Nollywood in Hollywood for African Oscars

Stars turned out at a Los Angeles movie awards ceremony Saturday, Sept. 13, not for Hollywood, but Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry.

Africa's answer to the Oscars, the NAFCAs, the Nollywood and African Film Critics' Awards was held at L.A.'s Saban Theatre, and saw the stars of Nigeria's fast-growing film industry come out in force.

Nollywood has exploded in recent years, outstripping the more established film industries in various areas.

In the country that now represents Africa's largest economy, Nigeria's film industry has become its second largest employer, and produces about twice as many professional films as Hollywood each year.

While the industry has grown exponentially in the last ten years and soared above Hollywood in terms of number of films produced, it is far behind Western countries in terms of box office revenue, as most of the movies are straight-to-DVD or CD – depending on quality – and sold for US$1-2.

But it has been widely noted that the industry's films are improving in quality and garnering higher budgets. The industry seems to be going for worldwide recognition this year by hosting high profile events in international venues.

As well as holding the NAFCAs, the African industry representing mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian films, is also holding a film festival in Germany in September.

Nigerian Actor Michael Adegoke told AFP, "Nollywood is very big, and they are pretty much expanding to USA. And I can tell you that almost 20 million people watch Nollywood all over the world. It’s in London, it’s in USA, it’s in Belgium, Holland, France."

In another emerging link between Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, this year's awards saw a collaboration between the NAFCAs and the Motion Picture Association of Haiti, a press release from the ceremony said.

Source: Telesur