Duro Oni abstract, Nollywood Project

The Development of the Nigerian Video/DVD Film Industry and the Contemporary Situation

By Duro Oni(1)

A recent news report on the Silverbird Television (STV) in Nigeria of Thursday 21st June, 2007 at 7.15 p.m. reported that Igbo film makers on a visit and courtesy call to the Ndigbo (Chief) in Lagos, pledged to produce more films in Igbo language. This was to complement the films mainly produced in English or those known as “Engligbo”. The Paper looks at this development along with other issues in the development of the Nigerian Video film industry tracking the major landmarks in what Haynes has described the major contemporary Nigerian art form.

The paper examines the historical antecedents to the video films from the period of the celluloid films and the brief advent into reversals before the phenomenom that has come to be known as Nollywood with the production of the video films. Major factors that have impacted on the production of the video films are discussed. These include the share number of films necessitating a move by producers to cut down on the number produced annually; the banning and un-banning of some actors and actresses and the current disagreement with the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board on the Registration of Film Distribution companies.

The paper also investigates the recent trends in the financing of Nollywood films and assesses the impact of the new funding on the making and distribution of Jeta Amata’s Amazing Grace and Amstel Malta’s Sitanda.

(1) Professor Duro Oni is the Head of the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos and a Senior Overseas Fellow of the Ferguson Centre and Coordinator of the Nollywood Project.