AN AFRICAN academic with a coiffed mane is sipping coffee in a Ghanaian
airport when he spots a pulpy Nigerian film on an overhead screen. “A travesty,
a grave crime,” he splutters. “Such imbecile images should never be shown in
this country. They are veritably poisoning our culture.”
It is hard to avoid Nigerian films in Africa. Public buses show them, as
do many restaurants and hotels. Nollywood, as the business is known, churns out
about 50 full-length features a week, making it the world's second most prolific
film industry after India's Bollywood. The Nigerian business capital, Lagos, is
said by locals to have produced more films than there are stars in the sky. The
streets are flooded with camera crews shooting on location. Only the government
employs more people.
Nigerian films are as popular abroad as they are at home. Ivorian rebels
in the bush stop fighting when a shipment of DVDs arrives from Lagos. Zambian
mothers say their children talk with accents learnt from Nigerian television.
When the president of Sierra Leone asked Genevieve Nnaji, a Lagosian screen
goddess, to join him on the campaign trail he attracted record crowds at
rallies. Millions of Africans watch Nigerian films every day, many more than
see American fare. And yet Africans have mixed feelings about Nollywood.
