Nollywood Beyond Nollywood

Beyond Nollywood Green White Green; Photo Source: CNN.com

(By Nadia Denton) - There are some exciting content emerging from the Nigerian film space which is largely obscured from view because it does not fit the Nollywood model. The content on the periphery of Nollywood -- Beyond Nollywood as I have termed it is a growth area within the Nigerian film industry and in my opinion the most likely to cross over internationally.

The Beyond Nollywood weekender presents a motley collective of filmmakers who are creating work that subverts Nollywood both in content and style. Creatives who have interesting things to say about Nigerian culture that is frankly not out there and gives some indication of what is to come from this young industry.

Hooray for the Women of Nollywood

(By Tara Brady) - Making it in Nigerian film isn’t easy - just ask Tope Oshin Ogun [pictured] director, producer, actress, dialogue coach, casting director and mother of four boys.

Nollywood, as we are often told, is the third largest film industry in the world, placing just behind behind Hollywood in the US and Bollywood in India. The numbers are extraordinary; Nigeria produces an average of 50 movies each week and makes some $590 million each year.

Until her unexpected death in 2014, Amaka Igwe was one of the most authoritative figures in Nigeria’s cinematic landscape. Igwe, the writer, director and producer of such well-regarded films as Rattlesnake and Violated, helped transform Nollywood from a cheap and cheerful, amateurish, video- based sector into a professional industry, replete with its own film grammar, genres and pan-African audience.