When you think about Africa, you think of it as a place of
wide-open landscape with exotic animals and deserts, but did you know that
Africa has one of the largest film industries in the world. With 872 feature
length films released in 2006, Nigeria became the second largest film producer
in the world. Italian film director, Franco Sacchi, saw this booming industry
and decided to make a documentary giving insight to all that happens in
Nollywood.
The basis of almost every film produced in Nollywood has some sort
of meaning behind them. They make films for the people of Nigeria to enjoy
while still making movies for a relatively cheap price. Not only do they make
their films on a small budget, but also they also usually make them in a week’s
time including post work. In an interview with producer/director Lancelot
Imasen in Sacchi’s documentary, Imasen best explains what Nollywood really
stands for, “… they are stories that our people can relate to themselves. They
are stories about our people, for our people. And consistently, they are glued
to their screen whenever they seen the story.”
Franco sells the story of Nollywood very well by giving us
visuals and personally relate to the community of Nollywood. Before I had seen
this video, I really had no idea that Nollywood even existed let alone be the
second largest producer of films. Franco gives us a great background about
himself and why he is so interested in the Nigerian film industry. His speech
greatly expanded my understanding of Nollywood and all that it stands for.
Franco’s point-of-view is expressed clearly and completely and he doesn’t seem
to miss a beat. Being that this video was taken more than four years ago, I still
feel that it is a relevant cause and Nollywood shows no signs of slowing down
anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment