Hacker Cinema
Welcome to Nollywood
2007 · Film · documentary · 58 min
Directed by Jamie Meltzer
The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, has exploded in the last ten years. Now the most popular cinema in all of west Africa--even more popular than imports of Hollywood or Bollywood films--the Nigerian film industry has distinguished itself by shooting all films (called video films) on digital video. This has allowed production schedules to be compressed (films are shot in several days) and immediately brought to market (distribution consists of bringing films to Idumota electronics market in Lagos and selling them for home viewing). The sheer volume of Nigerian video films is staggering: one estimate has a film being produced for each day of the year. Nollywood is now the third-largest film industry in the world, generating US$286 million a year for the Nigerian economy. And yet this vibrant, profitable industry is virtually unknown outside of Africa.
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Nigeria ("Nollywood") is the world's third largest film industry (behind Hollywood and Bollywood). Nigeria has a US$250 million movie industry, producing about 2500 films per year. Nollywood might be worth studying as a film industry structured in a different manner than Hollywood's "make a few big bets" business model.
Filmmakers typically fund their own films for about US$20,000 and shoot in one week. Over their career filmmakers may direct 100-150 films. New movies are sold in street markets on video CD and VHS directly to customers. Piracy is not a big worry when a director is releasing new films every couple weeks.
For more info, I recommend the documentaries Nollywood Babylon, This is Nollywood, and Welcome to Nollywood.