A cold war is gradually brewing among some of the pioneers of the Nollywood phenomenon and the new actors and directors on the block. If this is not nipped in the bud, it may mar the cooperation which the Nigerian film industry needs to leap, especially at this period that the industry is beginning to enjoy new definition.
Although this stemmed from the ‘successes’ recorded by some of the new Nigerian films which have dominated the cinemas, made some festival routing and earned a couple of awards for ambitious directing, some level of technical with a fresh breath of new and promising actors, it grew with more impunity after the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where eight Nigerian films were selected for focus in the city-to-city segment of the festival which gave special recognition to Lagos as the hub of film activities in Nigeria. A good number of these films had some of the new artistes.
I see this attack of the old by the new as laced with youthful exuberance and a clear case of a young man who chides his parents for not being rich and famous.
It is one thing to criticise a system; it is another thing to criticise the people around that system. Today would always be better than yesterday because life is a journey of new discoveries, which is why man was able to advance from the Stone Age. Therefore, if we recognise the fact that there would be no today without yesterday, we should homage the yesteryear no matter how dark and bushy.
Every industry, be it Hollywood or Bollywood is evolving, and Nollywood would not be the first to want to be shedding its skin at the moment. Times are changing; new technologies are taking over and the cyber space has made learning more easy for ambitious creatives, yet we must give credit to people who made special effects ‘believable’ in the analogue times.
Let’s not forget that prior to the emergence of Nollywood, earlier Nigerian theatre artistes and filmmakers made films with what then were considered the best cameras. If the recession that paved way for home video entertainment had not happened, the Nollywood pioneers would have taken it from there and the new Nollywood would have met a better Nigerian film industry. But we must be thankful to those who stood in the gap. Ours has been action in progress, notwithstanding that period of improvisation. Nollywood has been the most hit, both by insiders and outsiders, including Ghollywood which received inspiration and some level of tutorials from the embattled Nollywoodians.
While we (myself inclusive) would continue to criticise Nollywood, we must do so with the reality of the moments in context and constructively too.
The offensive dispositions of the new guys notwithstanding, ‘old Nollywood’ should just laugh at the ignorance and pride of a few championing such disparity, because I have seen among the new crops of filmmakers, young men and women with discerning mind.
I’d like to give an example of one 02 Njama III, a University of Calabar Philosophy graduate who describes himself as a script writer, producer and up and coming cinematographer/ director. 02’s articles were published regularly in The Nation some years back, and in one of the write-ups; 25 reasons I sigh about Nollywood, he played the maturity card.
Here is how he opened his article: “This article is not intended to ridicule or run down the efforts of our growing movie Industry practitioners but is a keen observation of a big fan (of course I wouldn’t painstakingly write all of this if it weren’t the sincere views of a dissatisfied but optimistic consumer). More so, the views presented here are “strictly’ intended for readers with the sixth sense — sense of humor.”
You can guess that the body of the article talked about everything you and I know Nollywood had been criticised for. They range from the name Nollywood to picture quality, sound, subtitling, distribution framework, typecasting, poster design, familiar storylines, stereotype dialogues, part movies, story-telling sound tracks, etc.
From the above, 02, obviously new, did not class himself differently. Nollywood is Nollywood; people should just learn to up their ante to the glory of the industry.
People might have been quoted out of context for talking down Nollywood, but some genuinely came as a need for the world to understand that Nigeria is full of diverse talents and that not all Nigerian films are a hundred percent commercial-inclined.
We may consider the new Nollywood in terms of phase and not some individuals who think they have ‘arrived’. Otherwise our TIFF films, most of them from the new entrants, shouldn’t have received some of the ugly reviews that followed their screenings.
I leave you with the words of Heather Brooke which says: “Digitization is certainly challenging the old ways of doing things, whether that’s in publishing or politics. But it’s not the end. In many ways, it is just the beginning.”
