“Nollywood is in its blockbuster era,” says Adedapo Adeniyi, a Nigerian filmmaker, describing the global recognition, audience engagement, and cinematography in present day Nollywood. “We are a long way from where we should be but we are getting there. The industry has significantly improved in terms of audiovisuals and production quality.”
According to a report by Inside Nollywood, the Nigerian box office grossed N6.94 billion in 2022. Also, Netflix has invested over $23 million in the Nollywood market, since their entry in 2016. In 2018, Netflix acquired its first original Nigerian film, “Lion Heart,” directed by Genevive Nnaji, which heightened the global interest in Nollywood as an industry.
In 2022, Amazon prime and Showmax also found their way into the Nigerian market. Filmmakers like Kunle Afolayan and Jade Osiberu have since bagged multiple film deals with these streaming platforms. There has also been a significant increase in audience interaction, with the pool of feedback and critiques from people all over the internet.
Thousands of tweets flood in from people eager to share their thoughts about the characters, casting, story depth e.t.c. This level of engagement and enthusiasm from the audience represents a fundamental milestone for Nollywood. “Bad films had the chance to fall and good films had the space to shine,” says Anita Eboigbe, Co Founder of Inside Nollywood, an analytical media company working to improve film business conversations in Africa.
There’s also an increased investment in different ranges of stories. For the Longest time, Nollywood majorly produced comedy and drama, but the industry has started to experiment with different genres.
We now have crime and political thrillers, surrealist films, issue led stories etc. In January 2023, a Nigerian film, Mami Wata, directed by C.J Obasi premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and won the “World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury” award for cinematography.
The Sundance film festival is one of the most prestigious independent film festivals in the world. According to a Sundance review “Mami Wata transports us to a place that seems both suspended in time and perhaps running out of time, as the threats of modern life wash up on its shores.”
MAMI WATA, the third solo feature film by Nigerian filmmaker C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, is set for a global theatrical release in September after a successful limited international screening tour.
— MOREBRANCHES (@MoreBranches) August 5, 2023
The film is scheduled for release on September 8 in Nigeria by FilmOne. Aya Films has… pic.twitter.com/KBbBZwdoFZ
In 2021, Michael Omonua’s short film “Rehearsal” won the grand prize at the oscar qualifying kurzfilmtage film festival. Babatunde Apalowo’s film “All the Colour of the world are between black and white” also won the Teddy award for the best LGBTQ themed film at the 2023 international Berlinale Film Festival.
The Turning Point
The shift began towards the end of 2000, when filmmakers like Kunle Afolayan and Chinoye Chukwu started to experiment with new genres and storytelling techniques. In 2009, Afolayan produced and directed The Figurine; Araromire, which brought about a turn in the industry’s direction. The figurine is a suspense thriller, mixed with superstitions, myths, folklores and mysteries.
The film was different from what the audience was familiar with at that point in time. It abandons the regular nollywood clichés of making sacrifices to wooden gods and focuses on the psychological effects of rapid change, betrayal, envy, beliefs, and solipsism, forcing the audience to ask questions.
As the film closes, it transfers the interpretation to the audience, posing the question “what do you believe?” The figurine received five awards at the 6th Africa movie Academy awards in 2014.
Afolayan has since produced and directed other remarkable films. In 2014, he released October 1, a psychological thriller centered around sexual abuse, serial deaths, politics, ethnic and religious conflict as well as Nigeria’s independence. The film won an award for the best feature film and screenplay at the Africa international film festival in 2014.
“October 1 was revolutionary, it completely changed the way I saw Nigerian Cinema,” says Adeniyi “the cinematography, structure, and storytelling was just really impressive. It provoked questions as to whether people are really bad or are just products of their environments and trauma”
In 2016, Film One Cinema, Ebony Life Films, Inkblot Productions and Konga Studios came together to produce “The wedding party” which was a groundbreaking project for Nollywood. The film raked in over N400 million within the first 2 months of its release. There have been other remarkable Nollywood films from this point till date.
We also saw Biyi Bandele’s adaptation of “Half of a yellow sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche in 2013. It’s a historical fiction that follows the Nigerian civil war that created the Republic of Biafra between 1967 and 1970. “While it doesn’t quite do justice to the source material, Half of a Yellow Sun adapts Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel with committed performances and narrative nuance.” Critic Consensus, Rotten Tomatoes.
Nollywood reinvented states that “ The movie does not recreate the emotions of the book it creates its own emotion.” We’ve also seen other book adaptations such as Kunle Afolayan’s “Swallow” which was based on the book by Sefi Atah, Eleshin Oba, based on “The King’s horseman” by Wole Soyinka, as well as “The Smart Money Woman” by Arese Ugwu.
The Beginning
“It was a watershed moment for Nollywood.” says Pelumi Salako, Nigerian Writer and Journalist, recounting his experience watching Saworoide, a movie that explores military coup, politics, greed, corruption and bad governance. “When I first saw Saworoide as a child, the political ramifications didn’t really occur to me,” says Salako “but watching it multiple times as an adult, I could see that it was a representation of the typical Nigerian society, and our relationship with the government.”
“I was captivated by the music, poetic narrations, the chants and cultural representation,” he added. Preceding this improvement, there were so many questions about Nollywood’s mediocrity and lack of solid structure. According to Eboigbe,“ The Nollywood of the 1990s and 2000s was fiercely competitive.
Around 50 films were shot weekly, and budgets were small. Sticking to a winning formula ensured filmmakers made a quick return..” While this is largely true, we also had some noteworthy Nollywood films. One of which is “Saworoide,” a Tunde Kelani film produced and directed in 1999.
“It was from there my mum got her famous saying for something we didn’t understand and she doesn’t want to explain ‘kò lé yé wọn, yíò yé wọn lọla” meaning if they don’t understand today they will understand tomorrow,” says Adeniyi Ridwan, a Nigerian student.
More than 21 years after, Seyi Lasisi, a Nigerian writer and film critic was able to relate Saworoide to the #Endsars protest in 2020. “Aside from the film being enjoyable,” says Lasisi, “its political undertone also transcends its time. To an extent, I could relate the theme to the 2020 #EndSars protest, where the youths were quite vocal about their concerns, but there was also oppression from the side of the government.”
Before Saworoide, Tunde Kelani directed Oleku, Efunsetan Aniwuraiwura, Arugba etc. Then he directed Agogo Èèwọ̀, Maami, and now Ayinla in 2019, which is based on the story of renowned Apala musician, Ayinla Omowura who was stabbed to death by his manager in 1980.
Adebayo Abdulrahman, a business operations manager at Lecture Hall Africa, always listened to Ayinla Omowura while growing up. When he finally saw the film, he was quickly able to connect his childhood memories of listening to his music. He could also relate deeply to the Egba culture showcased in the film, largely because he hails from Abeokuta. The film was more of a Nigerian Musical as it was narrated using songs.
It featured other old Nigerian songs from Fela Anikulapo kuti and Ebenezer Obey which evoked nostalgic feelings for the Nigerian audience. As Ayodele Ibiyemi would describe it on Culture Custodian, “Ayinla is a lesson in Nigerian History.”
Key Factors Contributing to The Present State of Nollywood
According to Eboigbe, a moderately good film would cost N50 Million in the present day Nollywood. A low budget film is now around N20 Million. Biyi Bandele’s “Half of a yellow sun” had an estimated budget of N1.3-1.6 billion naira. According to InsideNollywood, a streaming platform is usually able to pay between $40,000- $300,000.
Acquired films usually fall between $120,000- $150,000. Availability of funds and investments have been very key in increasing production quality. Technological advancements have also helped the industry visibly grow, “We are now able to define what color and visual quality should look like in Nigerian cinematography,” says Eboigbe.
According to Inside Nollywood, Kunle Afolayan’s Anikulapo was the most watched film on Netflix in 2022. Femi Adebayo’s King of thieves was also the most watched film on Amazon Prime in 2022. The cultural representation in Anikulapo, Femi Adebayo’s Jagun Jagun and King of Thieves also showcased the Yoruba Heritage to a large extent.
Lasisi also commends the dialogue and naming of characters in Jagun Jagun. Nigerian writer, Adekola Harun says “Nollywood does a far better job at cultural and historical representation than when Hollywood comes to adapt Nigerian culture.”
“For instance, The Woman King, a historical fiction, adapted “Old Oyo empire,” but if you run through history, there was no time that happened. The location used for the Oyo Empire, and how close it was to the slavers bay was also really out of it. In the past, slavers had to go to Badagry to easily transport slaves. Oyo is not close to any shore.” He added, “When it comes to historical representation of facts , Nollywood does a great job,” says Adekola.
Lasisi explains that many scriptwriters may not be privileged to have the educational background of a well grounded historian. “To avoid losing some cultural nuances in film, it is important to foster a relationship between the entire production crew and well researched historians,” says Lasisi.
There’s also a rise of social media influencers in films, which is now an integral part of film marketing. According to a data analysis by Rita Okonkwo in July 2022, “The Real Housewives of Lagos” had 87% positive twitter sentiments, with about 8 million likes and 1 million retweets collectively. It also broke the record for the highest first day views on showmax Nigeria.
The industry is experimenting with different genres. Kemi Adetiba’s “King of Boys” holds a huge significance in the Nollywood industry, as it serves as the forefront for crime thrillers. C.J Obasi, Michael Omonuah, and Abba Makama also collaborated to direct “Juju stories,” an anthology that explores stories rooted in Nigerian folklore. The stories were different, but also connected.
Segilola Ogidan’s “Tainted Canvas” discusses the issue of rape and depression. There was a deep connection between the title, the plot, the main character and her relationships. Damilare Orimogunje‘s film, “For Maria Ebun pataki” is another issue led film that focuses on postpartum depression.
There are also coming of age films like Far From Home, Telenovelas like Wura and Showmax Original drama, Flawsome. Ebuka Njoku’s film, Yahoo plus also challenges the clamor surrounding “Money Ritual” and reorients it as organ trafficking.
Eboigbe defines a good actor as a person who when they are acting a character, forgets that the actor exists. An actor has to embody the character. Nollywood now does a better job at casting actors, there’s a different level of connection, relatability and humanistic touch. The audience are urged to actively participate in the drama. Think of Nino and Ify’s death in Gangs of Lagos. “I legit had tears in my eyes in this scene during Ify’s burial ceremony,” says sports doctor on Twitter.”
Lasisi says Nollywood is getting better in terms of character development. The last scene from Brotherhood where Tobi Bakre Shot O.C Ukeje also gained significant traction on social media. “I understand why people are obsessed with the scene. The buildup to the scene was intense,” says Lasisisi “Bakre uttered some words that’ll definitely live in people’s consciousness for a long time.”
In an interview on “I Said What I Said’ podcast, Ini Dima Okojie describes her experience getting into the character of Sarah in Biyi Bandele and Keneth Gyang’s crime thriller, Blood Sisters. According to her, she had to be very vulnerable to embody the role of Sarah, who was quite broken.
Okojie had to create a backstory that slowly chipped away the self confidence of the character, until it got to the point where she finally understood her. Nancy Isime, who portrays the role of Kemi in Blood Sisters, stated that she had to tap into her alpha female side to really embody the character.
Loopholes, Untapped Areas, and The Roads Ahead
Eboigbe says that there’s still a problem with story construct and continuity in many Nollywood films. “The way mainstream Nollywood works is that sometimes the director has a vision,” says Eboigbe “other times the screenwriter has a vision but most times the producer, who brings the money, brings the story, ‘He who pays the piper dictates the tune'”
“Our cinematography is great, but our story needs more depth,” Eboigbe added. Independent (Indie) filmmakers are however able to produce more Nigerian films with great artistic value and story depth. They have more creative liberty to explore and experiment.
Eyimofe is an indie film that focuses on the struggles and desires of ordinary Lagosians. “We now have more films that showcase who we are as a people. It’s just a struggle seeing how some filmmakers water down our stories just to fit a certain narrative,” says Eboigbe.
This story features on UCJ Unilorin OPTIC magazine, themed MEZZANINE, which is to be launched on the 18th of September 2023.
