The Omalicha of NOLLYWOOD

The Omalicha of NOLLYWOOD

There are Omalichas of Nollywood. And she is The Omalicha of the Omalichas of Nollywood and the most beautiful so far in the history of the Nigerian film industry since 1960 to date.

Who is she?

As I showed her gazing at the mirror in "Mirror, Mirror, Who is the Fairest of them All?".

I wrote about her beauty in the popular article published by Nigeria Film, Modern Ghana and my own TALK OF THE TOWN By Orikinla. And of course I included her among the 34 Beauty Queens of Nollywood and Kannywood in the second edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series published in 2014.

The Beauty Queens of Nollywood and Kannywood should be a reality TV series on Netflix or Showmax and the series will attract millions of their fans and followers online and offline. I have identified more than 34 with the new beauty queens like Adesua Etomi- Wellington and sultry Sophie Alakija.

She has been the most beautiful since I have known her at the different locations for casting calls for auditions for new movies.

Year: 1996

Location: Idi Iroko bus stop

Ikorodu Road, Lagos, Nigeria .

Title of Movie: Cover Up

Ejike Asiegbu, Emeka Ike, Emeka Enyiocha, Segun Arinze, Adim Williams, Chyke Brian and Regina Askia later joined us for her role of the leading lady during the rehearsals.

Enebeli Elebuwa of blessed memory came around with Charly Boy on his power bike.

Then, the Omalicha was between 16 and 19. Emeka Enyiocha was often with her at the locations. And he was sitting beside her on this occasion.

She stood up and sashayed to me holding an orange in her right hand. 

Without saying any word, she gave me the orange with glints in her beautiful brown eyes.

I accepted it with thanks and she returned to her seat as I admired her.

She was guided by her inner spirit.

She went on to become one the most famous actresses in Nollywood and she became the first Nigerian actor and actress to be named among The TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2013 and named her "Queen of Nollywood" which I celebrated in the first edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRRORS® Series published in the same year and now a collector's edition.

If you are still wondering who?

Then you are a JJC in Nollywood.

She is The OMALICHA of NOLLYWOOD of the 50 Most Outstanding Women in Nollywood and the Nigerian Film Industry, including The ADAEZE of NOLLYWOOD, ADAORA of NOLLYWOOD, ADAUGO of NOLLYWOOD, ADAURE of NOLLYWOOD and ADABEKE of NOLLYWOOD to be profiled in the third edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.

It is a collector's edition in full colour on glossy paper printed in Raleigh, North Carolina,USA.

You can pre-order the hardcover version for only $50 (fifty dollars) including delivery by DHL or UPS.

The Omalicha inspired me to compose the following lyrics of my new song for one of prospective new Afrobeats singers I have discovered in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Yes. I I am a very good lyricist as well as a first prize winning poet.

My song "Hardway To Broadway" was recorded in California was I was 18 and copyrighted with a copy in the Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA in 1984.

My second recording, "She Comes on Sundays": was produced in Lagos in 2003 and I had one hour interview with the broadcast of the song on the BBC Radio in April, 2003 heard by millions of listeners worldwide.

I am currently recording three new songs: "Your Majesty, Lord Almighty", "Omalicha" and the title of the third song is CLASSIFIED.

As Rema will say,. "Another Banger!" 

My last stage performance was a live concert for the graduation ceremony of the Alliance Française in 2002 in Lagos. I sang my song, "Darego!" I composed to celebrate Darego for winning the Miss World beauty pageant in 2001. I was backed by one of the best rock guitarists in the world, "Son of Rock" Dabyna Abraham-Poll and his band. The girls were screaming with excitement in the mini theatre of the French Cultural Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos.

It was a romantic night to remember.

My live life is scripted by Almighty God And He said He wired me differently from others.

OMALICHA

Omalicha

You are beautiful.

Omalicha

You are wonderful

Omalicha

You are very pretty

Omalicha

No one can deny your beauty

Omalicha

You are catwalking up and down

Omalicha

You are the talk of the Town

Omalicha

You make heads to turn on the street

From the street to the internet

Omalicha

Your beauty is the talk of the social network

From Facebook to TikTok

From Instagram to Telegram

From Snapchat to WeChat

Omalicha

Obiago! Obiago! Obiago!

Omalicha

Nwayi Oma Achalaugo

Nwa nma oyoyo.

You are what my mother called Ogbashi motto.

Traffic stopper.

You make the heartbeats faster.

Omalicha

Onye nkem

Onye bu lo obi.

Omalicha

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,.

01:21am.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025.

Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Not Every Indian Film is Bollywood and Not Every Nigerian Movie is Nollywood

  

Not Every Indian Film is Bollywood and Not Every Nigerian Movie is Nollywood

Bollywood and Nollywood have been called the first and second largest film industries in the world for the production of the largest quantities of movies.

Bollywood is generally labelled as the Indian film industry. But it is not the overall representative of the film industry of India, because there is Tollywood, the popular Telugu film industry of Telugu language based in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in southeast India. Bollywood, the Hindi language Cinema is based in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

Tollywood was first coined before Bollywood and has a filmmaking history of over 100 years since 1909 when the Father of Telugu Cinema, Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu produced short films and showed them in different regions of South Asia and he built the first Indian-owned cinema halls in South India in 1921.

Tollywood is the second largest film industry in India by box-office revenue after Bollywood. And Tollywood films sold 233 million tickets in 2022, the highest among all Indian film industries. As of 2023, Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of movie screens in India.

The boisterous Telugu film industry has several Guinness World Records such as the Ramoji Film City, which holds the Guinness World Record as the largest film studio complex in the world.

The second highest grossing Indian film so far, is "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion", a 2017 Tollywood epic action film directed by S. S. Rajamouli following the current highest grossing Indian film "Dangal"  a 2016 Bollywood biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao.

I have written on the significance of the difference between Bollywood and Tollywood before on my Nigerians Report Online on Blogger.

Like Bollywood, Nollywood has been termed as the sobriquet of the Nigerian film industry since the name was coined by The New York Times in 2002. But the name Kannywood for the Hausa language film industry based in Kano was coined in 1999 before the The New York Times discovered Nollywood and said "it is like Hollywood" with starry-eyed guerilla filmmakers making dozens of movies daily from bootstraps budgets. All the movies were shot straight to video from handheld VHS cameras and sold in VHS tapes on the streets and stalls of Lagos and Onitsha before distribution to other countries across the borders to start the first indie film industry in Africa. 

While Nollywood is largely based in the predominantly Christian

southern region of Nigeria, Kannywood is based in the predominantly Islamic northern region of Nigeria.

Adamu Halilu, the Father of Hausa language Cinema was the first Nigerian indigenous filmmaker with the documentaries, "It Pays to Care" (1955) and "Hausa Village" (1958) and later made the classic film, Shaihu Umar (1976), a story of African slavery based on the novel of the same name by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, first Prime Minister of Nigeria.

The first Hausa language home video, "Tirmin Danya " was produced in 1990 in Kano.

 The National Film and Video Censorship Board, (NFVCB) Abuja, started recording and censoring video films in Nigeria from 1995, and a total of 1600 Hausa video films were officially documented between 1995 and 2005.

Majority of the foreign film critics, journalists and scholars who claimed to be experts ignored Kannywood in their reports, features and books on the Nigerian film industry.  Both Nigerian and foreign scholars have done comprehensive researches and published books on Kannywood. The most popular are Dr. Idi Adam; Dr. Abdulkareem Abdulrahman; Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim;

Dr. Carmen McCain; Prof. Brian Larkin and Dr. Mahmoud Nourah Bamalli.

Queen of Nollywood, Genevieve Nnaji.

Joint Queen of Nollywood, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde 

Queen of Kannywood, Rahama Sadau.

Alpha Male Nollywood actor, Enyinna Nwigwe.

My NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series is the first publication that has celebrated the beautiful queens of Kannywood on the same pedestal as the beautiful queens of Nollywood in the second edition published in 2014 and distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers in hardcover version, paperback version and Amazon Kindle version.

Ike Ude's photo book, "Nollywood: Radical Beauty" ignored the stars of Kannywood. 

The big problem of Kannywood is being under the dictatorship of the Islamic religion with majority of the actors, actresses and filmmakers being Muslims.

They are monitored by the Islamic police of Kano State and the other Sharia states in northern Nigeria with several cases of the violations of their fundamental human rights even in their private lives. 

Nollywood Alpha Male actor Enyinna Nwigwe can hug and kiss the Queens of Nollywood, Genevieve Nnaji and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde in a romantic movie, but he cannot even dare to hug and kiss Rahama Sadau, the Queen of Kannywood on screen without incurring the wrath of the Islamic watchdogs of Kannywood.

-By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
International Digital Post Network Limited,
King of Kings Books International,
Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema (SOOAC)

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi
New Nigeria
www.pinterest.com/nigeriansreport

COMING SOON

The First Annual Bollywood To Nollywood Filmmaking Workshops

#bollywood

#tollywood

#india

#nollywood

#kannywood

#hollywood

#nigeria

#asia

#africa

#cinema

#movies

#films

#videos

#filmindustry

#entertainment

#books

#scholars

#newyorktimes

#hindi

#telugu

#christian

#islam

#christians

#muslims

#religion

#filmmakers

#filmmaking

#cinema

#lagos

#onitsha

#mumbai

#pradesh

Nigerian Filmmakers: Beyond Nollywood, Beyond Netflix

Nigerian Filmmakers: Beyond Nollywood, Beyond Netflix

TV is not Cinema and Cinema is not TV.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Nigerian filmmakers must capture the big picture of the future of Nollywood.

Majority of the filmmakers in Nigeria should know and understand the importance and significance of Art Direction and Production Design in filmmaking. 

Many of them don't even know the definition of Art Direction.

There is no filmmaking without Art Direction.

Netflix in Nigeria: It is No Longer Nollywood As Usual

The filmmakers in both Nollywood and Kennywood must now be more adventurous and ambitious in the content and context of filmmaking beyond mere narrative storytelling.

Any dummy can play guitar. 

But any dummy cannot be Carlos Santana or Sir Victor Uwaifo.

Nigerian filmmakers are still using having their movies on Netflix for bragging rights when none of them has made the official selections of the most competitive and prestigious international film festivals in the world after decades of making movies.

We are still waiting for them to be in the official selections for the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and compete with the best filmmakers in the world and not competing against themselves in Nigeria.

They have been making movies even before C.J Obasi got his GCE and he has gone ahead of them to win coveted awards at the Sundance Film Festival, FESPACO and other esteemed international film festivals where they have failed to make the official selections or failed to win any prize.

The future of Nollywood is bigger than Netflix.

Beauty is more than having a pretty face.

99.99 percent of the biracial actresses in Nollywood can't act.

Three of them are annoyingly amateurish.

They have been featured in movies just for having a pretty face by intellectually challenged filmmakers in Nollywood who think having white looking Bimbos in their movies will attract more viewers and moviegoers.

Having a pretty face and being photogenic can attract filmmakers, but acting begins with learning how to act and not pretending to act when you don't know how to act.

We are two years to the epoch of 100 years of filmmaking in Nigeria. But I doubt if the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy had a clue until I have mentioned it.

How much have we achieved in a century of Nigerian Cinema?

What are milestones in the history of filmmaking in Nigeria since the production of the first feature film, "Palaver" in 1926 by the Academy Award winning English filmmaker, Geoffrey Barkas?

The making of "Palaver" was published in the second edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series in 2014.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

How Many NOLLYWOOD Movies Have Been Shot on Canon?

How Many NOLLYWOOD Movies Have Been Shot on Canon?

How many Nollywood movies have been shot on Canon?

This is a very important question both for Nollywood and Canon.

Knowing how many people are using your products is critical to the growth of your company in Research and Development (R&D); Marketing and Sales Analysis of the products and services.

Nollywood is the largest film industry in Africa in the productions of movies and should be the largest market for cameras for both cinematography and photography. 

The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) , Producers Guild of Nigeria (PGN) and Cinematographers Guild of Nigeria (CGN) or Association of Cinematographers in Nigeria (ACN) should know and have the data on the cameras and accessories used for film and TV productions in the Nigerian film industry.

These facts are included in the indices for the development and growth of the film industry.

What are models and specifications of the Canon cameras used for film and TV productions in the Nigerian film industry?

When did Canon cameras become the most popular cameras in the Nigerian film industry?

Does Canon know the film and TV productions shot with Canon cameras?

The most popular and the best Canon cameras used in Nollywood and Kannywood?

The best movies, documentaries and music videos shot on Canon?

The award winning film and TV productions shot with Canon cameras?

By the way, the third part of my on going documentary film, "Lagos in Motion" was shot on Canon.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/ Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
Executive Director, Screen Naija YouTube Channel.

In Her Eyes Through Her Eyes Filmmaking Workshop For Women in Nigeria

For 100 women who want to become outstanding filmmakers in the Nigerian film industry.

Contact by WhatsApp:

Tel: +234 706 637 9246

Film Criticism and Film Journalism

Film Criticism and Film Journalism 

Anybody who can write and can study the Nigerian film industry can write on both Nollywood and Kannywood.

Don't mistake film journalism for film criticism.

Majority of those claiming to be film critics in Nigeria are either film journalists or commentators. 

You cannot be a film critic if you don't understand filmmaking. Because how can you do a critique of a subject you don't understand the concept, content and context?

You don't know about Lighting for Storytelling and you are a film critic?

You don't know how soundtracks are used in storytelling and you call yourself a film critic?

You don't know costume for storytelling and you call yourself a film critic?

What of histrionics in drama?

Should I go on?

You cannot be a good film critic if you don't know the history of filmmaking or motion picture.

Until reading what I have written now, 99 percent of the so called film critics in Nigeria don't know what is film noir.

In the study of fine arts, we study art history and criticism combined, because you cannot be a good art critic if you don't know art history.

There is widespread intellectual ignorance and posturing by those who claim to be film critics, but they don't even know that filmmaking is part of fine arts and film criticism is part of art history and criticism.

This must be news to them.

Can they discuss Abstract Art in Art History and Criticism with Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima?

Can they do a critique of my masterpiece, "The Metamorphosis of the HIV in the T-Cell" collected by Family Health International (FHI) or "The Eruption of the Love Virus" in private collection since 1993?

I don't even claim to be a film critic.

I am a film writer and historian on the history of Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry widely published, circulated and studied by scholars and students in different colleges and universities in Nigeria and other countries.

Why? Because of the importance, relevance and significance in film studies, African studies, art history and criticism.

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

Queens of Kannywood, Rahama Sadau and Maryam Booth Entangled in "The Two Aishas" Movie

Queens of Kannywood, Rahama Sadau and Maryam Booth Entangled in "The Two Aishas" Movie

Last Sunday, I was at the cinemas to watch "The Two Aishas" starring the two leading ladies and beauty queens of #Kannywood, Rahama Sadau and Maryam Booth .

This is my first time of seeing them together in a movie.

This is the directorial debut of Hajia Shareefah Abiola Andu of Arabel Productions and Aleef TV of Arabel Nigeria Limited.

After a bitter fallout with her best friend when her husband was handed the gubernatorial ticket which was taken from her best friend’s husband, Aisha Yusuf must reconcile with her best friend and unite their husbands who are now at loggerheads.

According to director, the movie is filled with intrigues that will keep fans glued to the box office screen till the end.

‘The Two Aishas’ are women of the same Islamic faith and status who are married to two best friends. But their loyalty and friendship got tested and no matter how they looked at it, one party felt robbed and betrayed by the other, threatening to tear apart an enduring friendship from childhood and test their faith as devout Muslims.

“It addresses relatable themes such as forgiveness, betrayal, love, rivalry and piousness,” she said.

"The Two Aishas" is showing daily at all the FilmHouse Cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana, Silverbird Cinemas, Genesis Cinemas, Ozone Cinemas, Blue Pictures Cinemas, Kada Cinemas, Platinum Cinemas, Exodus Cinemas, Magnificent Cinemas and other cinemas in every state in Nigeria.

#rahamasadau 

#maryambooth 

#aisha

#thetwoaishas

#kannywood

#Nollywood 

#romance 

#drama 

#movie

#Nigeria

Rahama Sadau, Beauty Queen of Kannywood in Nollywood

Rahama Sadau, who is the Queen of Kannywood is also an A-List actress in Nollywood has played major roles in many Nigerian movies in both Hausa and English and also speaks Hindi fluently. She is the winner of Best Actress (Kannywood) at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2014 and 2015. She also won Best African Actress at the 19th African Film Awards in 2015 by African Voice. In 2017. She became the first Hausa celebrity to appear in the top ten Hottest Female Nigeria Celebrities.

Throughout her career, Sadau has been a busy actress, appearing in both movies and music videos.

She is featured in the 34 Beauty Queens of Nollywood and Kannywood published in the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.

#Rahama

#Kannywood

#Nollywood

#beauty

#movies

#actress

#actor

Nigerian Film Corporation, Show Us the Money!

 The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC). should be run by competent professional experts with proven knowledge of the film industry locally and globally and not by civil servants without any proven expertise and experience in the management of the Nigerian film industry.

As we speak, Nollywood and Kannywood are made up of independent film and TV studios, administratively challenged ad-hoc producers association; financially challenged guild of directors; administratively challenged actors guild; accredited and unaccredited film schools and film festivals doing their best without any competent government administration.
The NFC had a film festival two weeks ago and majority of Nigerians did not even know about it, because of the administrative incompetence of the corporation. The theme was "Show Us The Money" and there was no film market to attract international acquisition and distribution companies to show them the money.

 
- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.
@247nigeria Twitter.

#film #Nigeria #Nollywood #Kannywood #actors #producers #directors #guild #accredited #government #management #experience #money #schools #administration #civil #corporation #filmmarket #studios #filmschool #filmindustry #filmfestivals

The Biggest Lies on Nollywood and the Nigerian Film Industry in Wikipedia

Gross box office (2014)
Total
US$5 Billion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nigeria

Fake news 

That the gross box office from Nollywood in 2014 was a total of US$5 Billion as written in the Wikipedia.

Fact

Nollywood has never made even up to US$1 Billion from the box office since 2010 to date.

The biggest film industry in Africa is South Africa and not NIgeria by numbers of cinemas and highest grossing films.

Nigeria is not among the top ten countries with biggest box offices in the world.  Nigeria does not even have one quarter of the number of screens in South Africa and South Africa is not among the top ten film industries in the world.

https://nigerianinfopedia.com.ng/largest-film-industries-in-the-world

Being the second largest producer of movies on video in the world after India does not make NIgeria one of the biggest film industries in the world according to the indices of the economics of the global film industry. 

Nigeria produces hundreds of movies on video annually, but only about ten percent of them are good enough for theatrical release in the cinemas in Nigeria. The rest end up on YouTube channels, cable TV and websites of movie pirates.

No NIgerian movie has made up to US$3million at the box office in the history of the Nigerian film industry.

All these fictitious fables and fake news on Nollywood must stop.

Facts don't lie. 

All liars, including the ignorant self acclaimed experts on Nollywood teaching their so called Masterclasses in America and Europe must stop teaching inaccurate reports on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry. Even Jodie Foster is ignorant of the facts on Nollywood and she is teaching a Masterclass? What does she know about the history of the Yoruba traveling theatre, NIgerian Television Authority (NTA) and Onitsha Market Literature in the development of Nollywood? Does she know about the relationship between Nollywood of the southern region of Nigeria and the Kannywood of the northern region of Nigeria?

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima 
Publisher/Editor, 
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi

Sound and Screenwriting in Nollywood and Kannywood

Sound and Screenwriting in 

Nollywood and Kannywood

Majority of screenwriters in #Nollywood and #Kannywood need to learn how to include sound cues during screenwriting and not during post production.

If we ask even those who claim to know a simple question about sound in screenwriting, they may not know, because they have not shown that they know in several of their film and TV productions.

Seeing is believing.

Many people listen, but only few learn in Nigeria. That's why we hear and see repetitions of the same mistakes in film and TV productions in Africa's largest film industry.

They still don't know how to use sound for characterisation in screenplays before the principal photography.

They just copy and paste soundtracks during post production without creating and composing any original score.  

Sound in a movie includes the music, leitmotifs, dialogues, sound effects, ambient noise, and/or background noise and soundtracks. 

There is what I call the "Ambience of Romance" in filmmaking and it can only be achieved with sound.

And what is the ambience of romance in screenwriting and in the atmosphere of a scene?

I am still waiting for the cinematic experience of Dolby Vision in Nollywood and Kannywood.

To me, any Nigerian filmmaker whose movies have not qualified for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival is not qualified to teach any  Masterclass. 

How can you teach a Masterclass without the proof of being a master of the subject?

How can someone who is still having issues with the nuances of sound in storytelling teach a Masterclass on directing or screenwriting? 

Do you know that majority of the filmmakers in Nollywood and Kannywood are clueless about spherical and anamorphic lenses? And they are teaching Filmmaking in some so called film and TV academies in Lagos, Asaba, Calabar and Kannywood without any certification or accreditation.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series

distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers.

Experience Last Night in Soho in Dolby

In acclaimed director Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller, Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker.

 https://www.dolby.com/experience/cinema

First Bollywood Film Adaptation of a Nigerian Novel: Sin is a Puppy that Follows You Home

First Bollywood Film Adaptation of a Nigerian Novel: Sin is a Puppy that Follows You Home

Only a couple of the Hausa novels have been translated into English. “Sin is a Puppy that Follows You Home” was translated by Indian publishers and subsequently made into a Bollywood movie. The book is available on amazon.com, which describes it as “an Islamic soap opera complete with polygamous households, virtuous women, scheming harlots, and black magic.” Author Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, a veteran founder of the movement, was herself a child bride twice, after her first husband returned her to her family, and she only learned to read and write as an adult. https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-ap-top-news-religion-international-news-marriage-3fc0caa13a8646908219306c3e08225b

###

Sin is a Puppy That Follows You Home: Publishers: Blaft, 

126 pages.

Dear reader, I was rather charmed by it. Comparing the plot to Ekta Kapoor’s soaps or Karan Johar’s family dramas misrepresents the scale of the story because, for all the theatrics indulged in it, the plot is uncompromisingly stark about how patriarchy, society and religion interfere in women’s desires and autonomy. I found far more resonances with the pragmatic tragedies of Mahasweta Devi’s stories, or the deceptively mundane female worlds of Ismat Chughtai’s work. Women tear each other down, draw dramatic lines between sluttiness and respectability, rely on brothers and extended family while suffering spousal abuse and abandonment. Romance and courtship are abbreviated to a few fast-moving dialogues because the author wants to spend time on the minutiae of how a selfish second wife neglects her kitchen duties. Yakubu’s matriarchal lead Rabi—with her culinary enterprise born of desperation, her baffled rage at her husband’s mistress, her fierce determination to promote her children—is soul sister to Parvati from Kiran Nagarkar’s Ravan and Eddie. Rabi’s daughter Saudatu—dignified, dutiful, happily desirous—resembles Sita in her deference to narrative fiat.

The main reason I would recommend reading this book is because of how much it made me feel at home. It is not heartwarming in the treacly manner of popular films, but instead, like the family histories your aunties tell you, full of compromises and small justices, and the “life goes on” approach to domestic tragedy. This is not a story of exotic Africa, nor of epochal moments in histories of colonialism and its aftermath, nor yet about the fetishized tensions of being Muslim. Instead, it is shopkeepers falling in love with women stopping to buy dress material, and mothers vacillating between the street being unsafe and being a good place to meet eligible men, and bored wives eyeing comely electricians summoned to fix the wiring. Let other books talk about purdah and polygamy; this is a book that concerns itself with soap.

- The Review of The "Sin is a Puppy That Follows You Home" of Balaraba Ramat Yakubu by Deepa Dharmadhikari.

Balaraba Ramat Yakubu is a Nigerian author who writes in Hausa. She is a leader in the genre of littattafan soyayya or "love literature", and one of the very few Hausa-language writers whose work has been translated into English. She has also worked as a screenwriter, producer, and director of Kannywood films. Her stories have focused on issues such as forced marriages and women's education.

Netflix is Improving the Quality of Nollywood To World Class Standards

Netflix is Improving the Quality of Nollywood To World Class Standards

#Netflix is actually helping #Nollywood to improve the quality of film and TV productions in the Nigerian film industry.

But MultiChoice is still accepting substandard movies from #Nollywood for the Africa Magic. They come cheap for as low as US$1200 per movie.

The producers say being seen on #DStv is an achievement and Netflix is their ultimate dream. Making it to Netflix is like winning an #Oscar to Nollywood filmmakers.

Netflix should only accept Nollywoood or #Kannywood movies with Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, because it would boost the quality of the sound in the film and TV productions. 

Your sound begins from writing the screenplay: from the first draft and not the copy and paste soundtracks during the post production which is the common practice in Nollywood.

Using Dolby Vision is not rocket science. 

If Nollywood wants to improve on the quality of productions to qualify for the official selections of top international film festivals and nominations for the Academy Awards, Nigerian filmmakers have to use the same benchmarks for international productions as their counterparts and peers in the leading film Industries in the world.

And I am still waiting for the first Nigerian movie with Dolby Vision.

- By Ekeyerengozi MichaeI Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series,

@247nigeria Twitter

The Scarcity of Film Curators and Hairstylists in Nollywood

Elizabeth Banks (left, as Effie Trinket) and Ve Neill (right, makeup artist) on the set of The Hunger Games. Photo by Murray Close. Courtesy of Lionsgate.http://academyartunews.com/newspaper/2016/06/celebrity_makeupart.html.

"The study of film criticism comes before the study of film curation."

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.

You cannot be a film curator without the knowledge, experience or expertise in film criticism. 

Film schools in Nigeria must teach film curation or programming, because of the scarcity of professional film curators or programmers in the Nigerian film industry.

The lack of this can be seen in the substandard selections of movies and TV series on cable TV channels and public TV channels in Nigeria, especially in the selection of Yoruba movies and series of low quality and the most annoying subtitles by half-educated translators or subtitlers whose poor knowledge of English grammar either makes you laugh or upsets you. 

Another widespread common erroneous practice in #Nolllywood and #Kannywood is the fact that many of the filmmakers don't know that a makeup artist is different from an hairstylist. And there must be an hairstylist as there must be a makeup artist for every film or TV production. There is a hairstyle for every character in a drama or comedy.

There is Film Hairstyling for Storytelling and should be included in the top courses in film schools in Nigeria.

 

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series,

247 Nigeria @247nigeria on  #Twitter

The New Beauty Queens of Nollywood and Kannywood

Dorcas Shola Fapson.

In the second edition of the 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series published in 2014, I featured 34 beauty queens of Nollywood and Kannywood. Since 2014 to date, new outstanding female actors have emerged and among them are the most beautiful women on the silver screen who should be recognised and published as the new beauty queens of the Nigerian film industry. Nancy Isime is red hot in romantic roles. She is hotter than summer. 

From Nollywood to Kannywood I selected some of them and the complete list will be published in the third edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series focusing on the leading Nigerian female filmmakers in Nigeria and the Diaspora. The photos that will be published will be in high resolution images.

Adesua Etomi- Wellington

Adunni Ade

Nancy Isime

Sharon Ooja Egwurube

Lilian Esoro

Halima Yusuf Ateteh 

Aisha Aliyu Tsamiya

Hafsat Idris

Fati Shu’uma

Fatima Abdullahi Washa

The NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series is the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry published since 2013. It is printed in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States of America and distributed in Amazon Kindle version, paperback and hardcover versions in full colour. 

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series.

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