By Prisca Sam-Duru

After the boom experienced in the Nigerian Movie industry in 1992 when its pioneer and first blockbuster movie, ‘Living in Bondage’ made waves in homes and was talk of town at the time, what has now come to be known as Nollywood began to regress both in quality and sales.

Before the regression set in, the stunning boom which caused a drastic shift from the usual preference to movies from India, China and the USA, a host of factors such as lack of funds, hurried productions, infiltration of the industry by mediocre among others were attributed to the poor rating of the growing industry.

It was on the issue of new awakening in Nollywood, brought about by the new narratives that the Committee for Relevant Art(CORA), a 20 year old culture advocacy group whose impact often stimulates debate around Nigeria and Africa cultural Sector, in collaboration with iREP Documentary Film Forum in the 87th quarter of Art Stampede , last week, at Freedom Park Broad Street Lagos, held an interactive public forum to understand the new consciousness in Nollywood, with theme, ‘New Trend in Nollywood’.

The discussion programme which had in attendance, movie producers, Directors, actors and actresses, examined the current challenges and prospects of the industry.

A scene from Mahmood Ali Balogun's Tango With Me

Film makers present

It featured some film makers of new narratives including; Stephanie Okereke, who shifted from active acting to production and directing, Kunle Afolayan, Mahmood Ali Balogun, whose ‘Tango with Me’ is currently making waves at Box office; scriptwriter and producer, Emem Isong; Lilian Amah-Aluko; Daniel Ademinokan, Chidi Nwokobia, Vivian Ejike, Chidi Kalu who represented Chineze, as Panelists while film critic and editor of National Mirror, Steve Ayorinde moderated.

During the session, the works; Figurine( Kunle Afolayan), Through the Glass(Stephanie Okereke), Reloaded and Bursting Loose (Emem Isong), Tango With Me (Mammood Ali Balogun), Ije (Chineze), Tenant(Lucky Ejiro), Bent Arrows, Champion of our Time(Chidi Nwokeabia/Emeka Enyiocha), Holding Hope(Uche Jumbo), Private Storm(Vivian Ejike), Jungle Ride(Amah), In America(Rahman Oladigbolu), Anchor Baby(Lonzo Nzekwe), Mirror Boy(Obi Emelonye) , which have shaped and redefined movie making in Nollywood were utilised to engage the makers in a heated intellectually engaging dialogue in which some new trends being incorporated in Nollywood presently, were evaluated for purposes of sustainability and a more promising future.

Participants at the event were first entertained by the melodious voices of the popular choral group Nefetiti, made up of four beautifully adorned ladies whose folk renditions in Yoruba and Igbo set the stage for the real business of the day.

Steve Ayorinde began by saying that it was imperative to improve the technical quality of productions which will go beyond AMAA and possibly get nominations at the Grammy.

The discuss opened with an appraisal of the different stages Nollywood has undergone and how far it has fared in terms of standard of films released especially in the last four years. It was noted that though, nothing less than 20,000 movies have been shot during the period under discussion, very few are artistically and technically up to standard thus, opening up views on what stakeholders should do so that Nollywood would be maximally represented in AMAA, OSCAR and film festivals in Cannes, Toronto and Berlin.

The first point raised by Mahmood Ali Balogun was on the issue of scripting. It was agreed in the course of his presentation that without a good idea further translated into a good script which entails telling the story intelligently by incorporating vital ingredients in order to be recognised, that there is no point talking about redefining space in Nolloywood.

Balogun posited that in as much as the industry is making progress in scripting, a lot still needs to be done. He pointed out a major problem causing stagnation in this aspect of movie production which he said is the problem of writers, who most often, confuse scripting for Television, Movies, Cinema with screen writing. He said it is imperative to make reference to not just dialogue but camera movement.

New trend in Nollywood was described as a paradigm shift from its bastardisation , by Chidi Nwokobia who identified funding as major set in the industry. Though he spoke in agreement with Balogun on the issue of scripting being foundation of movies, he however, emphasised that the industry will thrive better with adequate budget. Buttressing his point, he made reference to all the new narratives which have become reference point in Nollywood as movies made possible with fat budget.

Diva, Stephanie Okereke who spoke eloquently made strong points to back her positions. She attributed the regression earlier encountered to the fact that at a point, film makers became bereft of ideas hence, people’s loss of interest. On the success of her movie ‘Through the Glass’, she said, resulted from a strong desire as an actress to see “if we could do things differently and also to stop the perception of Nigerian movies thereby, adapting to newest trends in movie making.”

Lack of training ground for learning new technology in Nigeria and poor distribution network were also identified as major obstruction to progress in Nollywood. Movie premiere in Cinemas Stephanie noted, is a better strategy to fight piracy in addition to keeping statistics of movies sold, but regrettably, they are few in the country. She therefore advocated for the building of more cinema houses in all the states of the federation.

The act of demanding collaterals from film makers who request for Loan was roundly condemned since adequate fund is necessary to sustain the new trends being talked about.

Collaborations with foreign film makers which may not necessarily involve learning in a formal environment but involve bringing in technical experts, for training and retraining of practitioners was in general, seen as a sure way to get the attention of the global community and fast track the industry’s development .