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Nigerian Movies
Welcome to Nollywood
Nigerian movies remains ever popular
Nigeria began its film industry in the 1970s and owes much of its growth to the likes of renowned film-maker Ola Balogun. The industry has become the third largest in the world, after the Indian and United States markets, with a turnover of over 2,000 low budget films per year.
Export to the world
Nollywood, as it is commonly known, became popular in Zambia when the national broadcaster, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), went into partnership with a multinational company, Unilever, and started airing Wale Adenuga's soaps called Super Story.
Early Structure Directors used English and local languages, especially Yoruba. During the 1980s, Nigerian films started circulating throughout West Africa and further abroad. Now there is little demand outside Nigeria, although the huge local market can still make lower-budget films viable.
Sanya Dosunmu, Jab Adu, Ola Balogun and Eddie Ugbomah head the list of Nigerian filmmakers with Ade Foloyan, Moses Adejumo Olaiya, Herbert Ogunde followed by Bankole Bello
The birth of the hugely successful Yoruba language films, sometimes wrongly called “folklore†films, date back to 1976. Ola Balogun, with two features to his credit, wanted better links with his audience. His first film, Ajan-Ogun, was incredibly successful, not only with Yoruba-speakers (more than 16 million) but also with the rest of the country. Constance (1997) by Cyril Nri and On the Edge (1997) by Newton I. Aduaka are two short films made by Nigerians living in England. The two films were exhibited with great success at Milan film festival ’98.Two films were produced in 1998: Twins of The Rain Forest by Odion Agboh and A Place Called Home by Mahamood Ali-Balogun, which was in competition in Fespaco 1999. On the Edge won the short film prize at FESPACO ’99. In 2000, M-Net and Zimmedia chose Ngozi Onwurak to produce one of the short films in the Mama Africa series. The result, Hang Time, is about the deals people make, wittingly and unwittingly, with the “devil†and the decisions people make in order to achieve their goals. It’s about the allure of America from an African perspective. The film Rage by Newton Aduaka, won the Oumarou Granda Prize at Fespaco 2001
Television Industry Nigeria was the first sub-Saharan country to allow private broadcasting. In 1991, after 50 years of government monopoly, the first private broadcasters began operating. Two years later the first official private broadcast licences were issued. Now Nigeria's television industry is one of the most competitive in Africa.
Nigeria is home to numerous broadcasters and an extensive state-owned network operated under the National Television Authority (NTA). Television broadcasting dates back to the launch of Western Nigeria Television in 1959, now part of the 27 stations operated by the publicly-run National Television Authority. Under the NTA, 25 of Nigeria's 30 constitutional states operate their own TV stations and 18 of these stations are TV Africa affiliates.
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