Nollywood Today and Challenges for Tomorrow

In my last post I outline how Nollywood developed and transformed into the 2nd largest movie industry in the world. In this post we will look into the popular themes and the current challenges of Nollywood.

Although these days Hollywood movies are screened in Nigeria, they are not as popular as local movies and Nollywood movies clearly outsells them not just in Nigeria but in many other parts of Africa as well. Hollywood movies do not always depict Nigerians in good light. Depiction of Nigerians in the recent hit District 9 sparked a lot of anger in Nigeria and it is banned there. The themes shown in Nollywood movies are more appealing and accepted locally. In fact, a lot of people feels Nollywood serves as an ambassador for Nigeria. Most of the movies presents the modern Nigeria and its rich ethnic diversity.

The common themes are the same as around most of the world. They are centered around Corruption, Politics, Love, Family and Religion. These are the topics that people daily talk about and relate to. One of the popular film “One God for One Country” is about a Muslim man and a Christian woman who wants to marry but through many obstacles. Nigerians are deeply religious and shades of it is seen in the movies as well. These movies are shot all across Nigeria in hotels, offices, homes and guest houses. Although, the most popular locations are Lagos, Abuja and Enugu.

Being a 20 year old industry, people have already started questioning the quality of movies and say Nollywood is about Quantity and not Quality. But we have to understand that it is storytelling which is more important. 60% of population still live under $1 a day. For them it is still unimaginable to buy expensive movie tickets and watch the blockbusters in theatres. Rather a VCD or a DVD which they can easily buy on the streets of Nigeria for around $3 is much more feasible which they can watch together as a family or community on VCD/DVD players. The industry also provides employment opportunity to a large number of people. The budgets are low and so are pay cheques. Therefore, it is very important for them to continuously make movies and keep people employed. Sometimes quantity does matter and there are good movies as well which do good internationally as well. Osufia in London, made in 2003, is one of the highest grossing home video movie and did exceedingly well internationally.

Nollywood faces problems which are mostly unheard to Hollywood producers. As most of the movies are shot on the streets of major cities they have to deal with “Area Boys” who charge taxes from producers to allow them to shoot the movies. At times, there will be vendors shouting on the streets while the camera is still on and the Producers have to pay money to keep them away. Believe it or not, traffic jam, is also one of the crippling issue with Nollywood. Crew members arrive late on the set because of traffic. An industry which thrives on making a movie in 7 days, can get its schedule upset if people arrive hours late on the set. Power-cuts is another issue which they have to deal with and Finance is always an issue.

In all this, the role of Censor Board is really commendable. Imagine they have to certify 40-50 films a week. However, they do not allow wrong messages and values to be passed on.

What Next?
As mentioned before after 20 years of existence Nollywood is at a crossroad where there is a constant question about quality of movies. Some people say depiction of Black Magic and Voodoo also hurts the image of Nigeria. However, the industry still faces inherent problems.

However, as Franco Sacchi had said on the TED Forum, Close your eyes and imagine a world where there are no stories. Its hard to imagine, isn’t it.
When we had no means, stories were told besides the campfire at night. And Nigerians certainly don’t mind watching the stories of today on their VCDs and DVDs.

P.S.
Following is the list of some of the famous documentaries on Nollywood:

• This is Nollywood
• Nollywood Babylon
• Welcome to Nollywood
• Good Copy Bad Copy

Disclaimer : The views expressed on the blog are mostly from what I read on internet about Nollywood. I had no chance to experience Nollywood first hand.

Nollywood - Celluloid to Video Industry

In our quest to know more about Nigeria, last week I had the opportunity to do a short presentation on Nigerian Cinema. Nollywood, as it is generally known is the 2^nd largest film industry in the world in terms of no. of films produced, second only to Bollywood and ahead of Hollywood. The one unique characteristic about Nollywood is contrary to general opinion about movie industry it is not a celluloid industry where movies are shown on big screen but rather a video industry. In the post below, I tried to put a short summary on it.

Nollywood is said to be a relative new industry with around 15-20 years of existence. Although the real history dates back to 1960s when the first films were produced and screened in Nigeria. This was the time when Nigeria got its independence, however the producers got really frustrated because of the high cost of production. Then came the era to Television between 1960s and 1980s. This was largely supported by Govt. as well and by mid of 80s all the states in Nigeria had their own Television Station.

The real breakthrough for Nollywood came in 1992 when Kenneth Nnebue made a movie called “Living in Bondage”. The movie had a bold storyline and had depictions of black magic. It also showed how some wealthier men in Nigeria are making money using unfair means. The central theme of the movie was the triumph of Good over Evil. These concepts resonated really well with Nigerians and brought them back to movie-watching. There are also stories that Kenneth had a lot of video-tapes left over from his previous assignment and used it to market the movie. Some other factors which shaped the industry during then were:

• There were a lot of street crimes during the 90s which kept both the cinema-goers from going to cinema halls as well as made it difficult for producers to make movies.
• Financing was always an issue.
• There were some restrictions on displaying of Foreign content on televisions.

The above factors led to producers making their own content and broadcasting on television. Later these content were copied on video-tapes and sold in the markets as well. Additionally, they were motivated by success of Kenneth and changed the face of industry.

Thus, Nollywood is often referred to as homegrown or grassroot industry which developed on its own without any Govt. or outside support. The movies produced are not screened on theaters but sold as VCDs and DVDs for as low as $3. In fact, by some assumptions there are around 57 million VCD and DVD players in Nigeria which is used to play these movies. On an average a movie sells around 50,000 copies and if the movie is hit the no. can go upto 3 times and more. Every year around 2000 movies are produced and released, meaning around 40-50 movies are released every week. The annual revenue for Nollywood is said to be somewhere around 400 million dollars. Again there are some people who say that the actual figure may be 3 times more.

Use of English instead of local languages also served to expand the market not just in Nigeria but also among other African nations and Nigeria diaspora spread across different parts of the Globe. Nigerians also excelled in doing much more from less. An average movie in Nigeria costs somewhere around $15000 and is produced in a week’s time. In fact Nigeria’s most prolific director who has made over 80 films in past 8 years brags that he can complete a movie in flat 3 days. Nigerians are also very good in adapting new technologies as soon as it becomes affordable. What started with VHS cameras have moved on to Digital and HD cameras. Almost all the movies in Nollywood are shot using digital technologies these days.

Franco Sacchi, an Italian filmmaker, made a documentary on Nigerian Cinema and presented the film “This is Nollywood” to the audience at TED in 2007.

Whether it is about watching the movies on big screen or idiot box, Nollywood gave a ray of hope to ordinary Nigerians. They could see and experience their dreams come true on the silver screen and revived the culture of movie going. This is an industry which proved that ultimately it is about storytelling. In the next blog I will try to summarize the themes around these movies and what are the challenges that they are facing after around 20 years of existence.

Disclaimer : The views expressed on the blog are mostly from what I read on the internet about Nollywood. I had no chance to experience Nollywood first hand.

The feeling has started to sink in..

The first few days of a new year is always a good time to reflect on the year gone by and the year ahead. Well, among the usual highs and lows of professional life the single most important accomplishment of 2009 was my selection for the IBM CSC Program.

The program includes a 3 month pre-assignment period followed by 1 month in-country experience. In the pre-assignment phase we prepare ourselves for the experience ahead. Now that I am five weeks into the program, the feeling has started sinking in that I am part of IBM’s global initiative for a smarter planet and apart from the usual hustle bustle and the work that we are doing, will make the world a better place.

The unique part of the program is the opportunity to work with a highly diverse team. My team has 15 members from 10 different countries with their IBM experience ranging from 20 to 2 years and job profiles including Sales, Marketing, IT, HR, Consulting, Project Management and Engineering.

Although, we speak only for an hour once a week, but I already feel so connected to all of them. I am really amazed to see the passion each individual carry for the assignment. It seems there is a curiosity quest among the team mates to know as much about Nigeria, its culture, industries, environmental issues, role of International Aid Agencies etc.. The collective passion of the team motivates every single individual to do their best.

It is such an interesting way to learn more about a country. I feel I know so much more about Nigeria in the past 5 weeks, although there is plenty more to learn.

I am sure when I look back on 2010 during the same time next year, the experience at Nigeria will be the one which I will cherish the most and remember lifelong. AMEN.