Nigerian
Cinema on Show at Village
Forget Hollywood and Bollywood, Nigeria has
a booming local film industry that’s on show in
the Commonwealth Peoples Market. At a stall that has
a steady stream of visitors, video and DVD films spill
from shelves onto the floors.
|
Loyalty and nationalism alone will not get people to move
away from Hollywood and such Bollywood stuff as there is.
Nigericn cinema is proving a match because it is getting better
all the time.
Their jacket covers reveal a diet of entertainment that clearly
uses Hollywood as its lens: the covers are colourful and loud,
featuring action features and comedies by the dozen. Their
titles include “Baby Police”, “Holy One”
and “Mission to Africa”.
Quantity clearly trumps quality and Sakashim Joda of the
Nigerian Film Corporation says the industry churns out over
1000 films a month. As others worry about the state of the
world (or the Commonwealth), Joda sits in the hot Abuja sun
watching movies in English, Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba.
Visitors stream in, taking a moment or two to rest their
fevered brows and tired toes. The film Omugwo, a farce about
gender role reversal and which features a man feeding a baby
on the cover, is a big hit as viewers sit engrossed. “Nobody
in Nigeria has not watched this film,” says a woman.
|
