reportage
How Nigeria became the 2nd biggest film industry in the world
I In 2009, the UNESCO rated the Nigerian film industry as the second-biggest film inudstry in the world. While this might be an unknown fact to many people in Western societies, the story behind can provide a different understanding of both the film industry itself and how different preconditions and approaches can be successful in their own ways.
14 - VOICES
t isn’t a secret that the US American culture has a strong impact on many other countries around the globe. Especially US American movie productions have dominated the film market for centuries and thereby influenced many other societies, particularly the European. In 2018, 63.2% of the films that had been distributed to the European Union were US productions, 29.4% were European films and only 2.1% were films from other countries. Within those 2.1%, there must be films of those film industries that are actually amongst the largest in the world when it comes to the number of film productions. While it might be known that India produces the largest number of films every year, much fewer people could name the country with the second-biggest film industry in the world – Nigeria. Let’s broaden our horizons and find out how and why Nigeria became the second-biggest film industry in the world, and why probably nobody of us has ever seen a Nigerian movie before. It is widely assumed that the starting point was an event that took place in 1992. When filmmaker Kenneth Nnebue imported a stockpile of blank videotapes from Taiwan and had some struggle in selling them, it came to his mind that it might be a good idea to put a film on them, so he could sell them easier and even
for more. So instead of producing a movie for the cinema first and selling it through VHS after, Nnebue recorded the film straight to VHS. The movie was called “Living in Bondage” and was a massive success with hundreds of thousand sold copies. Inspired by this success story, many other businessmen and filmmakers saw their chance and invested in video movie production as well – the home video film era started. The industry was characterized by speed, low cost, and informality. Many movies were shot in only two weeks, meaning with pre-production and editing they could be produced and ready for sale in just one month of work. In contrast to cinema productions, which were dependent on foreign funding, schooling, and inspiration, the video industry was profitable and self-sufficient. It was an industry that hasn’t originated from governmental policies or anything similar but emerged as a response to economic, social, and political struggle, developed by Nigerian entrepreneurs. It became one of the fastest-growing sectors in the Nigerian economy and has created thousands of jobs. But all of this couldn’t have worked if there would be no audience for the movies. Since the majority of the films were shot in the shortest time with a minimal budget, their quality was comparatively much
