Genevieve Nnaji, Lionheart, & Good Old Nollywood

Lionheart, a Genevieve Nnaji film, a true Nigerian home video-styled film, has captured the world—no mende-mende added, just same old simple Nigerian Enugu-based Nollywood’s beautifully told story by same old Nollywood veterans – Pete Edochie, Onyeka Onwenu, Nkem Owoh (I mean the same old Osuofia, nothing added), Ngozi Ezeonu, Zebrudaya, Kanayo O. Kanayo and loads of the same old Nollywood faces based in Enugu. And they made it to the international stage, in a jammed cinema hall in the big city of Toronto, with a mixed audience, seventy-five percent whites. The audience laughed when necessary, cried when necessary, and at the end everyone agreed unanimously that they all thoroughly enjoyed the truly made-in-Nigeria movie. Great sound, beautiful pictures, and of course fast paced cutting that really did the magic. Like I said during the third screening of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), this is our style. Thanking Genevieve for her audacity in sustaining our original story pattern and presenting it just as raw as we always did before they [the oversabis] came and told us we were doing nonsense, that the foreign markets and distributors wouldn't touch us with a ten-mile pole. Now I can say, dear oversabis, Genevieve Nnaji's Obiagu: Lionheart has proven you all wrong. Connections and those she knows may have played a part in securing her much celebrated deal with Netflix, but my joy is that it’s Nollywood that was bought and that gives me so much joy.

Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen

Film Director/Producer

Nollywood, Stereotypes, and Misrepresentations of Igbo Culture

(By Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu) - There was that billboard of a certain West-African president who was dressed in an Igbo traditional attire. A loud caption gave meaning:"Igwe!" It was easy to locate the source of that cultural benefaction, credit rightfully placed at the feet of Nollywood, Nigeria's largest exporter of culture and values. Books and social media can tell the Nigerian story, but none can boast the compelling, even hypnotic power of the movie.

Which is why we should worry about the competence of movie makers—their cultural intelligence and sense of sensational restraint. Their products speak to millions, most of whom are illiterate and poor, but powerful. Powerful in their sheer number, in their capacity to spread a social or religious poison. They are the very agencies often punctual at lynching scenes, consumers of wild superstitions on whom depends the fate of that fellow accused of manhood theft in the local market. 

For the most part, the Old Nollywood is run by Igbo scriptwriters, directors, and producers, who are businessmen more than they are artists. For too long we have watched their cultural illiteracy ruin the integrity of much of what stands for Igbo culture and values; we have watched them distort historical facts, fixate on and promote ugly, exaggerated stereotypes, even invent cultural obscenities that do not exist. We have seen Igwes who do nothing all day other than look like frogs on shiny thrones, flanked by two able-bodied human fans, as they condemn villagers to evil forests, when they do not order their deaths outright. We can tolerate such cultural inventiveness for its decorative value, aware that fiction need not be exact and realistic.

Nollywood and Misrepresentation of Traditions

(By Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu)

There was that billboard of a certain West-African president who was dressed in an Igbo traditional attire. A loud caption gave meaning:"Igwe!" It was easy to locate the source of that cultural benefaction, credit rightfully placed at the feet of Nollywood, Nigeria's largest exporter of culture and values. Books and the social media can tell the Nigerian story, but none can boast the compelling, even hypnotic power of the movie.

Which is why we should worry about the competence of movie makers—their cultural intelligence and sense of sensational restraint. Their products speak to millions, most of whom are illiterate and poor, but powerful. Powerful in their sheer number, in their capacity to spread a social or religious poison. They are the very agencies often punctual at lynching scenes, consumers of wild superstitions on whom depends the fate of that fellow accused of manhood theft in the local market. 

I Miss The Old Nollywood

(By Adesegun Damazio) - I miss the old Nollywood. 

Those were days when you literally looked forward to seeing movies just because of the attractiveness of their posters.

Those days when movie adverts were narrated by voice over artistes who spoke as though they had hot dodo in their mouths. 🙊

Those days of GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!!

Those days when movie installations were carefully churned out.

Those days of Kanayo O Kanayo and compulsory blood money.

Those days of Ramsey Nouah the lover boy who never had sex on camera for us to see 😑.

Those days when Hank Anuku and Gentle Jack were synonymous with death and hired assassination.

Those days when Zack Orji always suffered one mishap or another.

Those days when Charles Okafor and Saint Obi always quarreled with their family members because of their wives.

Old Nollywood Vs. New Nollywood: Take Two

(AllAfrica) – You may have heard about the recent battle between the old Nollywood and the new Nollywood. It was more like a war of words actually but I'm sure you agree 'battle' sounds more dramatic. Whether you call it war, battle or debate, it's nothing out of the norm. It must be in man's nature for the old to contend with the new and vice versa. Although as in most things, trust the Nigerian factor to emerge as the protagonist of this age old struggle for supremacy/relevance.

What started this latest battle between the old and the new stemmed from film maker Charles Novia's interview with Emma Ugolee on The Gist in which he reportedly dismissed some new Nollywood actors as Instagram stars, etc, etc. His companion on the day was fellow film maker Moses Inwang who had issues with the fact that some of these actors preferred to see themselves as 'new' Nollywood. I like many people only caught the 'controversy' that this interview generated rather than the original interview.

Contrasting Old and New Nollywood

(TheCable) – Nollywood, as Nigeria’s movie industry is so described, has undergone series of evolution in the past few decades.

In all these phases, significant transformation and changes have been recorded between the film industry of old and present.

These obvious changes have in recent time, given birth to the ‘old and new Nollywood’ debate which often pits veteran practitioners against fresh, popular faces.

Although several productions have brought together talents from both ‘old’ and ‘new’ Nollywood, there remains a certain degree of acrimony between those who laid the foundation of the industry and those dictating the pace at present.

But what exactly is responsible for these not-so-quiet rumblings? What are the differences between the past and present?

Quantity

Back in the days, the volume of movies produced pale in comparison to the current day output of the movie industry.