Majority of the movie-goers in Nigeria are Yoruba who were the first movie-goers in the country since 1903 when the first films were shown at the Glover Memorial Hall on the Lagos Island and followed by the Aláàrìnjó Yoruba traveling theatres that influenced the cinema culture in south western Nigeria. And "Kongi's Harvest", the (first feature film by a Nigerian filmmaker was done in 1970 by Francis Oladele, the Father of Nigerian cinema.
Yorubas love drama from stage to the silver screen. The longest queues at any cinema in Nigeria were Yoruba movie-goers at the National Arts Theatre in Lagos city as they trooped to watch Yoruba films by Dr. Ola Balogun, Chief Hubert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya , Adeyemi Afolayan, aka Ade Love) and Abiodun Babajide, aka Jab Adu in the 1970s and 1980s. And the highest grossing movies in Nollywood have been made by Yoruba filmmakers, Funke Akindele-Bello @funkejenifaakindele (Omo Ghetto, The Saga), Kemi Adetiba @kemiadetiba (The Wedding Party 1) and Niyi Akinmolayan (The Wedding Party 2).
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
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