. But English is the official language of Nigeria. Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language?"

Many others also took to social media to comment on the Academy's move.

Al Jazeera

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Video - Farming: Adewale Akinnuoye-Abaje directorial debut with emotive film

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Black skinhead film directed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje hopes to "heal" pain

Now an award-winning actor, he has brought his story to cinemas in his country of origin - Nigeria. He hopes his directorial debut will be part of a “healing” process for people who sought foster care to give their children a better life.

Farming, the film’s title, takes its name from a term used to describe the practice of Nigerian immigrants fostering their children to white families in Britain so they could work, study and save money. It refers to the idea that the children were “farmed” out.

The aim of the practise, mainly prevalent from the 1960s to 1980s, was for the immigrants to eventually return to Nigeria.

“Perhaps this can provide a healing in some sense but ultimately a re-evaluation of our child-rearing processes,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje told Reuters at the film’s Nigerian premiere on Saturday in the country’s commercial capital, Lagos, after first being screened in London last month.

“I’m hoping that it will create a dialogue and a collective therapy for those that are still suffering, and a healing because many of the Nigerian farmers don’t actually go back for the children that were fostered,” he said.


As a six-week-old baby in 1967, Akinnuoye-Agbaje was left in the care of a white family in Tilbury, a southeast England town around 20 miles east of central London. And, as a youth, he joined a gang of skinheads - a far-right subculture often associated with racist violence in Britain.

Membership in a gang that previously tormented him ended when his biological father, who had relocated to Nigeria where he worked as a barrister, paid for him to attend a private school in the affluent English county of Surrey.

That step was taken after he was contacted by Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s foster mother.

“It is an important part of British history as well as Nigerian culture, so to be able to bring a story that I have harboured for so long home to the Nigerian audience is... a wonderful sense of accomplishment,” said Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

The film - which cost 3 million pounds ($3.89 million) to make and stars British actor Kate Beckinsale as the foster mother - was greeted with cheers and applause in a packed cinema hall in the upmarket Lagos district of Lekki.

Thousands of Nigerians leave the west African country each year in search of a better life abroad - often in Europe and the United States. Some of those who attended the screening said it was interesting to see a depiction of life overseas that differed from their expectations.

“When it comes to racism... we normally focus on America but it was nice to see what actually happened in the UK (United Kingdom),” said broadcaster Simi Drey.

Similarly, a cinematographer who goes by the name T-Cent said he was surprised by the portrayal of people typically seen as having benefited from life in a nation richer than Nigeria, where most people live on less than $2 a day.

“We look at these people and we say they are very, very privileged, but then everyone has their
 internal struggles,” he said.

By Nneka Chile

Reuters

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Film industry in Nigeria draws global entertainment brands

“Oya!” shouts the director in Nigerian Pidgin English. Actors take their marks. Lighting blinks on. The film crew snaps into action after the order to hurry up.

It’s another day in Nollywood, the affectionate nickname for Nigeria’s film industry - the world’s second most prolific after India’s Bollywood, producing hundreds of films and TV episodes each month.

For decades it was a factory churning out visual pulp fiction destined for the market stalls of DVD pirates. But Nollywood is increasingly grabbing the attention - and financing - of global entertainment brands.

Some, like French group Vivendi’s Canal+, seek to harness Nigerian hustle and know-how to extend the lifespan of the traditional pay-TV model, which is bleeding customers in developed markets but still has a future in Africa.

Others, including South Africa’s MultiChoice, are using Nigeria as a testing ground for introducing streaming platforms in African markets with poor communications infrastructure and low income levels.

In both cases, it’s local production that’s benefiting.

“Ten years ago Nollywood was very different,” Mary Njoku, whose ROK studios was acquired by Canal+ in July, told Reuters as the film crew worked in an abandoned hotel in Nigeria’s megacity Lagos. “Today we shoot with better cameras... We do things differently.”

A room on the hotel’s top floor was standing in for a college dorm on “What Are Friends For?”, an ROK comedy series that will be among new shows aired by Canal+ in coming months.

The company first dipped its toe into Africa’s most populous country six years ago, buying up local films, dubbing them and airing them on a dedicated channel, Nollywood TV, to viewers in French-speaking Africa.

That success led to the creation of a second channel.

The deal with ROK secures a steady supply of new films and series as the firm eyes a further expansion of African content, said Fabrice Faux, Canal+ International’s chief content officer.


Since it was founded six years ago, ROK has produced more than 540 films and 25 series. Under the Canal+ deal, Njoku says it aims to increase production from next year to around 300 films and 20 series annually.

Canal+’s pivot to Africa - a golden opportunity for ROK - is a business necessity for the French company.

“It is one of the very rare pay-TV markets that is growing and is growing very fast,” Faux told Reuters. “When I joined Canal+ International back in 2014, we had half a million (African subscribers) and now we have 4 million.”

Compare that to mainland France where, as of last year, it had lost some 1.3 million individual subscribers since 2013.

Much of that decline arose from losing broadcasting rights to popular sporting events. But it also reflected stiff competition from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. However, Faux believes such rivals pose no threat in Africa due to a widespread lack of 4G coverage or fixed broadband internet on the continent.

To properly develop African markets, however, Canal+ must cater to their diverse audiences, Faux said.

Francophone Africa has no Nollywood equivalent. Producing shows there has been slow and expensive, as Canal+ has been forced to bring in film crews from Europe to shoot on location, Faux said. He now hopes Canal+ can use ROK to clone the Nollywood model.

“The best knowledge and expertise is there in Nigeria. So it is our intention to try to bring some producers, technicians, directors to French-speaking Africa, for us to try to develop new production methods,” Faux said.

TEMPORARY GLITCHES?

If Canal+ sees little threat from streaming services in Africa, MultiChoice - the first major entertainment group to realize Nollywood’s potential - is out to prove it wrong.

In its infancy in the 1990s, Nollywood churned out cheap films ranging from bawdy comedies to morality tales about witchcraft and infidelity.

Low on production quality but high on entertainment value, these movies quickly garnered a fanatical following across Africa and its diaspora. And in 2003, MultiChoice launched Africa Magic - a Nollywood channel that would grow into a subscription package on its DStv satellite network.

In July, Showmax, MultiChoice’s fledgling video-streaming service, launched in Nigeria.

“The Nollywood phenomenon makes it quite interesting from a content development point of view. You have a huge base of very loyal fans,” said Niclas Ekdahl, CEO of MultiChoice’s connected video division.

Showmax - also available in South Africa and Kenya - is not alone in Nigeria’s video-on-demand market.

U.S. streaming giant Netflix released “Lionheart”, its first original film produced in Nigeria, in January. It is also negotiating licence deals for Nigerian films such as “Chief Daddy”, a comedy that debuted on the platform in March.

But bringing streaming to African audiences won’t be easy. Expensive mobile data and low incomes make regular streaming unaffordable for many on the continent.

One gigabyte of data, enough to watch about three films, costs the equivalent of around $2.80 in Nigeria, while most people live on less than $2 a day.

The experience of Malaysian streaming platform iflix is a cautionary tale.

It launched in Nigeria in 2017, then expanded to Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe following a tie-up with Kwese TV, a subsidiary of Zimbabwe’s Econet Media Limited.

However, data discounts and a pay-as-you-go option were not enough to sustain the business. In December, iflix sold its Africa business to the Econet group, which shut down the streaming service last month.

Showmax’s Ekdahl remains undaunted, passing the challenges off as “temporary glitches”. The potential payoff - a largely untapped audience of 1 billion - is worth the effort of tailoring a business to African markets, he believes.

Showmax partnered with mobile phone operators Vodacom, MTN and Telkom in South Africa and Safaricom in Kenya to offer reduced data and subscription fees. It aims to do the same in Nigeria.

It is also experimenting with installing wireless internet in public transport, so viewers can download content during their daily commutes without incurring data costs.

The boom in interest in Nigeria’s film industry can only be a good thing, says Joshua Richard, a barrel-chested actor who plays a fanatically religious student on “What Are Friends For?”

Foreign investment will, he hopes, help Nollywood shake off a reputation for shoddy camerawork and muffled sound, while also leading to greater artistic recognition overseas.

“It exposes African actors to a bigger audience,” he said. “We have lots of good content in Nollywood, but it doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”

By Alexis Akwagyiram

Reuters

Related stories: Nollywood: most prolific movie machine

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Netflix involvement in Nollywood




Global streaming service Netflix set its eyes a few years ago on Nigeria’s film industry, better known as Nollywood. Distribution of Nigerian movies on Netflix started around 2015. At the time the American giant bought the rights of blockbusters such as Kunle Afolayan’s October 1st, Biyi Bandele’s Fifty and several others, after they had already been distributed in Nigerian cinemas.

During the Toronto International Film Festival 2018, Netflix announced the acquisition of worldwide exclusive distribution rights for Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji’s debut film as director, the comedy Lionheart. The film marked the first Netflix original film from Nigeria. Many saw this as the beginning of a new era in the relationship between one of the world largest streaming platforms and Africa’s most prolific film industry.

But, is this actually true? Is Netflix going to transform Nollywood? And how significant will its impact on the Nigerian film industry be?

Difficult questions

These are not easy questions to answer. Nollywood’s economy and modes of production are unlike those of most other film industries. Over the past 20 years Nigerian films have circulated mostly on videotapes and Video Compact Discs (VCDs).

This distribution system made the industry widely popular across Africa and its diaspora. But it prevented Nollywood from consolidating its economy and raising the quality of film production. Piracy dramatically eroded distribution revenues and producers had trouble monetising the distribution of their films. Nollywood prioritised straight-to-video distribution because cinema theatres had almost disappeared in the country (as in most other parts of Africa) as a result of the catastrophic economic crisis that affected Nigeria in the 1980s.

New multiplexes have emerged since the beginning of the 2000s. However, today there are only about 150 widescreens for a population of almost two hundred million people. The cinemas that exist are often too expensive for most of the population that used to buy and watch Nollywood films when they were distributed on tapes.

Within this context, many in the industry thought that streaming could be the best solution to the industry’s problems with distribution. However, a closer look to the history of what has been labelled the “Nigerian Netflix” (iROKO.tv, the leading streaming platform for Nigerian contents) shows that the reality is more complicated.

When the company decided to move its headquarters from Manhattan to Lagos it encountered countless difficulties. They were mainly connected to the costs of infrastructure development in Nigeria and to the hostility of local distributors who controlled Nollywood’s economy since its creation.

Weak internet

Internet connection in Nigeria is still too weak and expensive to guarantee easy access to streaming platforms. As a result, Nollywood content distributed by iROKO.tv and Netflix circulates mostly in the diaspora. Netflix is aware of this problem and is investing in infrastructures to secure a better connection for its Nigerian audiences.

But larger investments seem to be necessary to produce a significant impact on audiences’ behaviour. Accessing Nollywood films via piracy or local screening venues will continue to be, at least in my view, the key strategy adopted by the largest percentage of Nigerian viewers.

Netflix could have better chances in penetrating the country’s elite market, as richer people in Nigeria and across Africa have easier access to reliable power supply and internet.

This might be the reason why MultiChoice, the South African telecommunication giant controlling much of Nollywood distribution across Africa through its Africa Magic channels, has reacted nervously to Netflix’s increased interest in African markets. MultiChoice wants Netflix to be more closely regulated.

These two aren’t the only telecommunication “superpowers” in the field. France’s Canal Plus and the Chinese StarTimes have also made a few investments in Nollywood over the past few years. The competition among all these actors will probably have a positive impact for viewers across Nigeria and the continent. It could bring lower subscription fees for streaming and TV content packages.

There are also likely to be new investments in content production and infrastructures. And there’s larger continental and global exposure for Nollywood films in the offing.

Foreign investments

It remains to be seen how good these developments will be for Nollywood producers. Until now, foreign investments in Nollywood have mostly translated into “more of the same” content. Working conditions for crews and actors have remained the same – basically, low budgets and quick shooting schedules.

In fact, big investors seem to be mainly interested in Nollywood’s already established popularity with African audiences. Making Nollywood more palatable for international audiences doesn’t seem to feature.

This means that in most cases they are not ready to invest bigger money in production budgets. Rather, they invest in better structuring distribution networks to extract as much profit as possible from the Nigerian industry.

And most African audiences are indeed happy with how Nollywood is, even if they tend to complain regularly about the low quality and the repetition of film contents and aesthetics. The fact that Nollywood as it is keeps on attracting audiences makes investors reluctant to change the scale of their production budgets.

There are a few bigger productions, with higher production standards, that have emerged over the past few years in Nollywood. But they have hardly been the result of investments made by foreign firms like Netflix, Canal Plus or MultiChoice.

Nigerian producers are those who are mostly concerned about raising the quality of Nollywood films. They want to give better content to their audiences and reach global screens. In most cases, the people investing money in these kinds of projects have been independent producers or groups of investors related to the new business of multiplexes in Nigeria.

In my view, the question is: will these people benefit from Netflix, so as to continue investing in higher quality content? Or will Netflix and other international companies end up taking over the industry to make it only a bit more of the same?

Mail & Guardian

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Video - Nigeria gets first Netflix Original starring Genevieve Nnaji



International TV streaming service, Netflix, is making its headway to Africa gradually. The company recently entered the Nigerian market by acquiring the world rights to Genevieve Nnaji’s Lion Heart film.

The movie will be showing on Netflix international platforms. The movie is Genevieve Nnaji’s first movie to direct. Lion Heart also premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada where Kenya’s Rafiki movie will also be screening.

Netflix already has several South African shows on its platform. Kenya might be next to this growing company.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Video - Nigerian boarding school movie ZR-7 now available on DVD and VOD



The critically acclaimed feature ZR-7 The Red House seven is now available on amazon.com DVD and VOD:

ZR-7 tells the classic life of boarding school adventure involving TJ with six of his friends (Rolly-D, Chiedu, UK, Tokunbo, Femi & James) while in JSS 1 (7th grade). The boys are initially shocked by all the hoops they have to jump in order to survive teachers, prefects, wicked seniors, dining hall food, thieves, cutting grass, washing toilets, puppy love and all the other regular experiences anyone in a public Nigerian boarding school would experience. But when TJ and the boys accidentally see a man and two female students in an uncompromising position, what they do with that information is not their only problem in school, but the resulting scandal would change their lives far beyond their wildest dreams.

Written and Directed by Olufemi D. Ogunsanwo & Udoka Oyeka

Director Of Photography Bishop C. Kagho Idhebor

Editor Chidi Nwaozomudoh

IMDB