The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution, and actors. Though the expense involved in making films almost immediately led film production to concentrate under the auspices of standing production companies, advances in affordable filmmaking equipment, as well as an expansion of opportunities to acquire investment capital from outside the film industry itself, have allowed independent film production to evolve.
The cinema of Nigeria, often referred to informally as Nollywood, consists of films produced in Nigeria; its history dates back to as early as the late 19th century and into the colonial era in the early 20th century. The history and development of the Nigerian motion picture industry is sometimes generally classified in four main eras: the Colonial era, Golden Age era, Video film era and the emerging New Nigerian cinema.
Cinema of Africa is both the history and present of the making or screening of films on the African continent, and also refers to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture. It dates back to the early 20th century, when film reels were the primary cinematic technology in use. During the colonial era, African life was shown only by the work of white, colonial, Western filmmakers, who depicted Africans in a negative fashion, as exotic "others". As there are more than 50 countries with audiovisual traditions, there is no one single 'African cinema'. Both historically and culturally, there are major regional differences between North African and sub-Saharan cinemas, and between the cinemas of different countries.
Chico Ejiro was a Nigerian movie director, screenwriter, and producer. Little is known about Ejiro other than he was born in Isoko, Delta, Nigeria, and that he originally studied agriculture, and he was drawn into video production because Nigerians would not buy blank video cassettes. His enormous body of work was typical of the second generation that started in the 1990s when cheap video-production equipment became available in the country. He owned a production company called Grand Touch Pictures, which is based in Lagos.
Welcome to Nollywood is a 2007 documentary film directed by Jamie Meltzer, which premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and also played at the Avignon Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival in the summer of 2007.
Jamie Meltzer is an American movie and documentary film director. He has made "True Conviction", "Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story", "Welcome to Nollywood", "La Caminata", and the feature-length documentary film "Informant". He teaches documentary film production in the Art Department of Stanford University, as part of the MFA Program in Documentary Film.
Kenneth Gyang is a young filmmaker in Nigeria and was born in Barkin Ladi of Plateau State, Nigeria. He studied Film Production at the National Film Institute in Jos and screenwriting at Gaston Kaboré's IMAGINE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Two of his short films as well as a script titled "Game of Life" were selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus 2006 and "Mummy Lagos" was well received as an official competition entry. "Mummy Lagos" was also selected for the Sithengi Talent Campus as part of the Cape Town World Cinema Festival in South Africa.
The Figurine: Araromire is a 2009 Nigerian supernatural suspense thriller film written by Kemi Adesoye, produced and directed by Kunle Afolayan, who also stars in the film as one of the main protagonists. It also stars Ramsey Nouah and Omoni Oboli.
Joke Silva, listen MFR is a Nigerian actress, director, and businesswoman.
Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen is a Nigerian film director and film producer.
Michelle Bello is a British Nigerian film director and film producer. She is also CEO of a Nigerian-based entertainment and publishing company, Blu Star Entertainment Limited. Bello was born in London, England.
Jeta Amata is a Nigerian filmmaker, born on August 21, 1974 to popular Nigerian actor Zack Amata. He comes from a family of veteran filmmakers including Ifoghale Amata, Zack Amata and Fred Amata. Growing up in the film industry, following his family’s passion for film, Jeta produced and directed his first film at the age of 21, making it no surprise when he began to rise in the world of film and entertainment.
Femi Odugbemi is a Nigerian documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, cinematographer, director, producer and photographer.
Mahmood Ali-Balogun is a Nigerian filmmaker, cultural worker and the managing director of Brickwall Communications Limited. He directed the multiple award-winning film 'Tango With Me'. He is the Chairman of the Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS) of Nigeria (2).
The Video film era, also known as the home video era, is a period in Nigerian cinema, typically from the late 1980s / early 1990s to mid 2010s, when Nigerian films were made using affordable video format. The video boom era emerged after the downturn of the Golden era of the Nigerian cinema in the late 1980s. The term "Home video" stems from the concept of staying at home to watch the films, in contrast to films of the Golden Age which were watched at the movie theatres.
Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject of several controversies.
Remi Vaughan-Richards is a Nigerian filmmaker.
Tope Oshin is a Nigerian television and film director, producer and casting director, listed as one of the most influential Nigerians in film in 2019. In 2015 Pulse magazine named her as one of "9 Nigerian female movie directors you should know" in the Nollywood film industry. and in March 2018, in commemoration of the Women's History Month, Tope was celebrated by OkayAfrica as one of the Okay100 Women. The interactive campaign celebrates extraordinary women from Africa and the diaspora making waves across a wide array of industries, while driving positive impact in their communities and the world at large.
Tanzania's film industry, also known as Swahiliwood or Bongo movie and Bongowood, was established around 2001.
Potato Potahto is a 2017 Ghanaian Nigerian romantic comedy film which tells a story of divorce in West African society and how tricky it is.
