Inside Nollywood's Giant Economic Machine

(CNN)--They used to be the preserve of informal home gatherings around old flickering TV sets, but Nollywood films have now gone global.

Movie streaming giant Netflix has dedicated an entire section to Nigeria's mega film industry, so rather than having to buy a DVD, viewers around the world can now get their fix of Nigerian drama straight to their computer screens -- Nollywood is notorious for churning out hundreds of movies per month, capturing viewers with stories ranging from romance and drama to comedy and witchcraft.

Jeta Amata Misses the Plot in 'Black November'

(SabiNews)--I really wanted to enjoy watching Jeta Amata’s movie Black November but like an errant step child, it kept rebuffing my love.

I had read scathing and devastating reviews from journals like the Hollywood Report, Variety, LA Weekly all of which eviscerated the movie and wanted to see it and review it, to show the world that Jeta Amata has done something worthwhile and impressive.

So, I went looking for it and found it.

Black November attempts to be many things all at once; it is both advocacy and propaganda, Nollywood and Hollywood but it fails woefully in becoming something of character and substance.

And the fault lies squarely with Mr. Amata who is a triple threat on this one; writer, producer and director. Scratch that, he is a quadruple threat actually as writer, producer and director and SONGWRITER. Yep!

This movie does not make Jeta Amata look good. This is the simple truth and a very kind way of putting it.

The movie has a fine story, one anyone familiar with the devastation and environmental degradation of the Niger Delta must be used to; a young girl, US educated thanks to a scholarship grant from an oil company returns home to a tragic incident which for want of a better word ‘radicalises’ her but her radicalisation is fraught with indecisions; she is a half-hearted revolutionary; wanting the oil company to pay yet not quite sure how to go about it.

Jeta Amata Reveals Nollywood's Success Secret

In a recent interview with Azuh Arinze, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Yes International magazine, prolific film director, Jeta Amata (Inale, Black Gold, Amazing Grace, Alexa Affair, Mary Slessor) reveals the secret behind Nollywood’s amazing success.

What makes a good story? A good story is a good story. Every other thing can come later. The technicalities don’t matter. That’s why Nollywood is amazing. They say we have bad quality, but we have good stories.


How do you tell a good story? One – it has to be real and it has to be relatable. People have to identify with it. Even if it’s an alien story, there has to be some human part of it that people can identify with. With Nollywood, when you watch a film, you will see and say oh, that person is like my brother, that person is like my sister, that person is like my cousin. Ah, na so my mama dey behave. That is what makes it good.