The Nollywood's Venom~1~

In recent years,the nascent Nigerian film industry has grown rapidly to become the 2nd largest film producing industry in the world after the prolific Bollywood of India and before the renowned Hollywood in the United States.With production of over fifty(50) movie titles per week,Nollywood,as the Nigerian film industry has come to be known and is beginning to command global attention by its size and work rate and it is increasingly seen as one of Nigeria's positive cultural contributions to the international community.The industry has not only transformed the way Nigerians see themselves,it has also become one of the major sources of employment in the country with over 5,000 guild members in 2004.However,the industry needs encouragement to ensure sustainable growth and both foreign and local film industry experts agree that there is an urgent need to expose Nollywood to more technical depth and professionalism.There is also a need for scholarly examination of this phenomenon,and the meanings of its growing impact on 21st century African Visual culture.

By definition,Nollywood is Nigeria's movie industry by Nigerian production teams for the Nigerian people.Nollywood has over the years become a world phenomenon,as its movies are being sold in Ghana,Togo,Kenya,Uganda and South Africa as well as Jamaica,USA and the UK to name a few.

Now the name itself had caused a bit of protest in the earlier days,as alot of Nigerians felt it was imported and derived from Hollywood and Bollywood.There was also a little issue of the name being coined by a foreigner.Just as American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci,a fifteenth-century Italian of no particular importance who bumped into Brazil and then probably lied about when he did it.It apparently first appeared in an article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times in 2002-and that it continues to be imposed by foreigners.This resembles the coining of the name 'Nigeria' by Lord Lugard's girlfriend,which is still resented in some quarters.The good thing is that Nollywood as a name has moved far beyond there earlier hiccups,no one actually thinks twice about the origin of the name today.It has become accepted that Nollywood applies to Nigerian Movie Industry.

Despite so many challenges which to name a few include expensive technical tools of the trade,inconsistent supply of electricity(which is taken for granted in almost every other country in the world),the horrible gridlock conditions which could lead to extreme lateness in production times(but the 'show must go on'!),Nollywood has been able to hold its own.Nollywood movies are made on shoestring budgets ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 a piece spaning 7 to 10 days.This is an incredibly short jampacked production time by all standards.

What makes the industry so unique is that it is a video driven industry.The movies in the early days were produced and put straight on VHS cassettes and then released/distributed for sale to the public.Now with the new technological advancement in place,they are usually on VCDs,the Nigerian refer to the movies as 'home video'.Nigeria is a very rich cultural entity,which has for decades produced very beautiful and even world acclaimed theatre productions,which is where this movie industry takes root.Herbert Ogunde and Ola Balogun amongst a few others all made notes that were shown in the few theatres that existed during the 1970's and 1980's.These films include 'Jaiyesimi','Aiye' and 'Taxi-Driver',there were all done in Yoruba(the language of the south western states),the movies done in Englisu prior to Nollywood include 'Bisi Daughter of the River' and Prof. Wole Soyinka's 'Blues For A Prodigal' among a few others.The problem of funding,expensive equipment and piracy amongst others made sure that there early efforts did not take root and develop into great industry as we see it today.

According to Hala Gorani and Jeff Koinange formerly of CNN,Nigeria has a US $50 million movie industry,churning out some 200 videos for home video market every month.Nollywood is Africa's largest movie industry in terms of value of the movie industry and the number of movies produced per year.One of the first Nigerian movies to reach international renown 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 an 8-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 there videos outside of the country.

Nigerian movies have become cheap poisons to holy eyes.The recent home videos that have their posters on the streets merely depict our gross insensitivity to their negative influences in the society.We have so much gone wild that we even put up movies that we expect to satisfy our lusts.With movies like Hidden Price,Save My Love,Under Seventeen,Deadly Emotion,The Grand Player,Player No.1,Fruit Of Your Labour,and the likes in circulation,I'm afraid that Nollywood is actually doing more harm than good to our society.Just as we can be fed with unwanted nude pictures on the internet,our actors and actresses have become,the cheapest and easiest means of advertising pornography in home videos.Though there are other aspects of life that have been wrongly mimicked,the public show of nudity has been recurrent.To be continued in the next article...