With NFVCB, Nollywood
takes centre stage in Edinburgh, Glasgow
The
Nigerian film industry otherwise known as Nollywood, at home and in the
diaspora, has gone beyond finding a myriad ways just to entrench its importance
and visibility in the global motion picture entertainment arena.
It therefore deserves to be taken seriously
and not denigrated, as some film scholars would also advocate. Supporting this
view, Professor Onookome Okome of the School of English and Film Studies,
University of Alberta, Canada states: “In Nigeria, Nollywood is popular ... It
speaks aspects of social life that many live and debates social and cultural
anxieties the way no other media had done before.”
In
the same vein Jonathan Haynes, a professor of African Film, Video and
Literature, Long Island University, the United States, has been spearheading
the calls for the respect of Nollywood. He is often saying “What we need is to
get closer to what is happening and describe it with precision, and there
should be frames of reference to describe it.” Haynes, who has created a
bibliography on Nollywood up until 2010, would always make a case for the
studying and understanding of the Nigerian movie industry, in addition to
proposing a framework for the development of the industry.
Not
long ago, there was Scotland Film Festival at which Nigerians were hosted by
the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB). It was a conference devoted
to the Nigerian motion picture industry in Edinburgh, where the industry’s
importance was showcased to the foreign interests. NFVCB is the National
Regulatory Authority for the Nigerian motion picture industry.
The
foreign organisers were excited to receive Nigerians and were more excited that
Tunde Kelani's film, Maami, sponsored by the NFVCB, was being screened to the
audience. Kelani, Nigerian film maker, showcased Maami, his latest film, at the
Africa in Motion Scotland Film Festival in Edinburgh and Glasgow on October 30
and 31, 2012.
At
the event, Kelani delivered an incisive and interactive paper on the use of
indigenous language in his movies, tracing it to his studies in the film school
in the United Kingdom (UK).
He
said he was influenced by his fellow students from Russia, Japan and other
countries, who already were doing films in their languages and subtitling them.
He, therefore, experimented on it and was then convinced to also do his films
in the Yoruba language.
The second factor that influenced his choice
of the genre was the fact that the people who sent him to learn the act of film
making could not understand why he had to make his film in English before
subtitling it to them in Yoruba. So, as a mark of respect and the need to
uphold the culture of his people, he decided to make his films in his native
Yoruba language.
Kelani
disclosed that even in Nigeria, and with the available record from the NFVCB,
the number of indigenous films has increased, especially with the Hausa, Yoruba
and Edo films. That for him is a major development and growth. He commended the
NFVCB for honouring him, and noted that the event was the first time that he
was really being well honoured by Nigeria and outside the country.
Kelani
is a highly acclaimed filmmaker and a driving force behind the hugely popular
and prolific Nollywood home video sector. Working variously as director,
producer, cinematographer, editor, writer and actor, Kelani has been making
films in Nigeria for more than 20 years.
Okome,
who delivered a paper on “The perception of Nollywood in Europe”, commended the
NFVCB for attending the festival, and appreciated Ms Patricia Bala, Ag.
Director-General (DG) of the Board. According to him, a lot of European
students are now doing postgraduate studies in Nollywood, and the Board must,
as a matter of urgency, create a platform to assist the students since the
Board is a repository of information about Nollywood.
He
disclosed that the foreign students would be sent to Nigeria to do their
research on the industry which would eventually benefit the Board in particular
and the country in general. Topics such as “The Influence of Nollywood,
distribution and content” and “The Perception of Nollywood as an industry” were
areas of interest from which different issues were discussed during the 9-day
event.
It
would be recalled that NFVCB was involved in the inauguration of the Nollywood
Studies Centre (NSC) by Emeka Mba, former DG of the Board. First of its kind in
Africa, and indeed the world, the initiative has been designed to digitize and
archive Nollywood (and other African) films as well as literature. It was meant
to facilitate access for scholars seeking to research the film industry.
