20 Years Since The New York Times Named "Nollywood" in 2002

20 Years Since The New York Times Named #Nollywood

Norimitsu Onishi was the Chief of The New York Times’s southern Africa bureau, based in Johannesburg when he discovered the phenomenon of the first indie film industry in Africa in 2002 in the hustle and bustle of Lagos city, the heart and soul of the guerilla filmmakers of Nigeria.

How The Times Named ‘Nollywood’ in 2002

"It’s like Hollywood or Bollywood but in Nigeria — Nollywood!I told my editor."

- Norimitsu Onishi.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/insider/how-the-times-named-nollywood.html

The name of Nollywood has become the identity of the Nigerian film industry even though the making of the genre started in the 1980s which I have chronicled in my widely read and shared article, 
The Nollywood Phenomenon: From Analog to Digital - SHADOW & ACT
https://shadowandact.com/the-nollywood-phenomenon-from-analog-to-digital-2

The article shows the evolution of Nollywood over the years and how the digital cinema revolution has made a critical impact in the advancement of Nollywood since 2002.

It is now 30 years since the production of the first Nollywood blockbuster, "Living in Bondage" by Chris Obi Rapu in 1992 written and produced by Kenneth Nnebue and Okechukwu Ogunjiofor. And as we say in Lagos, many waters have passed under the Eko Bridge from 1992 to 2022.

Traditional filmmakers of the old school of filmmaking on celluloid still say Nollywood is video and not cinema. But top people in the global film industry said: Every region has unique stories to tell. And we should encourage them to tell their stories first and not be hindered by the technical requirements for professional film production. That the first thing is to supply on demand, because it was the overwhelming quantity of Nollywood home videos in the 1990s that attracted the rest of the world before the improvements in the quality. 

There have been significant improvements in the quality of the movies as Nollywood filmmakers have been adapting to current developments in filmmaking by using the same digital cinema cameras used by their counterparts in Bollywood and Hollywood following international standards in film and TV productions.

The improvement in the quality of the content has attracted the leading International acquisition and distribution companies, major studios and OTT video streaming services from America and Europe. Netflix, Disney and Amazon are now demanding for the best content in Nollywood and well produced movies have been acquired. 

There have been international productions of Nigerian movies featuring top Hollywood actors such as "The Amazing Grace" of 2006 directed by Jeta Amata, written by Jeta Amata and Nick Moran and produced by Jeta Amata and Alicia Arce with top roles by Joke Silva, Nick Moran and Scott Cleverdon; "Black November" directed by Jeta Amata in 2012, starring Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Fred Amata, Sarah Wayne Callies, Nse Ikpe Etim, OC Ukeje, Vivica Fox, Anne Heche, Persia White, Akon, Wyclef Jean and Mbong Amata; "30 Days in Atlanta" directed by Robert O' Peters and produced by AY Makun in 2014 starring Starring AY Makun, Ramsey Nouah, Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD),Desmond Elliot, Vivica A. Fox, Lynn Whitfield, Karlie Redd, Majid Michel, Omoni Oboli, Racheal Oniga, Yemi Blaq and Juliet Ibrahim; "A Trip To Jamaica" directed by Robert O' Peters and produced by AY Makun in 2016 starring AY Makun,Funke Akindele, Nse Ikpe Etim, Dan Davies, Eric Roberts and others; "Esohe" directed by Charles Uwagbai and Robert O' Peters in 2018 starring Jimmy Jean Louis, Misty Lockheart, Desmond Elliot, Chris Attoh, Bimbo Manuel, Ufuoma McDermott, Toyin Aimakhu, Jemima Osunde and Monica Omorodion Swaida; "A Soldier's Story 2" of 2020 directed by Frankie Ogar and produced by Martin Gbados, starring  Eric Roberts, John J Vogel Jr, Alex Usifo, Akin Lewis, Segun Arinze, Linda Ejiofor, Somkele Idhalama, Michelle Dede, Daniel K. Daniel, Tope Tedela, Baaj Adebule, Samabasa Nzeribe and others; "Christmas in Miami" of 2021 directed by Robert O'Peters and produced by AY Makun starring Ayo Makun, Osita Iheme, Richard Mofe-Damijo, IK Ogbonna, Kent Morita, Raquel Lamanna, Manoj Chandra, Malcolm Burtchett, Nadya Marie, Tanya Price, Barry Piacente and Catherine Olsen and Adah Obekpa's "The American King" of 2021 starring Enyinna Nwigwe, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Andrew Howard and Nick Moran who has been playing prominent roles in the international productions of Nollywood movies since the 2000s to date. 
"The American King" is currently showing in movie theaters in America and coming up next month in cinemas across Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia from February 25, 2022.

It is importan we document the new developments in Nollywood since 2002 to date for film history and film studies. That is why I working on a documentary film on "Nollywood Rising: The New Generation".

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry published since 2013.

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

Special hardcover editions are available for purchase from Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

 

Jeta Amata is working on new film after "Black Gold"

Jeta Amata


Nick Vivarelli of the Variety reported that the ambitious Nigerian filmmaker Jeta Amata is already working on a new international film after making “Black Gold”.

The director who is also well known for his daring film “The Amazing Grace” is going to focus on the corrupt practices of pharmaceutical multinationals in Africa in his new film "Journeys of One," with Donald Ranvaud of "The Constant Gardner" fame as an executive producer.



Amata’s “Black Gold” had a market premiere at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. The film on the Niger Delta crisis featured top Hollywood actors like Tom Sizemore, William George "Billy" Zane, and Hakeem Kae-Kazim.

"Journeys of One" will be a way to provide a more genuine take on the Big Pharma in Africa theme tackled by Hollywood in Fernando Meirelles' "The Constant Gardner". We like Hollywood coming to tell our story; but they miss some of the essence of the African point of view," Amata said.

Variety reported that Amata, producer Soledad Grognett and Ranvaud are looking for a name African-American actor for one of the key roles in "Journeys" and likely to also feature an Indian star.

"The idea is to make it Hollywood, Nollywood -- as the Nigerian film industry is know -- and Bollywood; the three biggest markets in the world," said Amata. "If you go to the remote villages where they don't have proper means of communication, you find people just dying unnecessarily," he added. "And though they don't realize it, the real thing that killed them was some drug that they weren't meant to take."
"The environment in Nigeria makes it a haven for these people (the pharmaceutical companies) to run whatever tests they want and treat people like rats and guinea pigs," Grognett added.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima