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Last week I'd mentioned that I didn't know much on African Film. I wrote a little blurb yesterday about "Nollywood" the explosion of Nigerian film.
Papa Shango, who has a blog called "I'm An African In New York" left this comment:
'Nollywood has become indeed the World 3rd largest movie industry. It seems to me that Nollywood is more interested in quantity these days than quality though. I suppose it's the result of low cost requirements, similar to horror movies in the US (very cheap to make, that's why there's so many of them year round).One naija movie stands out though, it's The Amazing Grace, probably the most successful Nigerian to date. Unlike its predecessors, it was released in theaters throughout the African continent and even the UK recently. Check it out here:http://www.theamazinggracefilm.com/agf/en/home.html '
From IW: This is the film's synopsis:
The Movie "The Amazing Grace" is the most ambitious project to come out of the Nollywood (Nigerian) stable. The first major international feature film from the Nigerian movie industry highlights the epic story of the British slave trader John Newton’s Voyage to Nigeria in 1748, and how this experience helped inspire him to compose the world famous hymn, Amazing Grace.
7 comments:
Hey Invisible Woman! This may help you: “Living with the Legacy of Ousmane Sembène.” Maybe not…
I will have to rent Amazing Grace, and see. The only African films I have seen, have been a select few from South Africa, like "Yesterday".
Damn I want a blog like yours! definitely a nice makeover. Nothing beats Foxy Brown greeting you with a shot gun. It's kick-ass in every imaginable way ;-)
Even though I was born and spent the first 10 years of my life in Nigeria, I don't know as much about Nollywood as I probably should. But I've been planning to have a podcast dedicated to the subject. It should happen any moment, once I get all my guest experts ready. But, yes, from what I know, and from my research, the vast majority of the films from Nollywood are simply not up to par... except for a few gems here and there that shine through. I've made parallels between Nollywood and what's happening with black cinema in this country - in short, there are quite A LOT of sub-par black American films going straight to video, with very, VERY few that actually get the full red carpet treatment (theatrical, DVD, Cable, marketing budgets, etc), which is much the same in Nollywood. That's partly why there haven't been many Nollywood films that have made a splash on the international scene. But I suppose that could be said for all of African cinema. I have talked about people like Ousmane Sembene and Desire Ecare on my podcast, and even reviewed their films, but neither of them is a Nollywood filmmaker. Sembene is Senegalese and Ecare is from Ivory Coast. However, for the 3rd largest film industry in the world, very few outside of Africa have actually seen any of the films, or even heard of Nollywood, and that, I think, is about to change...
Alright, I'm done :o)
TAO
Thanks, Papa! :-) @tayo and bryan...thanks for the info...I love it! Keep it comin'.
You've clearly never had your hair braided in a Senegalese storefront in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. The Nigerian movies are playing constantly and that's a good thing when you're sitting in the same seat for 6-8 hours.
Babygirl-I used to live in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, and I had my hair braided by the African mamas. The thing is, my hair was being braided so f_k__g tight that I didn't even know what time of day it was, much less what movie was playin!
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