NOLLYWOOD
Nollywood and The French Connection
Before the Nigerian government started supporting Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry with grants from the Project Act Nollywood and the NollyFund of the Bank of Industry (BoI), the French government through the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the film and TV productions of selected Nigerian filmmakers. The French Audio Visual Attaché in Nigeria (2002-2006), Monsieur Pierre Barrot authored one of the first books on the phenomenon of Nollywood, "Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria" published by the Indiana University Press in 2009.
One of films sponsored by the French government, "Eternal" by Chike Ibekwe won the best film award (Ecrans Dór) at the 14th edition of Ecrans Noir Film Festival in 2010 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Another outstanding film produced with the support of Fonds images Afrique of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was "Changing Faces";by Faruk Lasaki, the first Nigerian film to be dubbed into French and broadcast by Canal France International in 2009 to all television channels in French-speaking Africa under the title "La Métamorphose".
Nigerian Films and TV series projects which benefitted from French production funding and were fully completed.
Projet | Producteur ou réalisateur | Genre | Aide accordée | Origine | Année |
Our husband has gone mad again | Albert Egbe | TV Series (13 x 26 minutes) | 40 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2003 |
The Virgin ? | Tunde Kelani | TV Series | 35 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2003 |
Claws of the lion | Francis Onwochei | Feature Film | 30 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2004 |
Tides of Fate | Greg Odutayo | TV Series | 40 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 |
Eternal | Chikeh Ibekwe | Feature Film | 40 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 |
The Head of State | Jimi Odumosu | | 45 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 |
Changing Faces | Faruk Lasaki | | 60 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 |
Off Campus | Chikeh Ibekwe | | 35 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 |
Relentless | Andy Amadi Okoroafor | | Aide réécriture 100 000 euros | Fonds Images Afrique | 2005 2006 |
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
