by Funke Osae-Brown.

In this interview, Chioma Ude, Founder/CEO, Africa International Film Festival, tells FUNKE OSAE-BROWN the importance of film festival to the growth and development of the Nigerian film industry.

There is no other reason for relocating the festival to Lagos this year than the fact that AFRIFF is designed to be a travelling festival. It is not stationary. It could be back in Port Harcourt next year. It could be in Bayelsa or any other state years afterward.

The fact is that it is a festival that was designed to be mobile. We are considering whether it should be stationary or not. For now, it is something we are discussing but I think one of the things we want to achieve is to ensure that it is a festival that moves within the continent. The issue for me should not be about relocation of venue from Rivers State to Lagos but rather should be about what we are doing to make this year’s festival a unique one. This year’s festival is very concentrated on theme song. I think that is one of the main issues. We have done a lot on workshop, conferences concerning the event and people are going to come and watch.

Read the rest of this article from Business Day Online.

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by Nnamdi Ojiego.

Ace broadcaster and member of the Federal House of Representatives, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, shocked the press and industry operators alike last week, when she took on Nollywood.

She stated that most of the movies churned out of the industry lacked technical depths, especially when the films are compared to other films produced in the developed countries.

Erewa who was one of the special guests at a press parley to announce the commencement of this year’s film making workshop organised by the Del-York International in partnership with the New York Film Academy, NYFA, stated that film making was all about quality.

Read the rest of this article from VanguardNGR.

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by Akintayo Abodunrin.

As filmmakers salivate over the federal government’s $200 million low interest entertainment intervention fund, arts promoter, Tope Babayemi, has criticised the initiative.

President Goodluck Jonathan announced the intervention in aid of the industry earlier this year at the 30th anniversary of the Silverbird Group; the money has been released to the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank to disburse to movie producers who meet stipulated criteria.

“I am not happy with the president’s intervention because it does not reflect deep understanding of the place of the entertainment industry in the overall creative economy of Nigeria,” Babayemi noted in an interview

He argued that since entertainment, leisure, and recreation are enterprise driven, what is needed is “more effective government regulation, not handouts; effective government regulation that respects intellectual property rights.”

Read the rest of this article from Next.

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by Adedayo Odulaja.

Vivian Ejike is a notable name in the Nigerian Film Industry, popularly known as Nollywood. As a producer of repute, many Nigerians, especially all those who have anything to do with Nollywood, fondly place her as a young woman who is already standing tall in the industry despite her few years in the industry of light, camera and action and one that is dominated by men.

Like the award-winning movies she has produced, talking to or with her is a treasured experience because her confidence, professional mindset as well as her deep knowledge about the industry she operates are some of the virtues one would notice in such a discussion.

Vivian, a major contributor to what is now referred to as the refined thinking in Nollywood, some of the things that make up a good movie is one question she did not waste much time to answer.

Read the rest of this article from Daily Independent.

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by Funke Osae-Brown.

Lagos. In 1992 the debut of Kenneth Nnebue’s movie ‘Living in Bondage’ brought a new twist to the infant motion picture industry in Nigeria.  Shot straight-to-video, it was Nollywood’s first blockbuster movie which kicked off the Nigerian cinema industry. By the following year, more film makers tapped into this eye opening trend and so Nollywood was born.

Today Nollywood’s growth has been stunt by lack of professionalism and piracy by some practitioners.  It has become an all comers’ affair and an avenue for cheap fame and making a quick buck.

From Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya to Egypt, most of what is known of Nigeria as a country today has been disseminated through Nollywood.Yet, little or no attention has been paid to the potentially money spinning industry that would have been a good source of revenue for the country. Efforts by current investors in the industry have been bedevilled by piracy.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycette, a veteran actress who featured in many productions in Nigeria including a TV series in the 1970s, ‘Winds Against My Soul’ expresses her angst with the quality of production of works churned by directors whom she thinks are not in tune with times. “We don’t have to be at the state we are now when it comes to film making in this 21st century,” she says.

Read the rest of this article from The Citizen.

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This article was written by Franco Sacchi.

“The 18 year-old, $250 million Nigerian film industry produces some 2,000 movies a year—a number that puts Lagos in a league with Mumbai and Los Angeles. But in Nollywood, unlike Bollywood or Hollywood, movies can cost as little as $10,000 to make and take barely a week to shoot.

The films are straight-to-VCR, VCD or DVD and cost around $1.60 a piece, though they can be rented for a fifth of that price and are also shown on satellite television. While their quality of acting and production may appear lacking when compared to the products of other film industries, Nollywood movies are avidly consumed throughout Nigeria, across Africa and beyond.”

Read the rest of this article from World Policy.

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This article was written by Tony Iwuoma.

“For over 30 years, Mr. Adenuga had held Nigerians spellbound with his hilarious productions on television or on the pages of magazines. He has endeared himself to Nigerians who have come to rely on his witty productions as antidote to crisis in the polity. In fact, to underscore his relevance and contributions, an appreciative nation had given him the national honour of the Member of the Federal Republic, MFR.

Yet Adenuga is not yet done. In this interview, the master humourist, passes Nollywood, Nigeria’s film brand, under his telescope and came out with a damning verdict. The good news, however, is that his company, Wale Adenuga Productions, has immediate plans to take the industry by storm through production of real films since 1984 when he produced the last film. The interview is quite revealing and shows the serious side of Adenuga, who is known for humour.”

Read the rest of this article from Sun News Online.

This article is from NGR Guardian News.

VICTOR Okhai is an independent producer and one of the few intellectuals in Nollywood, who feels saddened with the failings of the movie industry. Yet he maintains a positive posture with the belief that Nollywood will soon get out its dark tunnel with the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. However, he is embittered that government agencies saddled with keeping the industry alive have turned out its greatest enemy as they roll out unworkable and self-serving theories while ignoring the real problems of the industry.

But to cap it all, a recent utterance allegedly attributed to the Minister of Information and Communications that Nollywood is Nigeria’s problem didn’t go down well with him and others in the industry. He responded to this among other issues in this chat with ANOTE AJELUOROU.”

Read the rest of this article from NGR Guardian News.

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“Professional skills, a well-thought-out socio-cultural policy, training and capacity building are basic to the development of a film industry anywhere in the world. The human mind is difficult to just change.

But it is not beyond correcting considering the fact that, over the course of Hollywood’s history, regulatory systems evolved around film development agencies in reaction to variables like changing viewing audience, the aspirations of its filmmakers, as well as legal pressures to preserve the long-term interests and strategy to attain its objectives.”

Read this article from Modern Ghana.

The Ten Commandments of Filmmaking
How to Work (and Survive) in the
Film and Television Industry
by Peter D. Marshall

“Over the years, practitioners in Nollywood have participated in different film festivals in and outside the country. However, the concern now is whether these festival have impacted on Nigeria’s movie sector even as India and Nigeria plan a maiden film festival January.”

Read this article from This Day Online.