Duro Oni article 1, Nollywood Project

Nollywood… Industry with global status – Duro Oni

Date: Sunday 29 July 2007
Publication: Sunday Punch, Essence, P36

Nollywood gets a global platform of expression in London from August 9 and 12 in a collaborative work involving the University of Lagos, Ferguson Centre, Open University and British Film Institute. One of the organisers, Prof. Duro Oni, who is the Head of Creative Arts Department of UNILAG, tells STEVE AYORINDE about Nollywood’s forthcoming day of reckoning

What informed the collaboration of the Creative Arts Department at the University of Lagos with the Ferguson Centre on the Nollywood conference coming up in London?

It is more of a personal thing really. While I was at CBAAC, I established a relationship with the Ferguson Centre. This led to an international symposium titled “Identity Politics, Globalisation and Social Conflict.” That was in 2003 and it was hosted by CBAAC. The relationship with the centre has continued now that I am back at the University of Lagos. Besides, the Nollywood phenomenon is certainly one of the areas of current research around the world. The current collaboration of our department with the Ferguson Centre is, therefore, to further such research efforts from an academic perspective.

The UK being crucial to the Nollywood market, where Nigeria has the largest Diasporan market, will the conference help attract support from the British film establishment to Nollywood?

Yes, we are certainly hoping it will happen with this workshop. The first part of the workshop is planned for the 9th of August and it is to be held at the British Film Institute (BFI). It is important that key film organisations around the world such as the BFI are mainstreamed into what is currently going on in the Nigerian film and video sector. That way, we can explore more collaborative relationships not only among scholars but also among the film producers, directors and writers. Eventually, it should be possible for the organisations to also get involved with collaborative productions and also with training programmes.

What informed the choice of the filmmakers like Tunde Kelani and Amaka Igwe as participants, whose films will also be screened?

It really would have been nice to invite a few more filmmakers beyond Kelani and Igwe, considering the vast talents available in Nigeria. To some extent though, Kelani and Igwe are representatives of the film industry in Nigeria, not only for the length of time that they have been there, but also in view of the serious nature of their work. It, however, would really have been nice to have been able to invite Zack Orji, the Ejiros (Zeb & Chico), Amatas (Zack & Jeb), Tade Ogidan, Andy Amenechi to mention but a few. We did make attempt to invite Sani Mua’zu, also a filmmaker, but all the time we were sending email messages to him, he was out on locations where there was no access to the internet.

From the management perspective, Afolabi Adesanya, Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation, and Emeka Mba, Director General of the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board, are also participating in the workshop and screenings.

By this conference and your department’s involvement, should we expect the development of a course/module in Film (in the future) at the department?

The Department of Creative Arts was established in 1997, 10 years ago and it offers three degrees at undergraduate and post-graduate levels in Theatre Arts, Visual Arts and Music. Part of our vision is to eventually become a Faculty of Creative Arts with two new departments added to the existing three. The envisaged two departments will be Cinematography and Film Studies and Industrial Design. So, as you can see, our foray in to the Nollywood project is a systematic ground-testing for the ultimate goal.

Your department has produced many of the current actors in Nollywood (KOK, Stella Damasus, Ann Njemanze, Victoria Inyama etc); it is right to say it is not in the artistic sphere of the industry that training is needed but in the technical realm?

Yes, we have some very outstanding alumni of the department and the University of Lagos that have made some impact in Nollywood. There are also a few more out there and they include Olisa Emeka, Mercy Aigbe and Jennifer Olisa. Training is needed in all the spheres. Certain things should not be done from an apprenticeship basis alone. What is required is some proper grounding in the theory of the profession before embarking on the practice. Otherwise, it would be like a man wanting to become a pilot and believes that the way to go about it is by simply seating with a pilot while flying and hoping that would substitute for proper training!

Critics often say that Nollywood only attracts international attention that borders only on curiosity, how is the London conference going to be different?

The London conference does not see Nollywood as a curiosity, but as an emerging phenomenon. The workshop is looking at Nollywood from different levels and approaches. The coordinators of the workshop are from different disciplines. These include literary expert Prof. Suman Gupta, a socio-linguist, Prof. Tope Omoniyi, a film scholar and critic, Dr. Francoise Parent-Ugochukwu and myself who is into design and aesthetics.

By describing the Nigerian video film and DVD as an ‘Industry’, will the conference, with your department’s support, recognise the current motion picture practice in Nigeria as an industry?

The Nigerian Video film and DVD is certainly an industry and it does not require any recognition by any research group to be an industry. The sheer number of films that are produced, the number of people involved in the production, the marketing of the films across the country and the international acceptability of the films and the constant improvement in the quality of the films being made and some shown on African Magic on DSTV channel all qualify Nollywood as an industry. With time also, the industry will continue to grow and make more impact to the socio-cultural development of Nigeria.

This article has been reproduced with the gracious permission of the author Steve Ayorinde and by the publishers: Punch online, the Daily Independent, Saturday Vanguard, Sunday Newspaper and Sunday Punch.