The Best Nigerian Female Filmmakers and the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series

The Best Nigerian Female Filmmakers and the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series.

Researching for and profiling the best Nigerian female filmmakers for the third edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series have been more tasking than selecting the best Nigerian filmmakers. I started with 10 accomplished Nigerian female filmmakers in Nigeria and the Diaspora and now I have 33 notable ones.

The publication of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series has been totally financed by me and the 10 complimentary copies of the second edition I gave out gratis cost me US$300, because I am the Publisher and Editor. But the international distributors sell a copy from US$40- US$70. The first edition with the young accomplished award winning filmmaker, Kenneth Gyang on the cover sells from US$40 to over US$900 on Amazon. Book traders have made it a collector's item. 

The third edition has more features and photographs, including rare photographs of the great Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe on the location of the making of the film adaptation of two of his novels, "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease" as "Bullfrog in the Sun" directed by German filmmaker, Jason Hansjürgen Pohland and produced by Francis Oladele, the "Father of Nigerian Cinema".  Other features include the highest grossing Nollywood movies so far, the world premiere of Femi Odugbemi's "Gidi Blues", one of the best romantic dramas in Nigerian movies; the making of "Lagos in Motion" romantic documentary; profiles of some of the top Nigerian actors and actresses; Sam Zebba's"Fincho" (1957), the first film to be made in colour in Nigeria; Adamu Halilu, the first filmmaker to have made a film in Hausa and his other films; including "Baban Larai" (1954), "It Pays to Care" (1955), "Hausa Village" (1958), "Mama Learn a Lesson" (1963), "Child bride" (1971) and "Shehu Umar" (1979); 2019 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) and 2019 Nigerian International Film Summit (NIFS).

This is going to be a highly priced collector's item and if book traders sell a copy for more than US$1000, I will not be surprised.

Publishing such an important publication on contemporary art of filmmaking in a society where the majority of the people are intellectually challenged has been a herculean task, because many of the Nigerian filmmakers in Nigeria don't even know the importance and significance of the literature of motion picture and the appreciation of literary culture. Philistinism is widespread among majority of people in Nigeria. But I have to continue documenting and publishing the history of Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry for the benefit of Nigeria and the rest of the world.

- EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima,

https://amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima…